IPPN

Published: 12 February 2009

Source: Irish Times

By : KITTY HOLLAND

SISTER RITA Wynne, principal of a national school in one of the most disadvantaged areas in the State, was "just in shock" when she got the letter on Tuesday from the Department of Education, telling her to "suppress" the learning support class for pupils with mild learning disabilities.

"It was just pure shock, knowing what the impact will be, knowing the long-term harm."

Sr Wynne is principal of the Mater Dei Convent National School, behind the Basin Street flats on James' Street in Dublin.

The 258-pupil school is designated by the Department of Education under the Delivering Equality Of Opportunity In Education scheme as band one school, ie it is in an extremely disadvantaged area. The department says it targets such schools with extra resources to improve literacy, numeracy and attendance rates.

The school has nine pupils diagnosed with a Mild General Learning Disability (MGLD), in a learning support class. When the count was done last September, however, the school had eight MGLD pupils.

The department stipulates a school must have nine MGLD pupils to qualify for a special class.

And so the school, like 118 others in the State, was told on Tuesday: "The retention of the class is no longer warranted. You are requested to make arrangements to cease the operation of MGLD class with effect from 31st August, 2009."

The letter to Sr Wynne goes on to say the nine pupils' needs must now be met by the three special needs teachers the school has to support children with lower-threshold needs, of which there are about 30. These three teachers are allocated under a system known as "general allocation" where a school gets one special needs teacher for every 80 pupils. The school will now lose the MGLD teacher, who will be redeployed elsewhere.

"It will be impossible to give the MGLD pupils the one-to-one attention they crave and the 'general allocation' system is going to be stretched so thin," says Sr Wynne.

"This is an area that was devastated by drugs and Aids in the 1980s.

"We had pupils here whose parents had died of drug overdoses. We still have extremely vulnerable children. Some hardly have language, only words, when they come here." The self-esteem of many is "very, very low".

"We see the results of early intervention, of intensive learning support.

"Their self-esteem improves and when that improves, their literacy and numeracy improves. You cannot learn if you don't like yourself. If we lose this class these children are not going to be able to cope. They aren't going to be literate leaving school. The cost will be at the other end."

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Published: 12 February 2009

Source: Irish Times Letters Page

Madam, ; I cried when I heard the news that 900 primary schoolchildren with learning difficulties are to lose their resource teachers in further cutbacks against vulnerable children by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe. At the same time, the Government is spending €7 billion bailing out the banks and details have emerged of the massive pay-outs being given to the former financial regulator.

How have we become a country where our leaders believe it is acceptable to sacrifice the education of our weakest children to fund the very people who have been responsible for so much of our current problems?

I'm not a sentimental fool. I do understand the big picture. There is a global economic crisis and we are only a part of this. The banks and the Government can't be blamed for everything and savings have to be made.

But sometimes you have to look at the small picture too. In the boom times, children with special needs received a Cinderella service with parents throughout the country having to battle for every little concession they got. Now we are in recession, what little they did get is being eroded in a series of cuts. This is wrong, and we should not support it, whatever the bigger picture. ; Yours, etc,

CAITRÍONA MAC AONGHUSA,

Myrtle Park,

Dun Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.

Madam, ; One recoils in disgust from the latest cuts in education affecting "children with mild learning disabilities". Cowardly in their design and cruel in their implementation, these cuts are targeted at the most vulnerable members of our society ; children who cannot be properly taught in normal schoolrooms.

What astonishes, however, is not merely the callousness of the cuts, but their petty meanness. The savings brought about by these measures could hardly be commensurate with the long-term, intractable and wholly unforeseeable damage they will cause to young lives. And it will not only be special-needs children and their parents who will lose out: the cost, in teaching time and effort, of reintroducing special-needs children to regular classes will be incalculable. In short, all children will lose out.

We should call this what it is: a national disgrace. Rarely has a Government loved by so few so actively sought the scorn of so many. ; Yours, etc,

SEÁN COLEMAN,

Lindisfarne Lawn,

Dublin 22.

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Published: 12 February 2009

Source: Irish Independent

By: John Walshe Education Editor

Thursday February 12 2009

Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe was last night accused of betraying defenceless children after the axing of 128 classes catering for 534 pupils with mild general-learning disabilities.

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said the children affected were among the most vulnerable in the system.

The 534 pupils will now have to go into mainstream classes, many of which have increased in size. "It is both unbelievable and unacceptable that, no matter what our economic difficulties might be, we are not making a special effort to protect children who need additional support" he said.

The Department of Education said that in the case of classes for mild general-learning disability, a minimum of nine pupils was required to retain a teaching post. "In the case of 128 classes (in 119 schools), the number of pupils dropped below this minimum," said a spokesperson.

But the Irish National Teachers Organisation said the decision was indefensible.

"The minister should be called upon to answer for this decision in the Dail," said general secretary John Carr.

Inclusion Ireland, which is the National Association for People with an Intellectual Disability, said it was shocked and outraged by the decision.

And the National Parents Council (primary) said it was concerned that if the decision had been made for cost-cutting reasons, the individual needs of children could be severely affected.

- John Walshe Education Editor

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Published: 12 February 2009

Source: Irish Times

By: SEÁN FLYNN and KILIAN DOYLE

MINISTER FOR Education Batt O'Keeffe is under growing pressure to rescind his controversial decision to cut special teacher support for over 530 children with mild general learning disabilities.

The surprise move, which has unleashed a storm of protest, will yield less than €7 million in annual savings for the department from a total budget of €9 billion, according to the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO).

Unusually, the 119 schools in question were informed of the cutback by letter on Tuesday morning without any prior consultation between the department and the INTO or special needs teachers. The union is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister, in a bid to reverse the decision.

On RTÉ's News at One yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe said he did not know exactly how much money the measure would save annually. Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said the "unforgivable" move was an "attack" on the most vulnerable pupils in the school system.

He said "additional and unsustainable pressure" will be put on existing mainstream classes, which would "inhibit the rights of all children to a decent education".

Labour equality spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch accused the department of abandoning children with special needs.

INTO general secretary John Carr said he was "shocked" at what he called an "indefensible" decision. "On a day when €8 billion is being provided to bail out banks, the Department of Education is axing €7 million in funding to special needs children," he said.

"The decision was made purely on financial grounds. The National Council for Special Education has commissioned a report on special classes. Yet before this is published, the whole infrastructure is being pulled down. It is certainly not being made on educational grounds."

Mr O'Keeffe said 534 children in 128 primary school classes would be affected when the move was implemented in the next school year.

The pupils would now be taught by mainstream teachers in regular classes. He wrote to the schools to inform them the positions were being cut due to the falling numbers of pupils with special needs in the classes. In the case of classes for mild general learning disability, a minimum of nine pupils is required to retain a teaching post.

Yesterday, Mr O'Keeffe said 50 of the schools earmarked had four pupils or less in their special needs class.

When the children are moved to mainstream classes, they will still have special needs assistants and access to a resource or support teacher, he insisted.

"There isn't any massive change . . . There are hundreds of similar kids right around that have been integrated into mainstream classes," he said.

The department said 80 of the 119 schools affected had reduced class sizes under various disadvantaged schemes, and 17 of these would gain an additional post when pupils were divided among mainstream classes.

Ms Lynch said Labour has supported educating children with special needs within the mainstream school system.

"Ending vital services for these children is inexplicable, but denying them the opportunity to flourish in school is unforgivable," she said, adding that their classmates would suffer and a further burden would be placed on overstretched mainstream teachers.

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