I wish to advise the Deputy that differing teacher allocation ratios are applied under the General Allocation Model (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 targeted 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 has published a report 'A study of the Prevalence of Special Educational Needs' which is available at www.ncse.ie and which contains details regarding the prevalence of special needs among the pupil population including noting gender differentials. The criteria for the allocation of GAM hours is outlined in Circular 0007/2014, which is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.
Finally, the recently published NCSE Report Delivery for Students with Special Educational Needs, which is also available at www.ncse.ie, has recommended that a new resource teaching allocation model be devised for schools taking into account the profiled need of schools including consideration of the number of pupils with complex special needs in the school and also the educational profile of a school, of which it is recommended that gender continue to be a factor in deciding on school profile for resource allocation purposes.
