Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 227: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to improve the scale and quality of services available to children with special needs in mainstream education with particular reference to the need to ensure that all pupils have access to a good pupil/teacher ratio in the classroom; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22119/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The level of resources being made available by my Department to support students with special educational needs in mainstream education has grown significantly in recent years. This includes major improvements in staffing levels in primary schools. The Deputy will be aware that my Department implemented a new scheme for allocating learning support / resource teachers (LS/RTs) to schools to cater for the needs of children with high-incidence special educational needs such as dyslexia or mild learning difficulties in all primary schools in September 2005. The general allocation model was designed to ensure that each school has learning support/resource teaching support available to meet the needs of children with high incidence special needs. The scheme facilitates early intervention as the resource is in place in the school when the child enrols.

Significant improvements have been made in the staffing of schools in recent years. By the 2006/07 school year, the average class size in primary schools has fallen to 24, while the pupil teacher ratio was 16.4:1, including resource teachers etc. At post-primary level, 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. A further significant development has been the establishment of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) which has been in operation since 1 January 2005 with over 90 members of staff working exclusively in supporting students with special educational needs. The NCSE was established under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (EPSEN) to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities with particular emphasis on children. Since it was established in 2005, the NCSE has been responsible for allocating resources for children with special educational needs. The NCSE has a key role in the delivery of services and operates through a network of special educational needs organisers (SENOs) who act as a focal point of contact for schools and parents. SENOs are responsible for processing applications from schools for special needs supports and they convey decisions on the applications directly to the schools. These supports include resource teaching hours, special needs assistant (SNA) support and assistive technology and equipment.

At primary level, there are now over 6,000 teachers working directly with children with special educational needs, including those requiring learning support, compared with fewer than 1,500 in 1998. At post-primary level, over 2,450 wholetime equivalent teachers support special needs students compared with 200 in 1998. This includes 566 learning support teachers. Significant progress has been made in relation to increasing the number of SNAs in our schools who specifically cater for children with care needs. There are over 8,800 whole time equivalent SNAs in primary and post-primary schools supporting the care needs of these students compared with approximately 300 in 1998.

As well as this increase in the numbers of additional teachers and SNAs directly providing appropriate education and care supports for children with special educational needs, much investment has taken place in the provision of transport, specialist school accommodation, home tuition, assistive technology and equipment. For example, more than €3 million was spent last year on specialised equipment and materials and nearly €50 million on school transport for special needs pupils. My Department will continue its focus on measures to improve the quality of education in our schools to ensure that increased resources lead to better outcomes for our children. The Government is committed to providing more teachers to our schools over the next five years. The implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act will support the maximum possible integration of students with special educational needs while always allowing for individuals for whom integration with mainstream peers is not appropriate.