John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 227: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the numbers of national school teachers nationally for each of the past 10 years; they way in which the numbers of teachers compare with earlier decades; the way in which the extra teachers have been used; the number who are used as special needs or resource teachers; the improvements in class sizes over recent years; and if she will make a statement on extra teaching resources to schools in disadvantaged areas. [22085/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The details requested by the Deputy are as follows. The details refer to the position as at 30th June of the year in question except in the case of 2006 where they relate to the position as at 31st March.

The numbers of teaching posts in 1966, 1976 and 1986 were 14,614, 17,055 and 21,125 respectively.

As can be seen from these statistics, there have been major improvements in school staffing in recent years. The additional posts created were utilised to reduce class sizes and the pupil teacher ratio and to provide for the needs of pupils from disadvantaged areas and those with special educational needs.

Today there is one teacher for every 17 children, the lowest pupil teacher ratio in the history of the State. Average class size has been reduced from 27 to 24.

Aside from decreasing average class size, the unprecedented increase in school staffing in recent years has also greatly improved the services provided for children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas.

With regard to the number of teachers in our schools who are specifically dedicated to providing education for children with Special Educational Needs, the position is that at primary level there are now approximately 5,000 teachers in our primary schools working directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. This compares to fewer than 1,500 in 1998.

In relation to support for children from disadvantaged areas, the Deputy will be aware that last year I launched a new action plan for educational inclusion, DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), one aspect of which will be more staffing for the most disadvantaged schools. Under the plan, there will be a reduction in class sizes to 24:1 at senior level and 20:1 at junior level in the 180 primary schools serving communities with the highest concentrations of disadvantage. The plan provides for an extra 300 posts across the education system over the course of a five year period — some of these are teaching posts and others are support staff. I expect that approximately 150 extra teaching posts will have been created in primary and post-primary schools by the end of the 2006/07 school year under the DEIS plan.

This Government has clearly demonstrated its commitment to improving staffing in our primary schools by hiring thousands of extra teachers in recent years and we will continue to make progress on this issue.