Parents are increasingly worried about the level of services available in schools for children with special needs, the president of the post-primary section of the National Parents Council has said.
Speaking at an NPC annual training conference in Rosslare, Co Wexford on Saturday, Ms Eleanor Petrie said the rising number of calls to her organisation's offices underlined the concerns of parents in this regard. "While we always have a steady stream of queries about discipline and entitlements, we have noticed an increasing number of enquiries on special needs," she said.
"The most frequently raised difficulty is the Department's removal of dyslexia from the list of disabilities provided with special support. Ten per cent of our population are officially recorded as people with a disability. We must assume the same percentage applies to school-going children, who will require special support in our schools. This can range from a simple awareness by the teaching staff, through to specialist equipment and individual career support," she said.
The difficulties experienced in multi-racial schools were another important issue for parents, Ms Petrie said. "We have seen a dramatic rise in enrolments from a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds, this reflects the changes we see in the wider community," she said. "We need to embrace the challenge this provides, and work to put in place clear objectives and support for teachers and schools to ensure this integration takes place to every pupil's advantage."
The three-day conference organised by the NPC heard presentations on a number of issues.These included possible future directions for the development of the senior cycle, and an analysis of the O'Brien report.
This report was commissioned by the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, to look at the issue of state financial support for, and recognition of, parental representation at second level.
Ms Petrie said that despite the difficulties experienced in the past, the strong message from the O'Brien Report was for recognition of the vast amount of commitment given by parents to the National Parents Council over the past 18 years.