Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of wholetime equivalent teaching posts that DEIS secondary chools in the City of Dublin Vocational Education Area will lose in September 2012, in tabular form, taking account of reductions in so called legacy posts, language support teachers, special needs assistants and the integration of guidance teaching hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27382/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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This Government has protected education as much as it can. Far greater reductions in expenditure and in the number of public servants are being made in other sectors relative to those in schools. But there are limits to the level of expenditure on education and the number of teaching posts we can afford. The Budget 2012 measures in relation to the post-primary sector are set out in the documentation that was published by my Department last December. This envisages a net overall reduction of about 450 posts at post-primary level between the current school year and the 2012/13 school year. This net reduction in posts takes account of the impact of the budget measures, demographics and the budget decision to shelter all the DEIS post-primary schools through a reduced staffing schedule of 18.25:1. This is a 0.75 point reduction compared to the existing PTR of 19:1 that applies in non fee-paying second-level schools.

My Department has published Circular 0009/2012 to inform all post primary school management and staff of the staffing arrangements for post-primary schools for the 2012/13 school year, including in particular, the requirements to manage guidance from within the standard allocation. The circular is available on the Department website.

Schools will have autonomy on how best to prioritise its available resources to meet its requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate range of subjects to its students. Decisions on how this is done will be taken at school level and I am confident that schools will act in the best interest of students when determining precisely how to use the teaching resources available to them.

The final staffing position for all schools at post primary level will ultimately not be known until the Autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed and all appeals to the Staffing Appeal Board will have been considered.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support which now includes a requirement for them to have regard to the overall cap on numbers.

Schools have been advised to make applications to the NCSE for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2012/13 school year by 16th March, 2012. Schools will subsequently be advised by the NCSE of their allocation for the 2012/13 school year, based on the number of valid applications received and in the case of SNA support, the extent of the care needs of qualifying children.

In considering applications for SNA support for the new school year, the NCSE will take into account the individual care needs of all qualifying children, supports freed up due to any school leavers, and the identified care needs of newly enrolled children with special educational needs.

The NCSE will advise schools of their SNA allocation for the 2012/13 school year shortly.