With students from more than 160 countries now enrolled in Irish secondary schools, what measures are being taken to combat racism in schools and are they working? Nuala Haughey, Social and Racial Affairs Correspondent, reports'If we had Irish children with such economic disadvantages, the school wouldprobably have designated disadvantaged status'

Non-national children account for around three per cent of pupils in secondary schools, but this figure belies the significant ongoing challenge of promoting interculturalism and combating racism within the education system.

With students from more than 160 countries attending primary and secondary schools throughout the State, increased ethnic diversity is alive and well in the classroom, yet some teachers report that policy and provision is yet to catch up fully with this reality.

"The biggest thing that has emerged is the perceived need among schools for support, training and resources to help integration," says Marie Moreau from the City of Dublin VEC Curriculum Development Unit who is working on a pilot project to produce a model of "whole school planning on interculturalism and inclusion".

The project, partly funded by the Department of Education and Science, is supporting three schools where some 10 per cent of the student population are from an ethnic minority background to develop their ethos, structures and the taught and untaught curricula, to reflect inclusion and interculturalism.

"Schools are very much at a stage where they see that they have quite visible minority groups and they want support in how best to address the needs of the children and be positive in integration," adds Moreau.

Sean Cottrell is principal of Glounthaune National School about 10 miles outside Cork city, which, two years ago, went "overnight from being white, middle-class, upper economic strata and Catholic" to being ethnically and religiously diverse. This followed the opening of a reception centre for asylum-seekers less than a mile down the road.

Some 10 per cent of the school's 310 students are "overseas pupils" - a term specifically adopted as it has more positive connotations that "non-national pupils".

Cottrell says the pupils, who may have endured long and traumatic journeys to Ireland, arrive often like frightened mice, "their nerves rattled to bits".

"Our main challenge is to give the kids a sense that they are safe and secure and welcome and that they will be looked after and on top of that they will learn English as well," he says.

He praises the positive and welcoming attitude of the community, parents and staff, as well as the enthusiasm of the overseas students and their parents. However, he also points to the economic disadvantage of children whose parents are living in "direct provision" accommodation with modest welfare supports and who face an uncertain future while awaiting decisions on their asylum claims.

"If we had Irish children with such economic disadvantages, not to mention political disadvantages, the school would probably have designated disadvantage status, with more money and a higher student-to-teacher ratio and a home liaison teacher," he says.

The main Government provision for schools with immigrant pupils is language tuition for up to two years by language support teachers who withdraw children from mainstream classes to tutor them in English. Primary and post-primary schools with 14 or more non-national pupils with significant English language deficits are automatically entitled to an additional temporary teacher. Schools with 28 or more pupils are entitled to a maximum of two temporary teachers. Primary schools with between three and 13 non-English speaking pupils receive a range of grant aid supports for these pupils, while post-primary schools can apply for extra teaching hours.

There are currently 217 language support teachers in 171 primary schools in the State and 157 such posts in more than 136 secondary schools.

While welcoming this initiative, some teachers say two years is not sufficient and would like to see the provision extended for up to five years if necessary. A department spokesman says the main disadvantage suffered by non-national school children is their lack of language skills and it "seeks to provide support to address their most urgent basic need". Asked whether it plans to increase resources to meet the multi-faceted needs of schools with non-national children in promoting integration, the spokesman said the department's policy was to try to meet the needs of all students "through existing resources and targeted funding".

While there are no figures for the numbers of non-national children in primary schools, there are 9,345 currently enrolled at second level, about a third of whom are British citizens. This figure reflects the strong trend of immigration of EU and non-EU workers, as well as asylum-seekers, from countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zambia.

O'Connell's secondary school on Dublin's North Circular Road was among the first in the State to receive immigrant children, mostly asylum-seekers who are here without parents. The school is involved with the Joint Managerial Body for Catholic Schools in Ireland in a regional initiative in which it will share its experience in providing for ethnic diversity with other schools.

The LYIN initiative - Learning Support for Young International Students - is aimed at "bringing lessons we learned to the rest of the country so other schools can be better prepared," explains the school's principal, Mick Finucane.

While pupils, especially younger students, integrate naturally in the playground, teachers caution that good relations cannot be left to chance. Many schools with students from ethnic minorities have introduced buddy systems and anti-racism policies as well as induction or orientation programmes.

Plás Mhuire Boy's National School in Dublin's north inner city which has 24 children from countries such as Nigeria, the Philippines and Romania, accounting for more than 25 per cent of its student body.

"There's definitely racism out there in the community, but I would have to say that parents, teachers and pupils have worked together to ensure that we haven't had a problem," says its principal, Gregor Kerr.

While he stresses that he's "not saying it's perfect" and that there has been the odd racist incident or taunt, he emphasises the work done by the school, which has disadvantaged status, on building the self-esteem of all pupils. "If you build up a kid's own self-esteem then they don't feel the need to spit on or jump on someone else," he adds.

Kerr says there is a need for in-service intercultural and anti-racism training for all teachers. Currently, only language support teachers receive training through the government-funded Integrate Ireland Learning and Training unit, which received €124,353 in funding from the Department of Education in 2002.

One educator cites the experience of two African students who were jeered at in the classroom as an example of how, in the absence of such provision, schools can inadvertently increase the isolation of immigrant children. The two students had entered the school in Dublin city in Transition Year, which they spent learning English. "When they were put into mainstream fifth class there was no preparation of the Irish kids, who threw abuse at the immigrants. They were jeered at and subject to racist taunts during class and outside class. The two kids walked out."

LEARNING CURVE: Building a diverse curriculum

Immigrant children may have to learn different teaching styles and discipline techniques as well as getting to grips with a curriculum that may not relate to their cultural experiences.

Sr Brid Keenan from the Vincentian Refugee centre, who runs a homework club for immigrant children in St Peter's Church in north inner city Dublin, says African students learning Philadelphia Here I Come could not relate to the Brian Friel play as it requires an understanding of Irish emigration.

"They couldn't understand what the brouhaha was about," she said. "It was sitting watching a video of it with boys from Congo and the Cameroon and they were saying: 'Sr Brid, what's the big deal? We came here and we don't speak English and they are only in America'."

The school curriculum is currently being examined to see how it can be adapted for the next academic year to reflect the expanding multi-cultural society. The work is being carried out by the government advisory body, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, following consultation with ethnic minority groups.

Majella O'Shea, one of three intercultural education officers on the project, says part of their brief is to examine resources available for teachers and advise on the selection and use of texts and reading materials. "Later in the initiative we will hopefully make recommendations to publishers of text books to be aware of including an intercultural context, such as representing diversity in pictorial images," she added.

O'Shea said "there has been a lot of very good working going on in individual schools as teachers have responded to individual situations and part of the work that we will be doing is building on that best practice."

John Carr, general secretary of Irish National Teachers' Organisation, said when the current primary school curriculum was being devised in the mid-1990s there wasn't an awareness of the need for it to reflect a multi-cultural Ireland. "Our members are taking a proactive approach to the work of the NCCA," he says.

"It's important that no child would be an outsider in our schools and teachers have done tremendous work with children who come from different cultures and have overcome difficulties of language and culture through in-service training, an awful lot of it at their own expense and in their own time."