Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004
210 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Education and Science when the 350 new positions in learning support and resource teaching will be filled; and when schools will be notified of whether their applications for same have been successful. [17190/04]
View answerThe position is that applications for special education resources, SER, received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 are being considered at present. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children starting school last September and all these cases were responded to at or before the commencement of the current school year.
The balance of more than 4,000 applications has been reviewed by a dedicated team comprising members of my Department's inspectorate and the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. These applications have been further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of SER provision conducted over the past year and the data submitted by schools as part of a nationwide census of SER provision.
In the case of teacher resources, the outcome for each applicant school will be based on a new weighted system of allocation, as part of which an additional 350 teaching posts will be allocated. Transitional arrangements for the introduction of the weighted system are being developed in consultation with representative interests. It is envisaged that those consultations can be completed and schools notified of the outcome before the end of the current school year.
