Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I do not regard education as a charge or cost but as an opportunity and as having potential. It is of great importance to the country. The National Council for Special Education has advised all the mainstream schools of their SNA allocations. Four hundred and seventy-five have not yet received an allocation for particular cases where they are clearly needed. Most of these allocations will apply outside the mainstream schools, in respect of which notification has already been issued. As I stated before, the Department decided approximately 475 of the 10,575 posts should be retained in order to allocate them over the coming school year in cases of emergency, where appeals are justified, or where there are acquired injuries or new school entrants, for example. That only makes common sense. The Minister for Education and Skills is very much aware of this.

The Deputy referred to Finland and what was done there. Clearly, over 20 years Finnish governments invested heavily in the training of teachers to teach. There is a need for leadership courses for principal teachers in schools so they can motivate their teaching staff who operate under great pressure. I am quite sure the Minister is clearly aware of this. I have no doubt the scheme being put forward by the Minister to improve teaching techniques and elements of mathematics teaching will bear huge dividends. As Deputy Finian McGrath is aware, Project Maths, through promoting an understanding of the relevance of numbers and their practical applications, will have a bearing on the quality and range of students emerging in the years ahead. As the Deputy is aware, issues such as vectors and complex numbers should all be understood in a general way by students. I hope this will happen through the Project Maths scheme.

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