Dempsey pledges 350 extra staff for special needs pupils

THE 7,000 schoolchildren waiting months for resource teachers and other special needs staff will have an extra 350 staff from the start of the next school year, Education Minister Noel Dempsey said yesterday.

The 350 special needs posts he has approved at an estimated cost of €15 million will add to the 2,600 resource teachers already working in primary schools.

By next September, he said, every school will have permanent special needs staff to cater for children with learning difficulties.

"This will remove the need for parents to have their child psychologically assessed and wait for approval from the Department of Education," he said.

Mr Dempsey added that his officials would also be freed up to provide school resources for children with more severe disabilities, such as autism and Downs syndrome.

He said the figures from a department census showed up to 13% of primary school pupils have some form of learning difficulty, much higher than in other countries.

"But the criteria in Ireland for resourcing special needs are more generous than in other countries and that could explain the difference," he said.

Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Carr said the success of the model of provision will depend on the level of staff provided to each school.

"We welcome the extra posts but it is important that every child in the country has the necessary resources as soon as their difficulties are identified in the school," he said.

In the debate with Mr Dempsey, Mr Carr said dedicated funding for early childhood education is required and that primary schools should be the main centres for children between the ages of three and six.

"Studies in the United States have found that young people who got pre- school were more likely to complete second-level education, own their own homes and were even found to have longer marriages," he said.

Mr Dempsey said senior Dept of Education officials are preparing a strategy to cover the education of people in disadvantaged areas, from early childhood through to adulthood.

"For very young children, it doesn't matter whether it happens in preschool, crèche or Montessori, if there's a framework for parents and childcare workers to know what to teach them," he said.