Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 447: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the resources that are available to schools where a student requiring language support arrives at a time other than at the beginning of the school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24808/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In order to meet the language needs of students in our schools whose first language is not English or Irish, additional support is given to their schools which can take the form of financial assistance, additional teaching posts or portions of posts.

The level of extra financial or teaching support provided to any school is determined by the numbers of eligible non-English speaking students enrolled. I indicated in January last that the limit of two teachers per school and the limit of two years' support to an individual pupil which had applied up to then, will no longer apply. As a result, an individual school may be allocated up to six language support posts under the arrangements now in place.

Schools with between 3 and 13 eligible pupils receive grant assistance towards the cost of employing part-time teachers. Schools with 3 to 8 such pupils receive a grant of over €6,300, while schools with between 9 and 13 such pupils receive over €9,500. These amounts are based on the full school year. If the school only becomes eligible for a grant during the year, they would receive the pro-rata amount due.

Schools with 14 or more such pupils are entitled to one or more language support teachers, the number of which has increased dramatically in recent years. There are now over 1800 language support teachers in our primary and secondary schools.

In order to ensure that schools can accurately and objectively assess the language requirement of children, my Department will be sending to schools assessment materials which have been developed by Integrate Ireland Language and Training (IILT). The assessment materials will enable schools to ensure that the specific language requirements of children needing support are met in a targeted way. The IILT materials will also enable accurate initial and on-going assessment of the language proficiency of the child and his or her need for continued language support.