Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I welcome the fact my colleague, Deputy O'Connor, has tabled a similar motion. We both live in the area — I in Raheen and he in Springfield. We are concerned that a school in which many in the area take great pride is under severe pressure and we seek to draw attention to its problems. The matter was raised last night during the debate on class sizes and it mirrors many of the problems facing other schools. The school is located in an area that has changed utterly since the time Deputy O'Connor and I moved in. Many of the houses are rented accommodation so that there is a different type of population and many of the children are international.

At St. Mark's junior school, out of projected enrolment figures of 500 to 530 this year, the international pupil population will be between 170 and 200. At St. Mark's senior school, out of projected enrolment figures of 390 to 420, the international pupil population will be between 120 and 140. That school is unique. I do not know of any other school in a similar situation. The difficulty is that many of the children do not have English as their first language and that creates problems in the classroom. Many classes have more than 30 pupils.

We said last night that for historical reasons the ratio for Traveller children is 14:1, the reason being to encourage them into the education system. Depending on their background, many of the international children have no history of going to school. Many of the fourth class pupils in the senior school have never been to school. Given the large class sizes, that issue adds to the difficulty. The school is located beside a RAPID area. If one looks at the socio-economic make-up of the children and their family backgrounds, it is clear the children come a disadvantaged background, yet the school is not deemed disadvantaged. I am aware the Minister is looking at this issue. What the parents want is action from the Minister.

Is the Department of Education and Science aware of the difficulties being experienced by the principals of the two schools and, if so, what action is being taken? Given that many of the parents of the international children are reliant on social welfare, that creates difficulties. There is no home-school-community liaison officer. Therefore, the school is trying to deal with the avalanche of emotional and psychological challenges that accompany many of these children who come from war zones and so on. There is no interpreter in the school. Clearly the money is not available to both schools to employ an interpreter. The school is failing not only the teachers but the children and their parents and those who live in the area. They are proud of their school and yet they have been left in this situation through no fault of their own.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his kindness in allowing me to raise this issue. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy Brian Lenihan. This Minister of State has shown a great interest in Tallaght and I hope he will understand the issue my colleague, Deputy Crowe, and I — neighbours in Springfield — raise is of great concern. Each time I speak here I mention my constituency and Tallaght. I am not afraid to say I live in the Springfield-Raheen area.

The issue I raise is a problem for my community but we want to deal with it positively. The presence of so many international children has a positive effect while at same time it puts much pressure on the resources of St. Mark's junior and senior schools. We are pleading that the schools be considered as special cases and provided with the required resources. I said last night that these schools were opened in 1973. I was present on that Saturday when the then Minister for Education, Mr. Richard Burke, opened it. It was also the day President Childers died. The schools have had a great history and have done a tremendous job. My sons were educated there. It has always provided a great service and it is still a great school. The local Deputies attended a meeting with the Irish National Teachers' Organisation representatives recently, which was held in Springfield school. The school has always held a place in the hearts of the people of Tallaght.

It is significant that both Deputy Crowe and I are raising an issue in a positive manner about a problem causing difficulty in our area. Deputy Crowe and I in our contributions have highlighted that St. Mark's junior and senior schools have pupils from 32 countries, from Angola, Albania, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, China, Cameroon, Congo, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, England, India, Ireland — thank God, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, the Philippines, Russia, Romania, Somalia, South Africa, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Vietnam.

I have listed the countries because it is important to put the situation into perspective. The Acting Chairman has often spoken eloquently in this Chamber about the pressures on teachers and schools, which have been present since the time of my generation and are still present today. I ask the House to imagine 700 children in a school in an area that, as Deputy Crowe stated, is quite close to significant pockets of disadvantage and where the teachers, other staff and the pupils are under pressure.

I ask the Minister of State to make the case for us in the Department that special attention needs to be paid to this school. St. Mark's junior and senior schools are quite unique. This is the message from Springfield. It was great to see the Minister of State in our parish recently. I invite him as the Minister of State with responsibility for children to come to Springfield in the near future. We will be happy to greet him. It would be good for him as Minister of State with special responsibility for children to see the positive work being done in these schools in Springfield and to help us solve the problems on behalf of the teachers.

I pay a warm tribute to the principals of those schools who with their staff are doing a tremendous job in coping with the difficulties we have outlined. It is a tremendous school and facility for the local area but they have problems and particular challenges relating to the presence of so many international children. I hope the Department will examine the situation. I ask the Minister of State to use his influence to ask the Minister for Education and Science to send inspectors to the schools. The Department's inspectors have never visited Springfield to examine this problem relating to international children.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, I thank both Deputies for raising this matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the staffing position of the schools to which they refer.

