Significant increase in resource teachers for Galway schools

The allocation of resource teaching hours for Galway schoolchildren with special educational needs has been hailed as a “significant increase” by a local TD – up 40% in the past four years.

Welcoming the rise in allocations for primary and secondary schools in the city and county, Fine Gael Galway West Deputy Seán Kyne pointed out that resource teaching hours have increased by 40% since 2012.

And separate figures show that the number of resource teaching posts allocated for Galway have increased by 4.7% over the past year.

“From September, Galway schools will benefit from 11,322 resource teaching hours provided by over 486 resource teaching posts.

“Galway’s primary schools have been allocated 313 resource teaching posts while Galway’s secondary schools have been allocated 173 posts for the coming school year.

“There will be over 7,500 resource teaching hours provided for pupils in Galway’s primary schools with over 3,800 hours for students at Galway’s secondary schools.

“The recovery in our economy and in the State’s finances has facilitated investment to the extent that the National Council for Special Education’s allocation for Galway for September 2016 represents a 40% increase on the comparable figures for September 2012 which were announced in June of that year.

“It is very encouraging to see such significant investment in resource teaching in Galway. Resource teachers are assigned on the basis of student need rather than being assigned to individual schools. The resource teachers provide vital and targeted support to primary and secondary students with educational needs and are additional to mainstream class teachers,” said Deputy Kyne.

Figures from the NCSE for last year show the total number of resource teaching hours allocated for schools in Galway was 465, increasing to almost 487 for this year (4.7%) – representing a 5% increase for primary schools and a 16% increase for secondary schools.

The NCSE is the State agency which provides schools with the additional educational supports they need to help children with special needs receive an appropriate education.