I wish to share some of my time with Senator Mullooly.
Adjournment Matters. - Remedial Teacher for Roscommon Schools.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
My motion calls on the Minister for Education to provide a remedial teacher service at Athleague and Fuerty nationals schools in County Roscommon. I welcome the opportunity of explaining the difficult circumstances in which teachers, pupils and parents associated with those schools find themselves. This is due to the fact that they do not have any remedial teacher services whatsoever at either school.
Athleague is a four teacher school with just over 100 pupils. Following consultation with the Western Health Board, the teaching staff have established that from 16 to 18 pupils are in need of remedial services and would benefit from them. They have applied for such services since 1989 but, to date, they have been unsuccessful. I support their application and ask the Minister to provide remedial teacher services at Athleague national school.
Fuerty is a three teacher school with just under 70 pupils. Investigations by the teachers indicate that between ten and 12 pupils would benefit from a remedial teacher service. In fact, one pupil is being investigated by Western Health Board officials. A number of meetings have taken place and as a backup measure, which is an alternative being provided locally, a local parent attends the school to help out with the child as a substitute for a remedial teacher. I support the convincing case for a remedial teacher service at Fuerty national school. The school has been applying for this service for over seven years and the Minister should respond in a positive way towards providing the service that is sought.
I have brought the predicament of both schools to the attention of the Minister and I welcome the opportunity of explaining the difficulty facing them. I appeal to the Minister to respond in a positive way.
I thank Senator Finneran for sharing his time with me. I support his request for the provision of a remedial teacher service to Athleague and Fuerty national schools. This can be done by way of a shared remedial teacher. The schools are situated in close proximity and are ideally located to share the services of such a teacher. Between them the schools have an enrolment of approximately 170 pupils. In each school a small number of pupils require and would benefit from the services of a remedial teacher.
Every school has some pupils who need the help and support of a remedial teacher on a one to one basis and the schools in Fuerty and Athleague are no different. Both have dedicated teachers, but it is not possible for existing staff to provide the individual attention required by pupils with serious numeracy and literacy difficulties.
The allocation of remedial teachers to schools in County Roscommon is one of the lowest in the country. I am not blaming the existing Minister for this. It has resulted from the fact that Country Roscommon has not received an equitable share of remedial teachers over the years; it is certainly not because pupils in schools in County Roscommon are more intelligent or that there are fewer learning difficulties in the county's schools.
I hope the Minister will redress that situation by appointing a remedial teacher to provide the service to the schools in Athleague and Fuerty which is so badly needed. It could provide much needed support to the small number of pupils in both schools who have learning difficulties in the areas I mentioned.
I apologise to the House, and to the Senators who contributed, for the absence of the Minister for Education and her two Ministers of State who are otherwise engaged appearing before an Oireachtas Committee.
The Minister for Education is not in a position at present to allocate a remedial teacher post to the area in question. As has been indicated to the House in the past, remedial education at primary level is a matter in the first instance for the ordinary class teachers. The majority of pupils with remedial needs would, therefore, be helped within the scope of the normal teaching service.
However, it is acknowledged that remedial teachers constitute the main additional resource for addressing the problem of under-achievement in primary schools. Substantial additional resources have been allocated to this area in recent years. Lest there be any confusion, I am not referring to Fuerty and Athleague in particular.
In 1995, an additional 55 remedial teachers were appointed to primary schools and 223 schools benefited from this allocation. This brought the total number of remedial teachers in place to 1,188. Of the 3,209 ordinary national schools throughout the country, approximately 2,285 now have the services of a remedial teacher either on a full-time or shared basis. Of the 95 ordinary national schools in County Roscommon, 49 now have the services of a remedial teacher either on a full-time or shared basis. This includes ten schools which have been allocated a remedial service in the current school year as part of the recent distribution of posts. This means that approximately 67 per cent of pupils attending ordinary national schools in County Roscommon currently have access to a remedial service.
The Minister for Education has indicated to the House her intention to review needs in this area and consider how best these needs can be addressed within available resources. When the Minister for Education is in a position to extend the remediation service, the school referred to by the Senators will receive every consideration.
At this stage, approximately 87 per cent of pupils in our primary schools have the possibility of access to a remedial teacher. This is a big improvement on the position when the Minister for Education took office in 1993 when approximately 77 per cent of pupils had the possibility of such access. It is a matter of regret to the Minister that it is not possible at present to meet the needs of all pupils for remedial teaching as, unfortunately, she does not have unlimited resources.
I wish to mention two points. First, while 87 per cent of primary pupils nationally have access to a remedial teacher, the figure for County Roscommon is only 67 per cent. That 20 per cent difference represents a glaring discrimination against the county. Second, I am disappointed that neither school in my motion was mentioned by the Minister. In fact, the Minister's reply mentioned that "the school referred to by the Deputy will receive every consideration". There is no Deputy in this House.
I did not refer to a Deputy, I said "Senators".
Not in the reply I have here.
Acting Chairman
The Minister used the word "Senators".
I am sure the record will prove that.
Acting Chairman
We cannot have a speech at this stage, Senator.
I mentioned two schools and neither is mentioned in the Minister's reply.
The Senator makes a valid point with regard to the average figure and I will convey it to the Minister; the schools seem to be below the average. In the interests of accuracy, the figure for the Athleague national school is 101 pupils and at Fuerty national school it is 65.