A significant number of primary schools could lose special education teachers under new rules to be imposed by the Department of Education.
The Department believes that some schools do not need extra help, following a survey which found that 12 per cent of Irish schoolchildren are receiving some form of special education, compared with an average of just 3 per cent throughout the EU.
A Department spokeswoman said last night a tightening up of the procedures was needed. "We may be more generous in the Republic regarding special needs and over-generous in the interpretation of Department circulars."
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, warned at a recent Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science that significant problems are beginning to appear in the operation of the system.
"We have done a survey on a limited number of schools and have found that the checks and balances in place are not sufficient and that there are places where extra support is being given where we do not think it is warranted on the basis of our professional standards," he told Fine Gael TD, Mr David Stanton.
The allocation of 788 new resource teachers, currently waiting for letters of appointments, is being reviewed to see whether the appointments are justified, said Mr Dempsey. "We either have serious health problems in this country, or we have serious problems with the way that we are rolling out this particular scheme," he added.
Special and resource teachers, along with assistants who are not qualified, help pupils with reading and writing difficulties in conjunction with language therapists where they are available.
The Department spokeswoman stressed that the expected changes should mean transfers, rather than job losses, for special needs teachers because the Government is set to spend more money on the area next year.
The Minister ordered the special needs survey of 6,900 students in 25 schools shortly after he took charge of the Department.
The planned restrictions are set to provoke a major row between the Minister and teachers' organisations and parents groups, and the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party.
The Department survey found that 3 per cent are categorised as special needs pupils; 6 per cent are helped daily by resource teachers, while 12 per cent are given lesser degrees of extra help.
There are 2,200 resource teachers, with 4,800 assistants full-time and part-time.
