Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

411. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of employing an additional 1,000 resource teachers. [19271/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to advise the Deputy that the cost of employing an additional 1,000 resource teachers would be approximately €60 million per year, based on current average salary rates.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

412. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the projected recruitment of additional teachers, additional resource teachers, and additional special needs assistants, over the next five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19272/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to advise the Deputy that my focus in Budget 2015 was on obtaining the additional funding that was necessary to provide for demographic growth. The last Budget included an increase in spending on education for the first time in recent years, amounting to additional funding of €60m during 2015.

This funding will be used to provide 1,700 additional teachers and SNAs for our schools, as well as to fund prioritised reforms, such as implementation of the literacy and numeracy strategy, reform of junior cycle, and the introduction of education focussed pre-school inspections. The improvements in the Primary Staffing Schedule for small schools which I announced in February last are the only changes that I will be making to the staffing arrangements for schools for the 2015/16 school year.

I also wish to advise the Deputy that an additional 365 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts have been provided for in 2015, as well as an additional 480 Resource Teachers, which takes into account increased demand and demographic growth.

11,300 SNA posts are available for allocation in 2015. 6705 resource teaching posts are also available to the NCSE to allocate to schools. This is the highest number of Resource Teaching and SNA support that we have ever had and has ensured that children can continue to have access to additional supports in school.

The number of posts which will be required for allocation in futures years will be considered as part of the annual budgetary and estimate process which takes place each year.

The Deputy will also be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has recommended the development of a new model for delivering teaching resources to schools to support students with special needs.

Through consultations, there was a broad welcome for the proposed new model from Parents, disability groups, schools and stakeholders. However, there has not been sufficient time to address all of the concerns which have been raised in advance of the 2015 school year.

My Department is, however, continuing to develop the new allocation model for schools and is currently working to devise a pilot of the new model. Issues regarding the number of resource teachers which will be required in future years will therefore be considered in the context of the development of a new allocation model.

The Government's approach to restoring the economy has helped Ireland to return to a position where we are seeing economic growth. It is a continuing improvement in our economic growth over a sustained period that will enable us to move to a point where we can look again at providing for additional teacher resources in schools which could bring about further improvement in PTR, class size and support for classroom teachers.