Only 36 per cent of second-level schools have a permanent resource teacher on staff to co-ordinate supports for special needs students, despite the huge numbers seeking additional support.
A new survey from ASTI, the second-level teaching union, says that less than half of all schools have a permanent learning support teacher.
The survey, one of the most detailed of its kind, highlights what ASTI calls the chronically deficient support facilities in meeting the needs of students with special educational needs.
In all, over 5 per cent of all second-level students have special educational needs. Among schools surveyed:
90 per cent have students with mild general learning difficulties;
82 per cent have students with specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia;
59 per cent of schools have students with emotional and or behavioural disorders;
41 per cent have students with autism or autistic spectrum disorders.
A disturbing 89 per cent of schools have students with special educational needs who have not been formally assessed.
ASTI says the National Educational Psychological Service, which carries out these assessments, is vastly understaffed.
Some 74 per cent of the 177 principals surveyed reported long delays in getting appointments with psychologists from the service.
Over 40 per cent said it took an average of three months or more to secure an appointment with the service and 35 per cent of principals reported a two-month delay.
Almost 60 per cent of principals surveyed cited delays in accessing the psychological service and students not being assessed quickly enough as the single biggest barrier to the inclusion of students with special educational needs in schools. Other reasons cited were whole school staff training for teachers (66 per cent) and difficulties in getting teaching resources (57 per cent).
Only half of the surveyed schools have been provided with additional hours for resource teachers (48 per cent) and learning support (40 per cent).
Meanwhile, two-thirds of the surveyed schools employed special needs assistants, who are care workers rather than trained teachers.
Commenting on the results of the survey, ASTI general secretary John White said the survey showed that teachers had been operating with the most meagre resources in their efforts to include special needs students in the mainstream.