The Minister for Education has said she wants to create a positive school environment in which the unique talents of every student are valued, where teachers have the supports they need as professionals and where parents and young people are recognised as partners in education.
Speaking to the ASTI annual conference this evening, Ms Hanafin admitted the "decades-long" backlog in essential work on school buildings posed a major challenge, but she said modernisation would remain a priority for her and for the Government.
Ms Hanafin outlined the building projects she had approved this year and said the 14 per cent increase in funding for school buildings this year was "clear proof" of her goal to ensure every student and teacher spends their day in modern facilities.
On the question of discipline, Ms Hanafin said that while the rights of the majority needed to be balanced against those of the minority of disruptive students, the education system must not fail any student. "In this respect, in some cases we may have to look at alternative approaches and interventions to ensure that young people don't fall through the net only to be picked up by the criminal justice system," she said.
Ms Hanafin said the Task Force on Student Behaviour would produce preliminary recommendations by June of this year. She said it had the potential to be "a very positive agent for change" in promoting an improved environment for teaching and learning in schools.
The minister said the record of the State over decades in providing for children with special needs had been poor. But she said significant advances had been made in the past six years. "From almost a standing start we now have almost 1,500 resource teachers and over 600 special needs assistants in our secondary schools," she said.
Ms Hanafin acknowledged that there were still problems to be addressed but said she promised to work hard to ensure that schools are given the resources and supports needed to enable them to meet the needs of students with special needs.