660 extra teachers for special needs work

MOST primary schools will have enough staff to cater for pupils with special needs as a result of an extra 660 extra resource teachers announced by Education Minister Mary Hanafin.

The posts are being allocated under a new staff allocation system for next September, with the number of jobs in each school dependent on enrolment numbers.

At a cost of €34 million, it replaces an earlier proposed staffing model, announced by former minister Noel Dempsey last June. It was also based on pupil numbers, but would have resulted in 1,300 schools losing 664 existing special needs jobs.