RURAL schools are subject to "blatant discrimination" under the current remedial education scheme, delegates at the final day of the INTO congress in Killarney heard yesterday.
As delegates debated disadvantage and the need for an extension of remedial education, they were told the remedial education system was not serving the needs of children, even in those schools where remedial teachers were available.
Mr Richard O'Connell, Ennis, said the majority of the 900 schools which did not have remedial education were in rural areas. He criticised the Department of Education's practice of "clustering" five or six rural schools around one remedial teacher as "unrealistic" and "scandalous".
At present 1,300 remedial teachers served over 2,300 schools, despite a recommendation by the INTO that a ratio of at least one remedial teacher to every 300 pupils should apply, with a lower ratio in clustered schools. In Clare, 30 remedial teachers served 63 schools, leaving 57 schools with 3,300 pupils without access to remedial education, he said.
Mr Declan Kelleher, of the INTO executive, said 23 schools in Waterford, representing almost one third of all primary schools in the area, were without a remedial teacher. Similarly, over 60 schools in Tipperary were without access to remedial education.
Ms Angela Dunne, of the INTO executive, said most schools without access to a remedial teacher were also located in disadvantaged areas.
Speaking on a motion demanding the review of the application of the scheme for combating disadvantage, Ms Dunne said that while one in five disadvantaged pupils lived in rural areas, only 4.9 per cent of pupils in rural areas were in schools designated as disadvantaged.
Ms Dunne called for an adequate remedial service as a priority, as well as greater flexibility in teacher retention, the broadening of reference points for disadvantage to include isolation and population decline, and grant payments for educationally disadvantaged pupils, regardless of their location or designation as disadvantaged or not.
Another executive member, Mr Denis Bohane, told delegates that, according to census figures, the schools in Cork which were located in the areas with the highest levels of unemployment, single parent families and early school leavers had not been included in the "Breaking the Cycle" scheme.
Mr Tony Bates, the new president of the INTO, said the failures of the education system were providing a "breeding ground" for Mountjoy, Cork and Limerick prisons.
The system was failing thousands of pupils each year. "Teachers and schools are finding themselves as substitute parents and homes for these young people and are being expected to absorb the anger and frustration of youths with little expectation for the future.
"Schools and teachers must be given the resources necessary to help them put in place systems that give these young people some realisation that there can be a better future." He warned delegates that "last night's joyrider is today some teacher's pupil" and there was an urgent need for the Department of Education to address the issue of provision for young people at risk.
Mr Bates urged the provision of support for class teachers and families, alternative school and teaching methods, the extension of Youth Encounter Project schools, and the provision of small units both on a day and residential basis.
He also said the primary system was suffering from "a starvation of resources" and warned that the demographic dividend would not be sufficient to meet the urgent demands of primary schools. Issues such as access to remedial education, small class sizes, supply panels, support for principals and special education provisions could not await "some future Utopia".
INTO is to provide legal advice for members who have to make a disclosure of allegations of child sexual abuse. The union is also to publish a document on family law and a model of best practice for dealing with the issue of child abuse within the coming months.
Following a private session of congress, during which a number of teachers spoke of their experiences of dealing with suspected child abuse, the INTO's general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, said the legal responsibility to report child abuse should be balanced by legal protection for the person reporting the abuse.
But he emphasised that teachers would continue to take child protection as their first priority.
A delegate, Ms Mary Kane, who runs a one teacher school in Galway with over 20 children, said the closure of one teacher schools could have a "devastating" effect on local communities. Describing one teacher schools as "the focal point of rural communities", she said she feared the Department of Education would use redeployment discussions to close one teacher schools.
Ms Mary Moloney, Clare West, said that, as a teacher in a one teacher school, she taught 25 pupils in eight classes. "You are a running, not a walking, teacher, a class teacher, a remedial teacher, a substitute parent, a health and safety expert, a psychologist, a secretary, a receptionist, a janitor, a DIY expert," she told delegates.
Congress voted to negotiate the redeployment of teachers in one teacher schools who found their situation intolerable and to initiate a campaign for their upgrading to two teacher status. It is estimated this would cost about £2.5 million.