Derek Keating
Question:55. Deputy Derek Keating asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the education of a child (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43200/13]
View answerTuesday, 15 October 2013
Questions (55)
Written answers
I wish to firstly advise the Deputy that my Department provides for a continuum of special educational provision to be made available for children with special educational needs, so that regardless of the level of need of the child, educational provision can be made for them. My Department provides for a range of placement options and supports for schools which have enrolled pupils with special educational needs in order to ensure that, wherever a child is enrolled, s/he will have access to an appropriate education. These supports include an allocation of additional teaching support as well as additional resource teaching and Special Needs Assistant (SNA) care supports which may be allocated to schools by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in respect of qualifying pupils. Some children may be fully integrated into mainstream schools without additional teaching or care supports. Others are able to attend mainstream schools but need additional teaching and/or care assistance. In respect of children who cannot be accommodated in mainstream education, they may be enrolled in special classes or special schools where more intensive and supportive interventions are provided. The extent of supports required for any child in a particular class setting or school will depend on their disability categorisation and the extent of care needs that they may have. As such, schools have access to a full range of supports to facilitate the enrolment of pupils with special educational needs. In order to meet any late demand for resource teaching support which may have arisen between 15th March, 2013 and the start of the school year, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) requested all schools to submit outstanding applications for resource teaching support to the NCSE by 20th September, 2013. The NCSE intend to notify schools of any revised resource teaching allocations in the coming weeks. In relation to SNA support, schools should contact the NCSE if they have enrolled children who were not considered at the time that the SNA allocations were made to schools, or where they are seeking a revision to the quantum of SNA support which has been allocated to them for the coming school year. In general, a revision to SNA allocations will only be made in circumstances where schools have enrolled new pupils, or where schools can demonstrate that they do not have sufficient SNA posts to cater for the care needs of all of the qualifying children in their school. I understand that the school concerned have made an application to the NCSE for resource teaching support for this child and that they also intend to make an application in respect of SNA support. Where a school has applied to the NCSE for additional resource teaching or SNA resources, the school should provide for the child from within their existing allocations, pending consideration of any application. In circumstances where a child has been suspended or expelled, Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of a Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student in a school, expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year. In such circumstances the parent of the child concerned may lodge a Section 29 appeal against the decision of the school to expel or suspend and to have this case heard by an independent appeal panel. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.