Non-English speaking pupils failed by schools

SCHOOLS need to improve how they cater for pupils whose first language is not English, a review by the Department of Education has found.

But it says that rather than focusing solely on dedicated language teachers, greater focus and training for all staff is needed, particularly at second-level.

The cost of increased resources for language services for newcomer children rose from €10 million a decade ago to around €140m in 2009 in response to rising immigration. Around 10% of primary students are non-Irish and slightly fewer at second-level, where there are more than 24,000 such students.