Special Educational Needs Services Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 July 2013

Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Questions (226)

Anthony Lawlor

Question:

226. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason, according to circular 07/2012, five years per week learning support is offered to pupils in all-boys mainstream classrooms while only four hours per week are offered to pupils attending all-girls mainstream classrooms; his views on whether it is fair that a differentiation should be made between boys and girls; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33390/13]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I understand the Deputy is referring to resources allocated to schools under the General Allocation Model (GAM) of additional teaching supports, which are allocated to all Primary schools to cater for children with high incidence special educational needs. I wish to advise the Deputy that differing pupil teacher ratios are applied under the GAM in relation to boys, girls and mixed schools in order to account for differentials of prevalence of learning difficulty between boys and girls. The objective of this differentiation is to ensure that resources provided to schools to support children who have additional learning needs are targetted to ensure that those children most in need benefit from these resources.

The rationale for the differing ratios is based on international literature on the incidence of disability as well as international and national surveys of literacy and numeracy which indicate that there is a greater incidence of disability/learning difficulty in boys than girls. The NCSE Report on the Implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, of 2006, also examined a range of sources to establish prevalence rates, including national databases, local and international studies and expert estimates, which indicated significantly higher rates of Mild General Learning Difficulty and Specific Learning Disability prevailing in boys, in comparison to girls. The criteria for the allocation of GAM hours is outlined in circular 13/2013 which is available on my Department's website www.education.ie.