Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 204: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the supports given to schools where there are many different nationalities represented by the children in these schools to meet the needs of these schools in particular. [23977/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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To meet the needs of migrant pupils for whom English is a second language, English Language Support Teachers have been appointed to primary and post-primary schools to provide additional language support for pupils. In collaboration with parents and class teachers, Language Support Teachers identify pupils requiring additional support, devise appropriate language programmes, deliver the programmes and record and monitor pupils' progress. There are now just under 2,000 language support teachers in the schools at a cost of €120 million per annum. Schools with less than the 14 such pupils needed to qualify for one support teacher are provided with financial resources to assist them.

There are resources available specifically for English Language Support Teachers and other resources for the whole school team.

The National Council on Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has developed Intercultural Guidelines, one set for primary schools and one for post-primary schools, to support teachers and schools in developing a more inclusive learning environment and in providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to participate in a diverse society.

The NCCA has also published "English as an Additional Language in Irish Primary Schools – Guidelines for Teachers" to assist classroom teachers in meeting the language and learning needs of the child for whom English is an additional language in the primary school so that he/she can access all areas of the primary school curriculum.

My Department has distributed a resource book ("Up and Away") for English language support teachers to all primary schools, which serves as the basis for induction seminars for newly-appointed language support teachers. This was prepared by Integrate Ireland Language and Training (IILT).

IILT, in collaboration with the Southern Education and Library Board (in Armagh) published a "Toolkit for diversity in the primary school — Together towards Inclusion" in December 2007. It has been distributed to all primary schools on the island.

A language assessment kit, prepared by (IILT) has been circulated to all primary schools in recent weeks. This will enable accurate initial and on-going assessment of the language proficiency of newcomer children. It is proposed to have an assessment kit for post-primary schools available later in the year.

The Department has information on its website in six languages, which is of use to both parents and schools. These languages are Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish and German.

The National Educational Welfare Board provides information entitled "Don't Let Your Child Miss Out" in 18 languages, which will help schools when they are interacting with parents of different nationalities.