Mary Upton
Question:122 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will sanction additional resource hours for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6W. [22730/03]
Written Answers. - Special Educational Needs.
I am aware of the case referred to by the Deputy.
A total of five hours resource teaching support and a full-time special needs assistant was sanctioned for the pupil in question and has been in place since the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year.
Resource teaching is an additional teaching support for pupils who have been fully integrated into mainstream schools and who satisfy the requirements of departmental circular 08/02 as needing such support. The maximum level of resource teaching allocated under this circular is five hours per week.
In the light of the views expressed by schools and teachers and their representatives, and taking account of its own reviews, my Department wishes to facilitate the most effective deployment of resources allocated for special educational needs. I am aware, however, that some schools feel restricted as to how they might deploy special needs resources. A departmental circular 24/03 issued recently to clarify the flexibility that schools might employ in this regard.
The circular points out that, although pupils with SEN may learn at a different pace and in a different way from other pupils, they need to belong to a peer group and to mix with pupils of different abilities in a variety of situations. Research on mixed-ability teaching illustrates that pupils of lower ability benefit greatly and pupils of average or above ability are not academically disadvantaged. However, the practice has developed in recent years of using resource hours for individual tuition only. An exclusive reliance on this approach is contrary to the principle of integration in teaching and learning.
Wherever possible, schools should provide additional help for pupils in the mainstream classroom or, if necessary, in small groups. Accordingly, my Department would have no objection to schools making flexible use of their approved resource teaching hours for maximum benefit of those pupils clinically assessed as having special educational needs.