The lack of training to help secondary schoolteachers deal with children was sharply criticised by Ms Mary Hanafin (FF, Dun Laoghaire) ail committee yesterday.
Ms Hanafin, said "As a secondary schoolteacher, I think we are supremely qualified to cope with nothing, other than the fact that we did two subjects in a degree and then eight months for a higher diploma," she added. "We get absolutely no training in dealing with children at all."
Ms Hanafin was speaking at a meeting of the Dail Committee on Education and Science which heard submissions on special education from the national parents' councils, representing the primary and post-primary sectors, and the South Dublin Parents' Support Group. The committee was told it was important teachers were skilled to handle the education of children with physical or mental disabilities.
"The professional development of teachers should allow them improve their skills on an ongoing basis. Disability issues should be part of teacher-training. Catering for the needs of individual children, and the devising of individualised plans to meet the needs of these students is a technique that needs to be embraced by teachers."
The submissions also called for the introduction of a pupil-teacher ratio which would allow for as much individual attention as was necessary to meet the needs of students and the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the special education review committee should be carried out immediately.