Vol. 547 No. 2
28 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will report on the operation of the scheme to provide financial assistance to schools seeking psychological assessments of pupils where the school is not covered by the national educational psychological service; if there is a limit on the number of pupils who can be so referred; the criteria used for approving funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2779/02]
Guidelines for the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments from private practitioners were issued to the principals of all primary and post-primary schools in August 2001 by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. These guidelines and the list of participating psychologists are available on the Department of Education and Science website, www.irlgov.ie/educ/. This scheme is a short-term, interim measure pending the expansion of the service provided by NEPS to all schools.
To date, the names of 90 psychologists have been approved by NEPS and school principals may approach any of these to carry out assessments. There have been 469 assessments carried out under the scheme at a total cost of €167,198. An additional €116,190 has been spent on reimbursing schools for assessments that they funded themselves last year. The total amount allocated is €1.59 million. Only schools that do not yet have access to the NEPS service are eligible to avail of the scheme.
The criteria for funding an assessment are: that the school is eligible, without a NEPS service and that the school has not exceeded the figure of 2% of pupils assessed. The criteria for funding a school for assessments carried out in the past are: that the assessment took place between 1 July 2000 and 1 July 2001; that the psychologist who carried out the assessment has sent an invoice to the school; that the school principal has certified that the assessment has taken place and that the psychological report has been received in the school. The administration of the scheme is currently under review and NEPS management will report the findings of the review to me.
