My Department has developed a strategy designed to meet the continuing professional development needs of all school personnel working with children with special educational needs, including special needs assistants.
In the first instance, the special needs assistants work under the direction of the teacher working with children with special needs, including children with autism. Ultimately, the special needs assistants work under the direction of the school principal.
My Department has funded the development and delivery of an introductory course for special needs assistants. This was developed in collaboration with three teacher training colleges, namely, St. Angela's College in Sligo, Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, and Church of Ireland College, Rathmines. The education centre network was also involved in this process. This course forms a 20 hour module of a certificate programme. The course is delivered on campus by the three colleges and each college offers a course on an outreach basis which is delivered by the 21 full-time education centres.
In September 2003, as part of its strategy, my Department established the special education support service, SESS, to manage, co-ordinate and develop a range of supports in response to identified training needs. The SESS, which is funded by my Department and hosted in Laois education centre, provides a nationwide service to teachers and special needs assistants.
As part of its response to the growing demand from teachers for support and training, the SESS is currently developing teams of trainers to deliver training in four specific areas, autism, challenging behaviour, dyslexia and inclusion at post-primary. This training will be delivered locally through the education centre network.
In addition, the SESS responds to requests from schools for support in a variety of autism-related areas. The steering committee which manages the SESS is fully committed to ensuring that all school staffs are provided with the necessary supports to work with children with special educational needs.