Vol. 534 No. 5
218 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has to date offered any financial support to parents of children with special needs to have them placed in Montessori pre-school settings or other similar settings that might address their learning difficulties at an early age; and the criteria that apply in determining when candidate children can be accepted for such subventions. [11172/01]
219 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the rights of a child with special learning difficulties to pre-school learning support form his Department; and if he will give details of the freedom of information statement of his Department in this regard. [11173/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 218 and 219 together.
The White Paper on Early Childhood Education sets out a comprehensive strategy for the development of early childhood education services for all children and emphasised the particular importance of early educational intervention in the case of children with certain special needs. Following publication of the White Paper, my Department carried out an extensive post consultation process with all those who made presentations to the National Forum for Early Childhood Education. The aim of these consultations was to seek the views of interested parties with regard to the implementation of the policies set out in the White Paper, on a phased basis, and to enable the necessary planning and preparatory work for implementation to be undertaken by my Department in line with the commitments in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
More recently my Department sought and received proposals from third level institutions for a pilot project to develop early childhood education provision in pursuance of the objectives of the White Paper. It is envisaged that the pilot project will include the development of early education quality standards in relation to equipment and materials, staff qualifications, training, learning objectives, methodologies and curriculum; the development of a support framework to encourage compliance with quality standards by early education providers; the co-ordination and enhancement of early education provision with a particular focus on disadvantaged and special needs groups and the commissioning of a programme of research and development through which best practice in curriculum, teaching methodology and parent involvement may be implemented and evaluated.