In accordance with the staffing schedule, the staffing for St. Mark's junior school for the school year 2004-05 is a principal and 16 mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 469 pupils at 30 September 2003. The school also has an additional mainstream class post due to its developing status, two resource posts, one learning support post, two special class posts, one resource teacher for Travellers and three temporary language support posts.

The staffing for St. Mark's senior school for the school year 2004-05 is a principal and 13 mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 380 pupils at 30 September 2003. In addition the school has three resource posts, two learning support posts, one permanent special class post, one temporary special class post and two temporary language support posts.

Significant steps have been taken in recent years to improve the pupil-teacher ratio in our primary schools. The pupil teacher ratio, which includes all the teachers in the school including resource teachers, has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 17.44:1 in the school year 2003-04. The pupil-teacher ratio in the current school year for the schools to which the Deputies referred is 17.37:1 and 16.52:1 respectively.

The Department has been active for several years in promoting interculturalism in schools. A range of actions can be taken to support participation of minority groups and Travellers in education. I was very struck by the descriptions given by both Deputies and particularly Deputy O'Connor's description of the extensive range and breadth of nationalities participating in this school. As a Deputy for the western Dublin area I have noticed the remarkable range and level of participation by international students in these schools. Many of the teachers have informed me of the excellent progress they are making with these children and how happy they are to work with them. It is important the House is aware of the great progress and strides being made with these children. I welcome the fact that both Deputies have raised the issue of this school in that context.

The measures the Department has adopted to date, include information for schools on the integration of asylum seekers and Travellers; additional resources for schools to support the needs of students for whom English is not the mother tongue; resource packs for schools prepared by organisations such as the National Consultative Committee on Anti-Racism and Interculturalism; a video for second level schools highlighting excerpts from the "Mono" TV programme; materials and training for teachers through funding the work of Integrate Ireland Language Training and other bodies; development in progress by the NCCA of guidelines for primary and post-primary teachers on how the existing curriculum can be mediated and adapted to reflect the emergence of an expanding multi-ethnic society; primary level guidelines will be published in May and the post-primary guidelines are expected to be ready by the end of the year; supports provided by the reception and integration agency to assist in the integration of refugees and asylum seekers into schools; expanding provision for language and literacy tuition for adults for whom English is not the mother tongue through the VEC literacy services.

The new curricula at primary and post-primary levels provide ample opportunity to extend students' awareness of the wider world and to learn about the lives and histories of people in other countries and of their contributions to art and science. In particular, the social, personal and health education programmes at primary and post-primary levels are designed to prepare students for participatory citizenship and to develop the skills of critical appraisal and decision making based on human rights and social responsibilities. They also promote a respect for human dignity, tolerance for the values and beliefs of others and a celebration of diversity.

Schools catering for non-national pupils who have significant English language deficits are entitled to assistance to enable these pupils gain full access to the curriculum. Schools with 14 to 27 non-English speaking non-national pupils enrolled are entitled to a full-time temporary language support teaching post at primary level and a whole-time equivalent teaching post at post-primary level. Schools with 28 or more such pupils are entitled to two full-time temporary-whole-time equivalent language support posts. Where there are between three and 13 non-national pupils enrolled in a primary school, the board of management may apply to the primary administration section of the Department for a grant to enable the school to take measures to improve the standard of English of the pupils concerned. Schools with between three and eight such pupils receive grant assistance in the amount of €6,348.69 while schools with between nine and 13 pupils receive grant assistance in the amount of €9,523.04. The total amount expended on such grants in the 2003-04 school year exceeded €2.3 million.

At post-primary level, where there are fewer than 14 pupils, additional teaching hours are allocated ranging from three hours per week for one pupil to 19.5 hours per week for 13 pupils. The support for an individual pupil is provided for a period of up to two years.

The Department provides a start-up grant of €635 when a language support teacher is allocated to a school. Each school for which the language support teacher continues to be sanctioned is issued a follow-up grant of €318 annually. The purpose of the grant is to facilitate the purchase of appropriate educational material and resources for use by the teacher.

In addition, the Department funds Integrate Ireland Language and Training, IILT, formerly known as the refugee language support unit, a Trinity College company, to provide training for English language support teachers and their principals. An English language programme and English language training materials are available to all teachers who attend their in-service courses. A portfolio known as the European language portfolio, has been developed by the IILT to provide a focus for pupils' learning, which concentrates on English language in the context of the school curriculum and on socialisation within the school. One of the fundamental aims of the training is to equip teachers to enable non-English speaking pupils to participate fully in school life. The Department will continue to keep under regular review these initiatives to promote inter-culturalism in our schools. I thank the Deputies for raising this matter.