123. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the data protection measures that are in place regarding information concerning the survey of schools conducted by the Educational Research Centre at the request of her Department in conjunction with the NSCE; the other Departments or statutory bodies which this information will be shared with; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45430/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra124. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the international and national research supporting the collection of data to create a social profile of every school, including the names and authors of any reports consulted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45431/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 123 and 124 together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that the data which schools were requested to return as part of the social context survey was non-personal, anonymised data. Schools were not asked to return data in relation to the social circumstances of individual pupils. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has confirmed that collecting data in this form is not be in breach of data protection measures.
This data was returned to the Educational Research Centre (ERC). It will be considered by the ERC, and the results of this consideration by my Department and the National Council for Special Education, but will not be shared with other Departments or statutory bodies. My Department has collected this data in order to consider potential revisions to the system of allocating Resource Teaching and Learning Support to schools 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" (2014).
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.
Details of the international and national research which support this conclusion are set out in Chapter 2 of the Working Group Report on Research Findings and Consultation Process and Chapter 3 Proposal for a New Model to Deliver Additional Teaching Resources for Students.
Further details are also available in Appendix 4 of the Report on International perspectives on models for supporting students with special educational needs. A copy of the Working group Report is available at www.ncse.ie.
