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School Resources.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 December 2005

Thursday, 15 December 2005

Ceisteanna (363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370)

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

347 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which she expects to be in a position to meet the requirements in terms of accommodation, staff, remedial, resource or special needs teachers and classroom assistants in each of the schools, primary and post-primary in Leixlip, County Kildare in the course of the next 12 months arising from the provisions in Estimates 2006; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40027/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

350 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which she expects to be in a position to meet the requirements in terms of accommodation, staff, remedial, resource or special needs teachers and classroom assistants in each of the schools, primary and post-primary in Kilcock, County Kildare in the course of the next 12 months arising from the provision in the Estimates 2006; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40030/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

359 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which she expects to be in a position to meet the requirements in terms of accommodation, staff, remedial, resource or special needs teachers and classroom assistants in each of the schools, primary and post-primary in Celbridge, County Kildare in the course of the next 12 months arising from the provisions in the Estimates 2006; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40039/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

370 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science when she expects to meet the full complement of requirements for special needs teachers at primary and post-primary level; if she has set specific targets in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40050/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

371 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science when she expects to have in place the full necessary complement of special needs teachers and special needs assistants in all schools throughout the country with particular reference to schools with a high pupil-teacher ratio; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40051/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

372 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science her plans to meet the full requirement for remedial, resource, speech and language, psychological assessment and back up or other special needs in all schools throughout the country with particular regard to schools with a high pupil-teacher ratio; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40052/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

374 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science her plans to extend the scale and quality of support services in schools meeting special needs requirements in mainstream education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40054/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

377 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science when she expects to be in a position to bring the level of psychological services, remedial, resource or other special needs teaching numbers into line with current and projected requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40058/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 347, 350, 359, 370 to 372, inclusive, 374 and 377 together.

Since 1997, the Government has dramatically increased the number of teachers in our schools. At primary level more than 5,000 additional teachers have been employed. At post-primary level approximately 1,900 additional teaching posts have been allocated during this period. These additional teaching posts have been used to reduce class sizes, to tackle educational disadvantage and to provide additional resources for children with special needs.

The pupil-teacher ratio, which includes all the teachers in the school, including resource and learning support teachers, has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 17.1:1 in 2004-05 at primary level, and from 16:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 13.4:1 in the 2004-05 school year at post-primary level.

At primary level average class size has been reduced from 26.6 in 1996-97 to 23.9 in 2004-05. Significantly smaller classes have been introduced in disadvantaged schools involved in the Giving Children an Even Break-Breaking the Cycle programme, with approximately 47,700 pupils in 243 participating schools availing of reduced class sizes of either 15 or 20 pupils per class.

The Deputy will be aware of the new action plan for educational inclusion, delivering equality of opportunity in schools or DEIS, a key element of which is the putting in place of a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage in our primary and second level schools for the purposes of qualifying for resources, both human and financial, according to the degree of disadvantaged experienced. This standardised system will replace all of the existing arrangements for targeting schools for participation in initiatives to address disadvantage. The new action plan aims to ensure that the educational needs of children and young people, from pre-school to completion of upper second level education, that is, from three to 18 years, from disadvantaged communities are prioritised and effectively addressed and will involve an additional annual investment of some €40 million on full implementation.

There is more to be done to reduce class sizes further. Recently I announced that I have secured sufficient funding to provide even smaller classes in our primary schools in the next school year, and the Minister for Finance has committed to a further reduction in class size in the following year. Accordingly, over the next two years, my Department will put 500 extra teachers into primary schools to reduce class size and to tackle disadvantage.

On providing for children with special educational needs, there are now over 5,000 teachers in our primary schools working directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. This compares to under 1,500 in 1998. Indeed, one out of every five primary school teachers is now working specifically with children with special needs. I can confirm that I will continue to prioritise the issue of special needs education and, in co-operation with the national council for special education and the education partners, ensure that all children with special needs are adequately resourced to enable them to meet their full potential.

Enormous progress has also been made in increasing the number of special needs assistants, SNAs, in our schools who specifically cater for the care needs of children with special educational needs. At this stage there are approximately 6,200 whole time equivalent, WTE, SNAs in our primary schools and a further 1,059 WTE SNAs in our second level schools supporting children with special needs.

Teacher allocations to second level schools are approved annually by the Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The rules for allocating teaching resources provide that where a school management authority is unable to meet its curricular commitments, the Department will consider applications for additional short-term support. An independent appeals mechanism is available to school authorities who wish to appeal the adequacy of their teacher allocation.

In recent years improvements have been made under various schemes. In 1999 an ex-quota allocation was made to all second level schools in the free education scheme in respect of remedial education and the home-school community liaison scheme was extended to all schools designated disadvantaged.

In 2000 a decision was made to reduce the general pupil-teacher ratio for appointment purposes from 19:1 to 18:1 and additional posts were also provided for leaving certificate applied, junior certificate programme and the guidance enhancement initiative resulting in approximately 1,000 additional posts in the sector.

The number of teaching posts allocated to cater for pupils with special educational needs at second level has increased from 559 WTEs in 2001-02 to 1,630 WTEs in the current school year.

The number of teaching posts allocated to schools to cater for non-national pupils with significant English language deficits has also increased from 113 WTEs in 2001-02 to 242 WTEs in the current school year. In addition, the Department has provided for an additional allocation of 100 posts to guidance from September 2005.

Regarding psychological assessments, all primary and post-primary schools have access to psychological assessments for their pupils, either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, psychologists or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, SCPA, that is administered by NEPS. Schools that do not currently have NEPS psychologists assigned to them may avail of the SCPA, whereby the school can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly. Details of this process and the conditions that apply to the scheme are available on my Department's website.

NEPS provides assistance to all schools and school communities that experience critical incidents, regardless of whether or not they have a NEPS psychologist assigned to them. Also, for all schools, NEPS processes applications for reasonable accommodation in certificate examinations and responds to queries on individual children from other sections of my Department and from the specialist agencies.

The number of National Educational Psychological Service psychologists has increased almost three-fold, from 43 on establishment to 121 at present. The Public Appointments Service has recently established new recruitment panels for NEPS. Regional panels are now in place and my Department is currently in the process of appointing psychologists. Priority will be given to filling vacancies in areas of greatest need. Any increase in the number of psychologists in NEPS will depend on the availability of resources and must also take account of Government policy on public sector numbers.

On accommodation requirements in the areas referred to by the Deputy, I am aware that the areas, like many areas located within close proximity to Dublin, continue to experience population growth, a position that almost inevitably places some strain on existing educational provision. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a range of significant measures has been undertaken by my Department to address the current and future need for pupil places in the areas in question. While the information sought is not readily available in the format requested by the Deputy, the following is an outline of the measures undertaken by my Department to ensure that there are adequate places available in these areas to meet demand.

As the Deputy will be aware, following widespread local consultation, my Department recently published an area development plan for the N4-M4 corridor. This plan outlines my Department's long-term educational strategy at both primary and post-primary level for this area which includes Leixlip, Kilcock and Celbridge. Implementation of the recommendations in the plan is being considered in the context of the school building and modernisation programme from 2006 onwards subject to the prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects.

All of these initiatives represent significant capital investment and demonstrate my commitment to meeting the needs of the areas concerned. The school planning section of my Department will keep the position under review going forward to ensure that any additional emerging needs are met as expeditiously as possible. I am confident that, with this significant investment, schools throughout the country, including those in the areas referred to by the Deputy, will be in a position to meet their pupils' needs.

I wish to advise the Deputy that responsibility for the provision of therapy services rests with the Health Service Executive.

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