Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2004
135 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of applications for special educational resources that have been received by his Department to date since February 2003; the number of these applications in respect of which he has sanctioned resources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20965/04]
View answerIn all, more than 5,000 applications for special educational resources were received between 15 February and 31 August 2003. 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 2003-04 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 and a response has issued to schools with the outcome of their request for teaching support. It is my intention that schools which have applied for special needs assistant support will be advised of the outcome of their applications as soon as possible in advance of the next school year.
The teacher allocations involved will be made in the context of a new weighted system which I announced recently. An additional 350 teacher posts are being provided to facilitate the introduction of the new system. The new system will involve a general weighted allocation for all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher-incidence special educational needs — for example, those with borderline mild and mild general learning disability and specific learning disability — and also those with learning support needs. It will also allow for individual allocations in respect of pupils with lower-incidence special educational needs.
My Department now proposes to devise clusters in respect of allocations to be made under the weighted model. Sanction for the filling of posts will be considered in the context of these clusters and the weighted arrangements. The Department will communicate with schools in this regard before the commencement of the coming school year.
Approximately 3,000 applications in respect of pupils in low-incidence disability categories were received in the period 1 September 2003 to 30 June 2004. These are currently being examined by the NEPS and a response will issue to schools before the commencement of the new school year.
