Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 710: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if information will be provided on the primary schools which have 30 children or more in their classes in Cork city and county for 2003, 2004 and 2005. [28715/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In the 2003-04 school year the number of children in classes of 30 or more was 3,260 in Cork city and 9,107 in Cork county. In the 2004-05 school year the provisional figure for the number of children in classes of 30 or more is 3,159 in Cork city and 10,451 in Cork county. The figures for the 2005-06 school year are not available from my Department. The progress made in reducing class sizes in Cork in recent years is evident from the fact that in 1997, 8,075 children were in classes of 30 or more in Cork city and 13,995 children were in classes of 30 plus in Cork county.

The Deputy should be aware that significant improvements have been made in the pupil-teacher ratio in recent years. The pupil-teacher ratio, which includes all the teachers including resource teachers, has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to a projected 17.1:1 in 2004-05. More than 4,500 additional teachers have been employed in our primary schools since 1997. In allocating teaching posts, regard has been had to the commitments of the Government to reduce class size, tackle educational disadvantage and provide additional resources for pupils with special educational needs. The additional teaching posts created since 1997 have been deployed to address all of these priorities.

Regarding the number of classes in our schools with over 30 pupils, the Deputy should be aware that the general rule is that schools are staffed on the basis of having a maximum class size of 29 across the school. Where some classes in a school have class sizes of greater than 29, it is often because a decision has been taken at local level to use teaching resources to have smaller numbers in other classes. Therefore, figures on the number of children in classes over 30 should be interpreted with caution. What is more instructive is the average class size in a particular school. The average class size in Cork city in 2004-05 was 22.9 and the average class size in Cork county was 24.6.

Regarding providing for children with special educational needs, more than 5,000 teachers in our primary schools work directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. This compares to less than 1,500 in 1998. One out of every five primary school teachers now works specifically with children with special needs. The Deputy will be aware of the new action plan for educational inclusion, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, which I launched recently. This action plan will result in the reduction in class sizes of 24:1 at senior level and 20:1 at junior level in 150 primary schools serving communities with the highest concentrations of disadvantage.

In line with the commitment in the programme for Government, class sizes will be further reduced. The deployment of additional posts will be decided within the context of the overall policy that priority will be given to pupils with special needs, those from disadvantaged areas and junior classes.