Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Without doubt, we are playing catch-up. In any area of historical under-provision it takes time to improve services to an appropriate level. Significant advances have been made in this area in the past six years which have made a real difference to the lives of many children with special needs and their families. It is appropriate to outline these advances to the House. We now have more than 2,600 resource teachers in our schools compared with 104 in 1998. We have 1,500 learning support teachers. We have more than 1,000 teachers in special schools and more than 600 in special classes. We have nearly 6,000 special needs assistants in our schools compared with just 300 in 1998. This year more than €30 million will be spent on school transport for special needs students while more than €3 million will be spent on specialised equipment and materials compared with €800,000 in 1998.

The scale of resource allocation I have outlined has facilitated the provision of education for children with special needs in mainly mainstream national schools. However, education for children with special educational needs is provided in a variety of settings. In addition to supported provision in mainstream classes, placement may also be made in special classes and units and in special schools. Pending such a placement, arrangements have also been made for tuition to be delivered in the child's home. Where appropriate for the individual child, integrated provision with necessary supports is the desired choice of most parents. For children for whom mainstream provision is not appropriate, placement may be made in one of the 108 special schools and 654 special classes and units located throughout the country. I want to recognise, in particular, the role these schools and classes play in providing educational services for children with special needs. In this regard, I have asked my Department in consultation with the National Council for Special Education and other partners to consider how we can optimise the role and potential of special schools.

In the light of the reality that pupils in the high incidence disability categories of mild and borderline mild general learning disability and dyslexia are distributed throughout the education system, my Department in consultation with educational interests has developed a model of general teacher allocation for these disability categories. The original model was designed to put in place a permanent resource in primary schools to cater for pupils in these categories. The model was constructed in order that allocations would be based on pupil numbers, taking into account the differing needs of the most disadvantaged schools and the evidence that boys have greater difficulties than girls in this regard. Using a general allocation model has a number of advantages: it will reduce the need for individual applications and supporting psychological assessments; it will ensure children can be given help at a much earlier stage as the resource will already be in the school; it will give schools more certainty about their resource levels; and it will make the posts more attractive to qualified teachers.

It is important that resources continue to be allocated on the basis of individual applications for children in the lower incidence disability categories. The involvement of the National Council for Special Education and the local special educational needs organisers should greatly enhance the speed of response to such applications. I am conscious of the need to inform schools as soon as possible as to the procedures that will apply for the allocation of resource teachers for the next school year and will shortly be in touch with them. In recent months I have spent considerable time meeting parents, teachers and the various bodies to discuss the impact of this matter and consider the children with a verified need. I look forward to being in contact with the schools very shortly.

My Department allocates resource teacher support and special needs assistant support to second level and VEC schools to cater for students with special educational needs. The nature and level of support provided in each case are based on the professionally assessed needs of the individual student. The level of resources being made available to support students with special educational needs in the second level system has grown significantly in recent years. In the current school year provision is being made for 1,259 whole-time equivalent resource teachers and 628 special needs assistants. This represents an increase of approximately 209 resource teacher posts and 178 special needs assistant posts on the previous school year.

The precise model of provision made available will depend on the assessed needs of the pupils involved. Some students are capable of attending ordinary classes on an integrated basis with resource teacher and/or special needs assistant support. In other cases placement in special dedicated classes or units attached to the school may be the more appropriate response. Such special classes operate at significantly reduced pupil-teacher ratios. For example, a special class catering for children with a mild general learning disability would have a support rate equating with a maximum pupil-teacher ratio of 11:1. A class catering for children on the autistic spectrum would be supported at pupil-teacher ratio of 6:1. My Department also supports arrangements whereby students attached to these special classes are facilitated in attending ordinary subject classes on an integrated basis wherever possible.

My Department's teacher education section has developed a strategy designed to meet the continuing professional development needs of personnel working with children with special educational needs. This involves a major expansion of the range of postgraduate professional training programmes available to teachers in the special needs area. As I have outlined, major improvements have been made in the provision for children with special educational needs in recent years. However, we are not there yet and I will not pretend that we are. While I will record achievement, I know there are problems that still need to be addressed. I am confident, however, that the recent establishment of the National Council for Special Education and the transfer of functions to it will resolve many of the difficulties encountered in the past.

The Opposition motion talks about school accommodation. I am delighted to point out the massive investment in school buildings being made by the Government. Between 1998 and the end of 2004 almost €2 billion was invested in school buildings and in the region of 7,500 large and small-scale projects were completed in schools, including 130 brand new schools and 510 large-scale refurbishments and extensions. Funding for school building and renovation projects has increased fivefold since 1997.

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