Flexibility on learning difficulty cutbacks signalled by O'Keeffe

MINISTER FOR Education Batt O’Keeffe has signalled a partial rowback on cuts to special teacher support for over 350 children with mild learning difficulties.

Mr O’Keeffe faced strong criticism last week over his decision to cut the allocation of a special needs teacher to 119 schools which run separate classes for children with a mild general learning disability.

But he said yesterday he would be willing to allow schools in close proximity to pool their special needs classes rather than merging the pupils into mainstream lessons.

Speaking outside an education conference in Dublin Castle, the Minister defended his decision to cut the special teacher support, saying “we have pupil-teacher ratios that we have to live by and over 50 per cent of the special needs classes have five or less students and are not meeting any of the criteria set down for those classes”.

However, the Minister said: “Some of those schools may now come together and share and make a class out of two schools and that is an option I am willing to discuss with the schools in question.”

His comments appear to pave the way for some schools to keep separate classes for certain pupils who are deemed to benefit from being taught outside the mainstream classroom.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) said the suggestion by Mr O’Keeffe that he will look at the rationalisation of special classes rather than the closure of all 128 classes was the first sign that he understood the consequences of the announcement for the children concerned.

The union’s general secretary John Carr said: “At long last it seems the Minister is prepared to look at the needs of children rather than trying to save what in national terms is petty cash.

“It now appears the Minister is prepared to examine the matter as an educational issue rather than a financial one only,” he said.

Fine Gael’s education spokesman Brian Hayes said: “If Mr O’Keeffe is now suggesting that he will rationalise some of the classes as against suppressing all of the classes, this represents some progress.”

Mr Hayes said he was concerned that the Minister did not understand the impact of his announcement of last week and had no educational justification for the position he had taken.

Mr O’Keeffe rejected claims his cutbacks were made on financial grounds, saying “it has been felt for some time in educational circles that children with mild intellectual disabilities were better off with their peers in the general classroom”.

He said many special needs classes had been disbanded and the pupils in these schools were now integrating into the normal class with the resource/learning supports allocated under the General Allocation Model introduced in 2005.

“I have checked with some of the teachers in these schools and they are quite confident that students and pupils with mild general intellectual disabilities can integrate properly and can grow within those circumstances,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

Mr Carr acknowledged that the Minister’s assertion that some schools voluntarily closed special classes and integrated children was true.

“But what the Minister failed to say was that this resulted from assessments by parents, teachers and other professionals of what was best for the children in question.

“Such decisions were based on children’s interests, not financial considerations, ” the INTO general secretary said.

Last week, the 119 schools which run some 128 special needs classes were informed by letter of the decision to axe the teacher supports without any prior consultation.

The move, which is to be implemented in the next school year, would save the Department of Education a mere €7 million from its total budget of €9 billion.

Under the current rules, primary schools are allowed to establish a special needs class if they have 11 pupils with a mild general learning disability.

The Department of Education can withdraw the allocation of a special needs teacher in cases where the number of such pupils falls below nine.