Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
412 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science when a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12 attending a school in Dublin 8 will receive a special needs classroom assistant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21720/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for special needs assistant support, SNA, has been received from Griffith College multi-denominational school for the pupil referred to by the Deputy.
My Department prioritised applications for SNA support for new entrants and decisions on the majority of these were communicated to schools on 12 August. My officials are continuing to communicate with schools in respect of other new entrant cases as additional supporting information is provided.
With regard to SNA support generally, the position is that it has been my intention for some time to carry out an overall review of support levels and deployment in mainstream national schools. Bearing in mind the view expressed by schools that any such review should have regard to the actual situation on the ground, I have decided that the process should involve a visit to each school which has SNA support. Arrangements are being made for this review to commence at an early date and a further communication will issue to schools in this regard. Decisions regarding the appropriate level of SNA support in individual schools, having regard to outstanding applications such as the one referred to by the Deputy, will be based on the outcome of this review. Pending notification of the outcome, schools have been advised by my Department that, if they have surplus SNA capacity, they may retain the excess up to the level of applications made to the Department for which a response is awaited.
413 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will respond to the concerns raised by the board of management of Scoil Chiaráin Naofa, Stoneyford, County Kilkenny, regarding children at the school who have been assessed by NEPS and other child psychologists and who have not received the recommended resource teaching; and his intentions with regard to this issue. [21749/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraApplications for resource teaching support for pupils with special needs have been received from the school referred to by the Deputy.
The Deputy may be aware that my Department has recently developed a new weighted system for the allocation of teaching supports to pupils with special needs. An additional 350 teacher posts are being provided to facilitate the introduction of the new system. This system will involve general weighted allocation for all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher incidence special educational needs, that is, those with borderline mild and mild general learning disability, specific learning disability and also those with learning support needs. It will also allow for individual allocations in respect of pupils with lower incidence special educational needs.
This new system will allow resources to be speedily allocated to pupils with disabilities on the basis of school based assessment. It is anticipated that the needs of the pupils in the school in question can be accommodated within existing resources.
