Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 January 2015
195. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the survey conducted by the Educational Research Centre at the request of her Department that required the collection of PPS numbers could have been done without collecting PPS numbers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2915/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) published its Report on a Proposed New Model for Allocating Teachers for Students with Special Educational Needs on 18th June 2014. The report recommends that a new allocation model should be developed, based on a school's educational profile, while providing a baseline allocation to every mainstream school to support inclusion.
My Department, in conjunction with the NCSE, asked the Educational Research Centre (ERC) to conduct a social context survey of schools to assist with the development of an educational profile for schools, as recommended by the NCSE report.
The data which schools were requested to return as part of this survey was non-personal, anonymised data.
Schools were not asked to return data in relation to the circumstances of individual pupils, or to return details of pupils Personnel Public Service numbers, as part of this survey.
