John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 595: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the steps she has taken to address issues (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12605/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Significant improvements in the levels of direct funding to second level schools have been made in recent years. The funding arrangements made by my Department for second level schools reflect the sectoral division of our second level system. At the core of all arrangements is a reliance upon capitation as the principle determinant of funding. There are however significant differences in the approaches to insurance cover. In my view it is important to consider these issues in the wider context of the equalisation of funding arrangements across the second level system.

My Department provides funding to secondary schools by way of per capita grants, which affords schools considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. There have been significant improvements in recent years in the level of funding for voluntary secondary schools. With effect from January 2007, the standard per capita grant was increased by €18 per pupil and now amounts to €316 per pupil. In addition, Voluntary secondary schools have benefited by the increase of €30 per pupil in 2007 in the support services grant bringing that overall grant to €189 per pupil.

The cumulative increase of €48 per pupil in a voluntary secondary school brings the aggregate grant to over €500 per pupil. These grants are in addition to the per capita funding of up to €40,000 per school that is also provided by my Department to secondary schools towards secretarial and caretaking services. For example in the case of a secondary school with 500 pupils, this brings annual grants towards general expenses and support service to over €290,000. Budget allocations for schools in the VEC and C&C sectors are increased on a pro rata basis with increases in the per capita grant.

With regard to special needs resource allocation, my Department provides a range of supports to second level schools. The supports in question include remedial and additional teaching support, special needs assistant support and funding for the purchase of specialised equipment.

As the Deputy is aware, there has been enormous progress made over the past number of years in relation to increasing the number of teachers in our schools who are specifically dedicated to providing education for children with special educational needs.

At second level, approximately 1,878 whole time equivalent additional teachers are in place to support pupils with special educational needs. This compares to the approximately 200 teachers that were in place in 1998 for such pupils. In addition, there are 534 whole time equivalent learning support teachers and approximately 1,441 whole time equivalent special needs assistants (SNA's) in our second level schools.

The Deputy will also be aware that with effect from 1 January 2005, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has taken over key functions from my Department in relation to special educational provision. The NCSE was formally established as an independent statutory body on the 1st October 2005 under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2005. The Council acts under the broad policy direction of the Department of Education and Science but has the resources and the remit to play the leading role in the delivery of education services to children with disabilities/ special needs.

The NCSE co-ordinates with the health services, schools and other relevant bodies regarding the provision of education and related support services to children with disabilities/ special needs. The responsibilities of the NCSE include the following:

Deciding on applications for additional teaching support in respect of children with disabilities with special educational needs at second level;

Deciding on applications for special needs assistant (SNA) hours;

Processing applications for school placement in respect of children with disabilities with special education needs.

The precise model of provision made available at second level will depend on the assessed needs of the pupils involved. Some pupils are capable of attending ordinary classes on an integrated basis with additional teacher and/or special needs assistant support. In other cases, placement in special dedicated classes or units attached to the school may be the more appropriate response. Such special classes operate at significantly reduced pupil teacher ratios. Students attached to these special classes may be facilitated in attending ordinary subject classes on an integrated basis wherever possible.

The NCSE, through the local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) will process the relevant application for resources and inform the school of the outcome. It is important to note that in the case of decisions on additional teaching and SNA support, the SENO will outline the process to the school and parents, where appropriate, and will at the end of the process outline the basis on which the decision was made. I am confident that the advent of the NCSE will prove of major benefit in ensuring that all children with special educational needs receive the support they require.

With regard to pupil teacher ratios, the Deputy will be aware that significant improvements have been made in the staffing of our second level schools in recent years. In the 2001/2002 school year, there were approximately 24,477 wholetime equivalent teaching posts allocated to second level schools. For 2006/2007, the corresponding figure is 25,484 wholetime equivalent posts. This increase in staffing has dramatically improved the pupil teacher ratio at post primary level in recent years. The pupil teacher ratio has fallen from 13.9:1 in the 2001/2002 school year to 13.2:1 in the 2005/2006 school year. And with regard to non- national students, I can assure the Deputy that it is a major priority for this Government to ensure that all children get the support that they need to do well at school. In order to ensure that children with low levels of competence in the English language can succeed at school, my Department gives additional support to their schools which can take the form of financial assistance, additional temporary teacher posts or portions of teacher posts. Guidelines have also been produced for teachers on teaching English as an additional language and these guidelines are available on the NCCA website.

The level of extra financial or teaching support provided to any school is determined by the numbers of non-English speaking students enrolled. Each school management can decide on the structure of the support to be provided in its own school. Between extra language support posts and grant aid, the level of support provided to schools to meet the needs of children whose first language is not English has increased dramatically in recent years. Nonetheless I am very conscious of the pressures on schools that have large numbers of non-English speaking children enrolled. I am determined to provide greater support for these schools. To that end, provision has been made for an extra 200 language support teachers in 2007. A further 350 posts will be provided under the Towards 2016 partnership agreement between 2008 and 2009.

All of the above is a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritise available resources to address the needs of schools. I can assure the Deputy that resources will continue to be targeted at those areas where they are most needed.