Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 March 2005
185 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will consult schools before making any decision to change to a weighted system of allocating support to children with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7339/05]
Amharc ar fhreagra186 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will maintain the current system of allocation of resource teaching support for children with special educational needs to ensure that children who need learning support receive it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7340/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 185 and 186 together.
In the light of the reality that pupils in the high-incidence disability categories of mild and borderline mild general learning disability and dyslexia are distributed throughout the education system, my Department, in consultation with educational interests, developed a general model of resource teacher allocation to schools to support students in those disability categories. That model, which was announced by my predecessor in 2004 to come into effect from September 2005, was designed to put in place a permanent resource in primary schools to cater for pupils in those categories.
The model was constructed so that allocations would be based on pupil numbers, taking into account the differing needs of the most disadvantaged schools and the evidence that boys have greater difficulties than girls in this regard. The logic behind having a general allocation model is to reduce the need for individual applications and supporting psychological assessments and put resources in place on a more systematic basis, thereby giving schools more certainty about their resource levels. This will allow for better planning in schools, greater flexibility in identifying and intervening earlier with regard to pupils' special needs, as well as making the posts more attractive to qualified teachers.
As I have told the Dáil on a number of occasions, I am however very conscious of difficulties that could arise regarding the model announced last year, particularly for children in small and rural schools, if it were implemented as currently proposed. Accordingly, I am having the proposed model reviewed to ensure that it provides an automatic response for pupils with common mild learning disabilities, without the need for cumbersome individual applications, while at the same time ensuring that pupils currently in receipt of service continue to receive the level of service appropriate to their needs. In carrying out the review, my Department is consulting representative interests including the National Council for Special Education.
I have made it clear that I am in favour of using a general allocation model to ensure that we have in place a permanent resource in our primary schools to cater for pupils with high-incidence mild disabilities and learning difficulties. However, it will not be as announced last year. The revised procedure for providing a general allocation of resource hours to schools will be announced in the coming weeks, in time to be implemented for the next school year.
In the lower-incidence disability categories resources will continue to be allocated on the basis of individual applications.
It is important that where there is a particular special need in the low-incidence category those children be considered individually. Those pupils are not evenly distributed among schools, and a general allocation model would not be appropriate. However, the involvement of the National Council for Special Education and the special education needs organisers will greatly enhance the speed of response to such applications.
