Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 746: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her officials will contact a school (details supplied) in Dublin 24 to discuss its concerns regarding teaching numbers for September 2005. [22684/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by applying the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year to a staffing schedule agreed between my Department and the education partners. In accordance with the staffing schedule which issued recently to boards of management, the mainstream staffing of the school for the 2005-06 school year will be a principal and nine mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 238 pupils at 30 September 2004.

To ensure openness and transparency in the system an independent appeals board is now in place. The criteria under which an appeal can be made are set out in the Department of Education and Science's primary circular 19/02 which is also available on its website. The appeals board met on 14 June and will meet again in July and October to consider appeals on the mainstream teaching allocation to schools for the 2005-06 school year. The closing dates for appeals for the forthcoming July and October meetings are 24 June and 7 October 2005, respectively. Appeals must be submitted to the primary payments section, Department of Education and Science, Athlone, on the standard application form, clearly stating the criteria under which they being made. The application form is available from the primary payments section or on the Department's website.

As the Deputy may also be aware, my Department has issued a letter to all primary schools notifying them of their teaching allocation under the new general allocation model for the 2005-06 school year. The letter also includes details of any clustering arrangements that may apply. I would like to advise the Deputy that the school has been allocated three resource teaching posts to cater for the needs of pupils with high and low incidence special needs and learning difficulties and special educational needs for the forthcoming school year. The levels are appropriate in the context of reducing enrolments and the current number of pupils with special educational needs requiring a service. My officials have been in contact with the school authorities regarding its general allocation.

My Department is also finalising a circular for schools which will contain detailed information on how the new system will operate. It is intended that this circular will issue before the commencement of the next school year. It is also intended that this circular will address issues that have been raised by schools with my Department since the system was notified to schools in mid-May. It is a matter for each school to determine the pupils with high incidence special education and learning support needs that will receive supplementary teaching support. Each school will have enough resource teaching hours to provide its pupils with a level of support appropriate to their needs.

The school can then use its professional judgment to decide how these hours are divided between different children in the school to ensure that all their needs are met. Research shows that some children with special needs will respond better with one-to-one tuition. Others, however, do better then taught in small groups. Often it is best for resource teachers to work with children in the classroom rather than taking them away to a separate room as the children then have to catch up work done by the rest of the class in their absence. I have asked my officials to contact the school to discuss its concerns.