Language support vital, says INTO

THE IRISH National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has warned the Government about the effects of cuts in the number of support language teachers for non-Irish national students.

The level of extra teaching support allocated to schools is determined by the numbers of eligible pupils enrolled and on their language proficiency. INTO said it had examples of schools where the number of pupils without English was increasing while the number of teachers was being cut.

The number of support staff has fallen by nearly 500 over the past year. There are 1,182 language support teachers at primary level and 365 at post-primary level.

Sheila Nunan, general secretary of INTO, said: “Two years’ teaching is only enough for children to develop surface understanding of a language and conversational competence. To get to a standard where newcomer children can learn subjects like science and geography through English takes a further five to seven years.”