Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 468: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of temporary teachers in the primary system who teach children in the low incidence category, autism, speech and language, physical disability and emotional behavioural difficulties; her views on whether it is natural for teachers in such temporary teaching position to leave when permanency becomes available; her views on this situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40529/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the information in relation to the number of temporary teachers in the primary system who teach children in the low-incidence special educational needs categories is not readily available.

Many teaching posts that cater for pupils in the low-incidence categories also cater for pupils with high-incidence special educational needs and learning support requirements.

Under my Department's Circular 0036/2006 all learning support/resource teacher (LS/RT) posts that were temporary or fixed term in schools in the 2005/2006 school year may be re-categorised as permanent posts for 2006/2007 school year and onwards, provided the criteria for retaining the posts are met. It is also the case that any new LS/RT or resource teacher (RT) posts will be regarded as permanent. A fulltime post consists of 25 hours per week. A minimum of 22 hours, comprising low-incidence hours or a combination of low-incidence hours and general allocation hours is required to create or retain a first post. Where schools or clusters of schools cannot bring enough hours together to create or retain a fulltime permanent post the school may recruit part-time teachers for the hours required. Fulltime and part-time posts exist only for as long as the posts are warranted.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 469: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the hours of special teaching that children with a mild general learning disability or specific learning difficulty are entitled to in primary schools; the way this is determined; the criteria used for such determination; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that such children receive a diluted service in main stream schools in many cases; her views on whether specific learning difficulties are so specific that it becomes almost impossible to cater for all children in a teaching session; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40564/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department, in consultation with educational interests, introduced a new General Allocation system of teacher support to all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher incidence special educational needs, that is, pupils with borderline mild and mild general learning disability and specific learning disability. The allocation is also intended to support those with learning support needs. This model, which was announced in 2004 and came into effect in September 2005, was designed to put in place a permanent resource in primary schools to cater for pupils with these special educational needs.

The new system has a number of benefits associated with it:

It puts resources in place on a more systematic basis, thereby giving schools more certainty about their resource levels;

It facilitates early intervention as the resource is in place when the child enrols; and

It allows flexibility to school management in the deployment of resources, leading to a more effective and efficient delivery of services.

The new system means that rather than schools having to make individual applications for resources for such pupils, resources are provided in advance to the school. It is a matter for each school to determine the pupils with high incidence special education and learning support needs that will receive this support. Each school will have enough General Allocation teaching hours to provide its pupils with a level of support appropriate to their needs.

The school can then use its professional judgement to decide how these hours are allocated to the pupils in the school, to ensure that all their needs are met. Research shows that some pupils with special needs will respond better with one-to-one tuition. Others, however, do better when taught in small groups. Often it is best for resource/learning support teachers to work with pupils in the classroom rather than taking them away to a separate room, as the pupils then have to catch up on work done by the rest of the class in their absence. The point is that the type of response needed depends on the pupil.

My Department issued a comprehensive circular (Sp Ed 02/05) to all primary schools regarding the organisation of teaching resources for pupils who need additional support in mainstream primary schools. The main purpose of this circular is to provide guidance for schools on the deployment and organisation of the teaching resources that were allocated under the general allocation model. It is anticipated that a review of general allocations will be undertaken after three years of operation.