Damien English
Ceist:65 Mr. English asked the Minister for Education and Science the reviews which are taking place regarding provision of resource teachers and special needs assistants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26812/02]
Vol. 559 No. 6
65 Mr. English asked the Minister for Education and Science the reviews which are taking place regarding provision of resource teachers and special needs assistants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26812/02]
Children with special needs in the primary school system have an automatic entitlement to a response to their needs. The nature and level of the response is based on the professionally assessed needs of the individual child. Where such children are attending school on an integrated basis, the response would normally take the form of resource teacher and, or, special needs assistant support. Since October 1998 the number of resource teachers in the system has grown from approximately 100 to 2,300. The number of special needs assistants has grown from about 300 to 3,800 full-time and a further 1,000 part-time posts over the same period. As part of its evaluative role, my Department's inspectorate recently conducted a review of 25 primary schools which had recently been allocated such support. The objective of the review was to provide a detailed account of the additional allocation of resources for pupils with special educational needs with particular reference to the terms of the relevant circulars of the Department of Education and Science.