Jim O'Keeffe
Ceist:42 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Education and Science if he is seeking to curtail the development of the system for the provision of special needs assistants in schools. [21482/03]
Written Answers. - School Staffing.
Up to October 1998, my Department's capacity to respond to individual children with special needs was limited. This changed with a Government decision in October 1998, whereby children assessed as having special educational needs in primary schools have an automatic entitlement to a response to their needs. Since this automatic entitlement to support was introduced, the number of resource teachers in the primary system has increased from approximately 100 to in excess of 2,300 and the number of special needs assistants has grown from approximately 300 to almost 5,500 full-time and part-time posts.
The nature and level of the educational response is based on the professionally-assessed needs of each individual child. While my Department's policy is to ensure the maximum possible integration of pupils with special needs into ordinary mainstream schools, those who have been assessed as having special educational needs have access to a range of special support services. The services range from special schools dedicated to particular disability groups, through special classes and units attached to ordinary schools, to placement on an integrated basis in ordinary schools with special backup supports. The response will normally take the form of resource teacher or special needs assistant support, or both, depending on the level of need involved.
In some cases, the level of special need involved may be such as to require placement in a special class attached to a mainstream school. The number of special classes has grown from 350 to more than 500 since 1998. Each such class is dedicated to a particular disability category and operates at a significantly reduced pupil teacher ratio. Pupils attending these special classes also attract special increased rates of capitation funding. By any standards, this level of investment represents a significant commitment to supporting children with special educational needs.
I am determined to ensure that this considerable investment is deployed as effectively and flexibly as possible. With that aim in mind, my Department recently issued a circular, SP ED 24/03, to all primary schools regarding special needs resource allocation and deployment. This circular highlights a number of practical strategies to assist schools in catering for pupils with special educational needs. For example: wherever possible, schools should provide additional help for pupils with special educational needs in the mainstream classroom or, if necessary, in small groups; bearing in mind the various categories of special education teachers, including resource, learning support and visiting teachers deployed in the education system, schools are encouraged to develop strategies that draw on the skills of all such teachers, without making artificial distinctions between them; while resource teaching allo cations have been approved on the basis of individual applications, the overriding principle is that these resources should be deployed in the manner that best meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs in the school; and before applying for additional special needs assistants, schools should review their existing allocations to see whether an identified need can be met by redeploying available resources. Where appropriate, principals may deploy individual special needs assistants to support several pupils, perhaps in more than one classroom.
I want to emphasise that the circular is not proposing a cut in resources for pupils with special educational needs. Schools will appreciate, however, that the level of approved resources is not immutable. Account must be taken of the progress being made by individual pupils with special educational needs and of the departure from the school of such pupils. It would be expected that schools would notify the Department of instances where resources had become surplus to requirements in order that these could be redeployed as necessary.