Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 February 2004
234 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be provided with the resource teaching support that they need; if his Department has received and reviewed all of their psychological reports; and the progress of the application. [4271/04]
View answerThe school has the services of a shared full-time resource teacher together with a shared learning support teacher. My Department received a further application for special educational resources from the school for the pupil.
SER applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003, including the one made by the school, are being considered. More than 5,000 applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children that started school last September and all of these cases were responded to at or before the commencement of the current school year.
The balance of more than 4,000 applications have been reviewed by a dedicated team comprising members of my Department's inspectorate and the national educational psychological service. These applications are being further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of SER provision conducted over the past year. Account is also being taken of existing resource levels, the details of which were submitted by schools as part of the recent nationwide census of SER provision.
The processing of the applications is complex and time consuming. My Department is endeavouring to have it completed as quickly as possible and my officials will then respond to all applicant schools. Pending a response, schools are advised to refer to circular 24/03 issued last September. It contains practical advice on how to achieve the most effective deployment of resources already allocated for special educational needs within the school.
