Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Every time I mention 800 language support teachers I take a breath because it has been an extraordinary development over the past few years. It is a relatively new area and must be kept under review. Last year I met a number of principals who were affected by large numbers in their schools. In addition to the issue of teaching English, they identified cultural, family and societal supports that are as important as what happens in the school. This applies particularly to children whose parents do not speak English, who have different cultural attitudes to their children and their behaviour and to schools. It has been identified to me that there is a gap in the information those parents have on how our system works. We will shortly give further information on that.

A committee of my Department has been working on this matter. It visited a number of the schools and met groups, including the INTO, JMB and ASTI, and people who are in direct provision in Mosney and Cork to try to identify their needs. It is becoming clear that teachers of English alone will not solve all the problems. Other issues that have come to light include the home-school-community liaison teacher, who might be able to make better links and the need to explore with other Departments supports that can be put in place for the parents, perhaps teaching them English.

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