Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Within the terms of the current staffing arrangements for primary schools, there is also provision for additional posts, referred to as developing school posts, to be assigned to schools on the basis of projected enrolments for the next school year. Under these arrangements, a developing school post may be sanctioned provisionally where the projected enrolment at 30 September of the school year in question equals or exceeds a specified figure and an excess of five over the appointment figure for the post in question. If the specified figure is not achieved on 30 September, sanction for the post is withdrawn. Up to the 2006-07 school year the specified figure to attain the post was either 25 or 30, depending on the size of the school. In the 2006-07 school year the specified figure was changed to 25 for all schools. An improvement in the arrangements for the allocation of developing school posts to smaller schools, that is, schools with a mainstream staffing of principal plus six mainstream class teachers or fewer, was made this year. In the case of these schools, the required stipulated increase in enrolments was reduced from 25 to 15. These supports reduce the threshold for getting a developing school post so as to help schools experiencing large increases in enrolments each year. More than 330 such posts have been sanctioned in the 2007-08 school year compared with 280 in 2006-07.

In addition to the supports provided in the classroom, additional resources, including teaching resources, are also provided to cater for the needs of pupils with special educational needs. I intend to build on the progress made in recent years, which has resulted in a huge increase in resources for special education. Since 2004 investment in this area has doubled to €900 million and significant progress has been made. Almost 6,000 additional teachers and SNAs have been put in place mostly at primary level, bringing the total number of special education staff to approximately 19,000. The training available to teachers has improved significantly. All schools have been assigned learning support resource teaching hours based on their enrolment figures and the application process for additional supports has been transformed for the better with the establishment of the NCSE and its team of more than 80 local special educational needs organisers.

A significant expansion in the number of NEPS psychologists is under way, with a view to all schools receiving a direct service in the 2009-10 school year.

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