Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 16, 22 and 100 together.

Major improvements in school staffing have been made in recent years with the hiring of more than 5,000 additional primary teachers. This represents the largest increase in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education. The annual estimated value of the additional expenditure on these posts is over €200 million. In 1996-97, the average class size in our primary schools was 27; it is now 24. In 1996-97, there was one teacher for every 22 children in our primary schools, while today, there is one teacher for every 17 children, which the lowest pupil-teacher ratio in the history of the State.

Aside from decreasing average class size, the unprecedented increase in school staffing in recent years has also greatly improved the services provided for children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas. Under the action plan for tackling disadvantage published earlier this year, there will be a reduction in class sizes of 24:1 at senior level and 20:1 at junior level in 150 primary schools serving communities with the highest concentrations of disadvantage. With more than 600 extra resource teachers allocated this term and 5,000 teachers assigned to children with special needs and learning difficulties — a figure that represents one in five teachers — children with special needs are getting more support than ever before. It should be acknowledged how much progress has been made in this area in recent years.

There is more to be done to reduce class sizes. I recently 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 our schools to reduce class size and to tackle disadvantage. This will be done by changing the staffing schedule. The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by applying the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule, which is issued annually to all primary schools.

The general rule is that the schedule provides at least one classroom teacher for every 29 pupils in the school. Of course, schools with only one or two teachers have much lower staffing ratios than that, with two teachers for just 12 pupils in some cases, but the general rule is that there is at least one classroom teacher for every 29 children in the school. Next year, this will be reduced to 28 children per classroom teacher and in 2007-08, it will be reduced to 27 children per classroom teacher. Officials of my Department are currently drawing up the revised staffing schedule necessary to achieve this. Schools will be asked to use the extra class teachers provided as a result of the revised schedule to provide for smaller classes in the junior grades.

In speaking about staffing in our schools, we have consistently said that priority would be given in the first instance to children in disadvantaged schools and those with special needs. We have done this and, in line with the Government commitment, mainstream class sizes are also being reduced.

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