Special needs teachers – Education is not electoral carrot

PARENTS and teachers alike will find it hard not to be cynical about the timing of Education Minister Noel Dempsey’s announcement that he intends creating an extra 350 special teaching posts to cater for primary school children with learning difficulties.

It’s the election, stupid. That’s the raw political reality behind an initiative that is clearly part of a rolling Government campaign aimed at milking the good news factor in the run up to local and European elections.

That said, however, it would be churlish not to welcome this decision unveiled at yesterday’s session of the INTO Congress. It represents a positive step towards clearing a backlog of almost 7,000 pupils who need special teaching.