Joan Collins
Question:742. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the case of a young person (details supplied) regarding resource hours. [23827/15]
View answerTuesday, 16 June 2015
Questions (742)
Written answers
I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teaching and Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support to schools to support children with special educational needs and additional care needs, respectively.
The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support.
The NCSE has now published details of the resource teaching allocations which will be made to each school for September 2015 on its website www.ncse.ie. The NCSE will also have a second round allocation process to respond to late enrolments, or from diagnosed disabilities emerging after the closing date for the first allocation round, to the start of the new school year.
It is a matter for schools to monitor and utilise their allocation of additional teaching support to best support the needs of identified pupils, in accordance with my Department's guidance. The teaching time afforded to each individual pupil is managed by schools, taking into account each child's individual learning needs.
As the Deputy's question relates to the consideration of an application for resource teaching support by the NCSE for an individual pupil, I have referred this question to the NCSE for their consideration and direct reply to the Deputy.