Deprived areas lose teachers in special needs

Two schools in one of the most deprived areas in the State have lost special-needs teachers.

The Irish National Teachers' Organisation said many other small schools in deprived areas will also lose their special-needs teachers from today.

Despite an announcement by the Department of Education in May that 660 new special-needs teachers would be in place this September, new criteria for their appointment has meant St Vincent's infant school for boys in Summerhill, Dublin, and St Laurence O'Toole's primary school for girls, off Sheriff Street, Dublin, will lose teachers.

Under new arrangements, schools will get a special- needs teacher based on numbers enrolled rather than assessed need.

Schools in designated disadvantaged areas, in which both these schools are, will get a special-needs teacher for every 80 pupils enrolled. This means St Vincent's, which has 93 pupils, will lose one of the two teachers it had last year. Similarly, St Laurence O'Toole's had one special-needs teacher last year which it will lose this year because it has 77 pupils.

Principal of St Vincent's Peter Courtney said this would "severely compromise our capacity to deliver a service to the most marginalised children".

"It has been a source of great pride to us that for the past four years the school results have improved to such an extent that all the children have transferred to national school with reading and writing skills in the average band."

He said he had grave concerns for the prospects of his most needy children in the coming years.

In nearby St Laurence O'Toole's, teacher Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said: "We got a special-needs teacher here a few years ago and it has been great. It meant the weaker students could get some focused, one-to-one time. Losing that means those kids simply won't achieve what I know they are capable of."