Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the fact that, despite concentrations of disadvantaged children in its catchment area, the allocation for learning support and resource teaching for a school (details supplied) in County Wexford will be reduced by 60% in September 2005 under the SET allocation; if additional learning support can be provided for this school, and disadvantaged status immediately granted to this school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24413/04]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under my Department's weighted system of allocation, the appropriate level of special needs teaching support is determined by the schools' enrolment figures and based on the following criteria: in the most disadvantaged schools, as per the urban dimension of Giving Children an Even Break, a teacher of pupils with special educational needs will be allocated for every 80 pupils to cater for the subset of pupils with higher incidence special needs; in all-boys schools, the ratio will be one teacher for every 140 pupils; in mixed schools, or all-girls schools with an enrolment of greater than 30% boys, one for every 150 pupils; and in all-girls schools, including schools with mixed junior classes but with 30% or fewer boys overall, one for every 200 pupils.

The revised system has been developed in consultation with representative interests. It is a genuine effort to improve the special education resource allocation process. The differentiation under the general weighted allocation reflects the experience of needs both within this country and internationally. Pupils with lower-incidence special needs will continue to receive individual allocations of special educational needs resources as appropriate. I will continue to work for improvements in the provision of education services for children with special educational needs and in this context will monitor the implementation of the new system to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness.

With regard to the issue of disadvantaged status for the school, my Department is finalising a review of educational disadvantage schemes with a view to building on what has been achieved to date, adopting a more systematic, targeted and integrated approach and strengthening the capacity of the system to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged children and young people.