The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from primary and post primary schools for special educational needs supports, including Resource Teaching support for children with more complex special needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such supports.
In order to ensure that my Departments Employment Control Framework obligations can be maintained while also ensuring that all schools are treated equally, an annual allocation process is in place for the allocation of NCSE resource teaching allocations.
The NCSE allocated the majority of its Resource Teaching supports to schools for the 2012/13 school year, prior to the beginning of the school year. Schools were then asked to forward any outstanding applications for Resource Teaching support to the NCSE by 5th October, 2012.
The NCSE subsequently provided a second round of Resource Teaching allocations to qualifying schools in November 2012. Details of all of the resource teaching allocations which have been made by the NCSE are available on their website at www.ncse.ie.
The NCSE has now asked all schools to forward applications for Resource teaching Support for the 2013/14 school year to the NCSE by 15th March, 2013.
In the interim, schools, other than schools which have no resource teaching allocations, have been asked to provide for qualifying children from within their existing allocations and schools will be advised of their revised allocations in advance of the new school year.
