Written Answers Nos 189-195
189. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) in County Donegal was refused a special rate of maintenance grant in view of the fact that the sole income coming into the house is jobseeker’s allowance; his views that refusal in this instance will cause hardship to the person; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38624/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraTo qualify for the special rate of grant an applicant must meet the following conditions: a. Reckonable income must not exceed €22,703.
b. On 31 December of the relevant period the reckonable income must include an eligible long-term social welfare payment prescribed under the scheme.
In the case of a student whose parents are divorced, legally separated or it is established to the satisfaction of the awarding authority that they are separated, the reckonable income shall be that of the applicant and the parent with whom the applicant resides.
The income of a parent's partner who is not a legal guardian is not included in determining reckonable income. Where the reckonable income does not include a long-term social welfare payment, as listed in the Student Grant Scheme, the special rate of grant is not payable.
I have no plans at present to change the criteria in relation to persons whose income is considered in determining reckonable income for student grant purposes.
190. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views that applied behaviour analysis is a scientifically based system that has proven its worth and in the long term would save the State money; if she will change her Department to reflect these views; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38634/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department's policy is to promote a child-centred approach to education of all children with special educational needs including those with autism.
As each child with autism is unique they should have access to a range of different approaches to meet their individual needs. This facilitates access to individualised education programmes which can be supported by Special Needs Assistants and fully qualified professional teachers who may draw from a range of autism-specific interventions, including Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), Treatment and Education of Autistic Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) and Picture Exchange Communications System (PECS) as well as the appropriate school curriculum with the option, where possible, of full/partial integration and interaction with other pupils.
The use of ABA as part of the range of interventions is particularly useful for addressing behavioural issues. My Department supports the use of ABA and training is provided for teachers in its use. However, the Department does not accept, based on research, advice and best practice, that ABA should be the only approach used. While ABA helps to improve behaviour, other approaches, such as a number of those to which I have referred are just as important in developing children's communication and speech skills.
The Deputy may be aware that the NCSE is currently preparing policy advice on the education of children with autism. Their report which is due in 2015 will identify the nature and extent of educational intervention/s, teaching practices and other supports which should be provided to enable children with autism to achieve educational outcomes appropriate to their needs and abilities and will inform future policy development. The Deputy's question on the worth of ABA can be considered in the context of the policy advice.
191. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she has received correspondence from a school (details supplied) in County Cork regarding the pupil-teacher ratio; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38635/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department does not have a record of correspondence from the school referred to by the Deputy. If he wishes to provide a copy of correspondence, I will arrange for the issue raised by the school to be addressed. At primary level the staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally irrespective of location. The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level.
Schools with significantly increasing enrolments are catered for within the staffing arrangements by being allocated teachers on the basis of their current pupil numbers rather than on a previous year basis which is the case for the majority of schools.
The staffing appeals process has been extended to include a new criterion which helps those schools that make a significant contribution to the provision of school places, which assists the response to demographic growth within their area, and as a result are under significant pressure on their class sizes at infants level.
The staffing arrangements for the current school year are set out in Circular 0007/2014 which is available on the website.
The national average class size at primary level is 24.7 pupils. However, with over 21,100 classes in over 3,100 primary schools throughout the country there will always be variations in class sizes at individual school level. My Department's guidance to local school management is that such variations should be kept to the minimum.
192. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she received correspondence from a school (details supplied) in County Cork regarding the school profile questionnaire; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38636/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra193. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she or her Department have received correspondence from the Irish Primary Principals' Network outlining its concerns regarding the schools profiling questionnaire; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38637/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra194. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the schools profiling questionnaire; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38638/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra195. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the advice she and her Department received regarding the schools profiling questionnaire; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38639/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 192 to 195, inclusive, together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is currently considering potential revisions to the system of allocating Resource Teaching and Learning Support to schools. This is on foot of recommendations set out in the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) Policy Advice on "Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Schools (May 2013) and the recommendations of the NCSE Working Group Report "A Proposed New Model for Allocating Teaching Resources for Students with Special Educational Needs".
Following the publication of these reports, my Department advised that it would commence the process of gathering information which would be required to develop the proposed new model, to allow its impact to be assessed, and to assess if, and from when, the model could be implemented.
Part of this process involves the collection of information in relation to the social context of schools.
The working group report recommended that a school's social context should be used because it can contribute strongly to the level of learning needs that students have. The report considered that, on the basis of available research evidence, the use of a school's social context is valid in developing an educational profile, as socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with the incidence of certain types of special educational needs, including low achievement in academic learning and emotional or behavioural disorders.
The report also noted that a school within a disadvantaged social context may have a higher share of students presenting with emotional or behavioural disorders. While some of these needs are likely to be reflected in low test scores, others may not, as students with relatively high levels of educational achievement can have emotional and behavioural disorders.
Accordingly, it was recommended that consideration of a schools social context should form part of any proposed new resource allocation model.
In considering how a social context profile might be developed for schools, the working group noted that the Department currently holds information which underpinned the development of the Developing Equality in Schools (DEIS) schools programme. However, this information dates from 2005, and was not considered by the Working Group to be current enough to provide a social context component for any new SEN Resource Teacher/Learning support allocation model.
The group therefore recommended that a new social context schools survey should be conducted. Pending the availability of a more objective source of information, the working group stated that it was confident that survey reporting by school principals could produce robust up to date data on school context in a similar manner to DEIS and earlier initiatives.
The Department therefore, in conjunction with the NCSE, asked the Educational Research Centre (ERC) to conduct a survey of schools to assist the development of an educational profile.
It was considered that the issuing of a new survey was a preferable option to using existing data from 2005, or data from limited sources that may not capture the full current complexity of a school's make up.
Though recognising that all schools would not be able to have specific detail regarding all of the questions asked in relation to their pupil populations, schools were asked to provide their best possible estimates in relation to the questions being asked in the survey, in order to ensure that as accurate as possible a social context allocation component of any revised allocation model could be developed for each school.
At all stages of the development of the advice and in particular in the work of the working group there was comprehensive consultation with education partners and stakeholders and through this consultation there was awareness and broad support for the proposed approach including the deployment of a survey.
The data which schools were requested to return as part of the survey was non-personal, anonymised data. Schools were not asked to return data in relation to the social circumstances of individual pupils.
Schools were also advised that the ERC had put in place a dedicated phone help line in order to provide assistance and support to schools in completing the questionnaire. I understand that many schools used this help line to gain assistance in completing the questionnaire.
Whereas I understand that the return of this survey has caused extra work and some difficulties for some schools, I am confident that having up to date social context data will be highly beneficial to the Department and the NCSE in developing proposals for a new profiled allocation model for schools.
I can confirm that my Department has received communications from a number of schools and bodies in relation to the survey, including the school and the organisation referred to by the Deputy in his question, and that my Department will respond to those bodies accordingly.
