Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, who unfortunately cannot be present.

As was recently announced, the numbers of students staying in the education system as a whole will be significantly higher than expected in the 2011-12 school year. The increase meets the objective of this Government to reduce the incidence of early school leaving nationally.

However, this also raises a challenge for us, as approximately 160 additional mainstream teachers are required, primarily to facilitate these additional numbers. In view of the restrictions on numbers employed in the public service imposed by the employment control framework, it is not possible for us to simply recruit more teachers. This is a reality within which we all have to operate.

At present there are about 1,125 language support posts in primary schools and 275 such posts at second level. These 1,400 posts are in addition to mainstream classroom teachers. They allow schools to withdraw pupils for varying amounts of time to concentrate on the teaching of English.

The previous Government announced that this number would be reduced by 125 from September, and by the same amount annually over the next three years. In other words a reduction of 500 posts over four years. Regrettably, we have now had to take a decision to speed up this process.

The result is that the number of language support teachers will be reduced by a further 125 posts from this September, leading to a total reduction of 250 posts this year. This will impact in two main ways. First, schools where less than 25% of pupils need language support will limit that support to two years. This change will affect about 2,500 students, all of whom have already received two years support. Second, schools that missed the deadline for applications of 5 May will not be told until the autumn what support, if any, they will get. In previous years, applications have been permitted all year round but this year it will be very difficult to meet demand from any applications received after the deadline of which all schools were notified.

The change will have little or no impact on schools with high concentrations of pupils in need of language support, that is, greater than 25%. A reduced number of positions will also be made available to the primary staffing appeals board for some additional language support posts. These positions will be reserved for schools with more than 25% of their students in need of language support.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

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