Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2015
736. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school (details supplied) in County Roscommon has to wait a further year to receive the learning support hours applicable to the appointment of an additional post; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23734/15]
View answerSince September 2012 the combined resources available for learning support (General Allocation Model at Primary) and language support have been merged into a single simplified allocation process. The GAM/EAL arrangements for the 2015/16 school year are set out in Circular 0005/2015 and are based on a school's mainstream classroom posts for the 2014/15 school year. Appendix C of that circular lists the allocation for all schools. Where schools do not have sufficient GAM/EAL hours to create a full-time post, a process is in place for such schools to enter into cluster arrangements with neighbouring schools. Schools have autonomy on how to deploy the resource between language support and learning support depending on their specific needs.
