Vol. 537 No. 5
579 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Education and Science when a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12 will obtain the necessary funding from his Department to employ resource teachers; when the school first sought additional funding for this work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16971/01]
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department has sanctioned part-time resource teaching support for two pupils with special needs attending the school in question.
In recent weeks an application for additional resource teaching support has been made to my Department on behalf of two further pupils with special needs attending the school. My Department's inspectorate is currently investigating this application. Once the Inspectorate has reported, my Department will be in contact with the school authorities in relation to this matter.
Question No. 580 answered with Question No. 123.
581 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the conditions in which classroom assistants can be employed by a school under departmental regulations; and the way in which the criteria used differ from those applied by FÁS in approving classroom assistants under community employment. [17006/01]
Special needs assistant posts are allocated by my Department to support schools in catering for children who have been assessed as having special educational needs. The special needs assistant acts in support of the class teacher by helping special needs pupils in areas such as mobility, toileting and alighting from the school bus.
Special needs assistant posts are only allocated where children have been professionally assessed as requiring such support. This service can be provided to children attending special schools and special classes and also to children with disabilities attending mainstream schools on a fully integrated basis. The Government decided in October 1998 that all children with special needs within the primary system should have an automatic entitlement to a response to their needs. As a result of this decision, the number of special needs assistants supporting children in primary schools has been increased from less than 300 to more than 2000 and further such posts are being allocated on an ongoing basis.
582 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will give an assurance that schools in disadvantaged areas will not lose a resource teacher as a consequence of integrating community employment programmes into the Department. [17007/01]
Resource teacher posts are allocated to support children with disabilities who are attending ordinary schools on a fully integrated basis and have been professionally assessed as requiring such support. Depending on the number of pupils involved, resource teacher posts can be allocated to individual schools or to groups of schools on a shared basis.
The development to which the Deputy refers in relation to community employment programmes should have no bearing on resource teacher allocations. All such allocations are determined by the assessed special needs of individual pupils and should continue in place as long as required to support the pupils in question.
