Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 501: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of primary and post-primary children with serious reading difficulties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42932/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I want to assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to doing everything that we can to reduce the number of children with serious reading difficulties. We are very conscious of the fact that good levels of literacy and numeracy are fundamental prerequisites for full educational and social participation, and we have intensified our efforts. As the Deputy will be aware, a general allocation system has been introduced to provide teacher support to all mainstream 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 was designed to put in place a permanent resource in primary schools to cater for pupils with these special educational needs.

Second-level pupils with reading difficulties are normally integrated into ordinary classes. In such situations, they may receive additional tutorial support from the remedial/learning support teacher, guidance counsellor and subject teachers. Primary and second-level schools may apply to the local special educational needs organiser, an official of the National Council for Special Education, for additional teaching support in respect of pupils that satisfy the criteria for such support on account of their special educational needs. I am particularly conscious of the need for extra support for children in disadvantaged areas who are more at risk of having reading difficulties. A key underlying principle of DEIS, the action plan for educational inclusion that I launched last year, is that of early intervention. It focuses on identifying and assisting children who are having difficulty with reading and writing at an early stage with the aim of preventing literacy difficulties from becoming entrenched.

Children in DEIS schools that are identified as having major reading difficulties will be targeted early on to benefit from intensive, individualised literacy tuition through the Reading Recovery programme. This programme, under which each child is/can be provided with 2.5 hours of extra reading tuition a week, has been extremely positively received since its introduction a few years ago. The number of schools participating in the programme has already been doubled from 66 in 2004 to 136 in 2006. Access to Reading Recovery is being rolled out to all of the more than 330 urban primary schools participating in DEIS. Children with writing difficulties in these schools will also be targeted for extra support through the roll-out of the First Steps Programme to all urban primary DEIS schools. Taken together, the expansion of these two programmes, will significantly improve the service available to children with literacy difficulties in disadvantaged areas. These measures will also be augmented by other extra supports being put in place under DEIS such as smaller classes at primary level, an expansion of the Home School Community Liaison scheme, a new initiative on pre-service and in-service professional development for teachers, and more school libraries at second level.

What is also very important is that there will be a much greater focus on target-setting and planning under DEIS to ensure that the substantial extra resources being provided will lead to better outcomes for children. In this context, the School Development Planning service will support schools in developing their plans and policies for teaching literacy and numeracy and in setting measurable targets for the reduction of serious literacy and numeracy difficulties. Of course as well as improving the supports we provide in our schools, we all know that initiatives that help parents with any literacy problems that they may have themselves can have a hugely positive effect on their children's achievement. For this reason, the establishment of a new family literacy project is also a key priority under the DEIS programme. The project will build on previous experience in this area and will be based on a partnership approach involving the VEC adult literacy services, Home School Community Liaison teachers and the National Adult Literacy Agency.

In this context, the Deputy will be aware that this Government has dramatically improved the level of provision for adult literacy training in recent years. Indeed, expenditure on adult literacy has increased by more than twenty-fold since we came into office — from €1 million in 1997 to €23 million in 2006. As a result of this dramatic increase in funding, we have been able to expand the number of people receiving adult literacy training, to the point where 35,000 people will receive a service in 2006. I believe that this unprecedented level of investment in adult literacy services will not only bring major benefits for the adults themselves, but will make a positive difference to their children's lives. Helping a parent to be able to read to their child could be one of the best things that we as a Government can do for both parent and child. So, as I have outlined, not only has this Government done a lot in recent years to improve the literacy levels of our children, we have intensified our efforts. I am confident that taken together, the initiatives that I have outlined will ensure a much greater level of support for children with literacy difficulties, and that achievement will improve considerably as a result.