Vol. 507 No. 4
237 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of children with special educational needs who drop out early; the provision for children in these circumstances; and the methods of evaluation of quality in the provision used by his Department. [17104/99]
My Department does not have the statistical information available in relation to the number of children with special educational needs who drop out of the education system early.
A recent survey carried out by my Department identified an estimated 750 children who left special schools or special classes during the course of the 1996-97 school year and did not take up places in further education or training facilities or in sheltered employment. A total of 370 of these children stayed at home after leaving school. Schools were unable to provide my Department with any information on the remaining children.
Overall policy in this area is focused on the provision of a continuum of supports ranging from preventive action such as home school liaison, the remedial, resource, guidance and psychological services, additional staff and funds for schools in the disadvantaged areas, staff development and curricular reforms and the forging of improved community links, to second chance education provision under programmes such as youthreach.
Earlier this month I announced a £4.5 million initiative aimed at keeping pupils in schools up to the end of the leaving certificate. The core approach underpinning this initiative is one of empowering schools to take charge of tackling early school leaving. Under this initiative, schools and VEC schemes with retention rates below the national average will be invited to put forward a retention plan for approval. It is expected that up to 40 schools will participate in the first phase of this initiative and each will receive resources to implement the agreed retention plan sat-in-school initiatives. The number of pupils catered for under the initiative will become known when schools are selected and retention plans are agreed with my Department.
238 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the most up to date projections of the number of children entering primary level with special education needs both in absolute numbers and as a proportion of the cohort. [17105/99]
239 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of children of primary school age who have special education needs; and the most accurate information available on the level of additional special support made available. [17106/99]
240 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will classify children with special needs by the level of support available to them. [17107/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 238, 239 and 240 together.
My Department does not have the projected statistical information of children entering primary level with special educational needs nor of the number of children of primary school age who have special educational needs.
A survey carried out in 1993 on behalf of the special education review committee indicated that, at that time, there were approximately 8,000 pupils with specific disabilities in mainstream national schools. This represented 1.5 per cent of the total enrolment at that time.
The level of support available to pupils with special educational needs depends on the nature and degree of each pupil's special educational need. Support teaching can be in the form of remedial teaching, resource teaching or support from the visiting teacher service. Pupils with specific care needs as a result of a disability may be allocated a special needs assistant either on a full or part-time basis. In addition, schools which have pupils with special educational needs enrolled may apply to my Department for funding for specialist equipment such as computers, radio aids etc.
The Deputy will be aware that arrangements have been put in place to expand the remedial teaching service to cover all schools with a pupilteacher ratio of 10:1 or more with effect from September 1999. I expect that approximately 1,465 remedial teacher posts will be in place in national schools by September 1999.
At present, there are 42 visiting teachers, 163 resource teachers and 564 special needs assistants providing additional support to pupils with special educational needs at primary level.
241 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the budget allocated to special education distinguishing teaching staff, non-teaching staff and capitation payments for each of the past five years. [17108/99]
The information being sought by the Deputy is being compiled by the officials of my Department and will be forwarded to him shortly.
242 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of children with special needs who are of secondary school age. [17109/99]
The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available.
My Department provides teaching resources to second level schools in respect of special needs pupils enrolled in their schools. In this regard, school resources have been allocated in respect of approximately 730 pupils in special classes and in respect of a further 350 individual pupils integrated into ordinary second level schools.
