Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan is seeking Cabinet approval for additional spending on Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in schools due to the rising number of children presenting with learning disabilities.
An announcement was due before the end of June on SNA allocations for schools in 2015/16 but this has been delayed because the need identified by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is greater than that which had been budgeted for.
In Budget 2015, the Minister announced an extra 220 SNAs were to start from September 2015, bringing to 11,330 the total number in schools.
The NCSE has processed applications for next year and has identified a further surge in demand. However, any additional spending has to be approved by Cabinet, which is expected to consider the issue at its meeting next week.
In a statement, the Department of Education said: “Confirmation of the numbers involved was only received [from the NCSE] last Thursday, and the Minister will be seeking to confirm allocations to schools over the next 10 days.”
The INTO primary teachers’ union has strongly criticised the department for the delay in announcing allocations, saying it had caused unnecessary uncertainty and concern among principals, staff and parents.
Still waiting
Fianna Fáil councillor for Dublin North-West Paul McAuliffe added to this criticism on Tuesday, saying SNAs were still waiting to find out if they would have a job to go back to in September.
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection is meeting on Wednesday to discuss the broader role of SNAs, which provide non-teaching supports to students with special educational needs.
Meanwhile, the department has published its annual school figures showing the number of children entering primary school grew by more than 8,000 or 1.6 per cent last year.
End-of-year data shows that 544,696 children began primary school last September, compared with 536,3017 in September 2013, in an upward trend that is set to continue thanks to Ireland's relatively high birth rate.
The total number of births in Ireland increased by 11 per cent in the decade up to 2013, with the birth rate peaking in 2008.
The department figures show the number of primary schools dropped last year from 3,145 to 3,137, mainly due to the amalgamation or closure of smaller schools. The number of second-level schools rose from 723 to 732.
A total of 603 primary schools had fewer than 50 pupils, and a further 702 had between 50 and 99 pupils, and their future now looks secure thanks to the Government's decision last year to scrap a value for money report into their operation.
Just 118 primary schools had more than 500 pupils.
In contrast, nearly half (360) of second-level schools have more than 500 pupils.
An extra 785 primary school teachers were employed last year boosting the workforce at primary level to 33,613. The number of teachers at secondary level rose by 548 to 26,174, a figure that excludes those working for Education and Training Boards.
Pupil-teacher ratio
At primary level, the pupil-teacher ratio last year stood at 16.2 – down from 16.3 in 2013/14 – but the average class size rose from 24.8 to 24.9.
When Post-Leaving Certificate courses were excluded, the second-level pupil-teacher ratio remained unchanged at 13.9.
The number of schools offering PLC courses dropped by five to 159, continuing a trend of recent years. The number of students in PLC courses similarly declined – from 34,003 to 33,089 – despite an added policy emphasis under the current Government on further education and training.
The number of students entering third level rose by 2.6 per cent last year to 173,649. Some 95,120 of these went to university.
In contrast, just 29,911 students went to third level in 1974/75 – 40 years previously.
The total number of individuals in full-time education last year – at primary, secondary, PLC or third level – stood at 1.09 million, or about a quarter of the population of Ireland.
