Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 March 2017
342. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if an appeals mechanism will be available under the new resource allocation for parents who are of the view that their child is not receiving sufficient supports; if he will outline this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13594/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra345. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to introduce any mechanism of oversight in relation to the way in which resource hours are used in schools as part of the new model; if this was a recommendation of the NCSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13597/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 342 and 345 together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools were published on 7th March 2017.
These Circulars set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools.
The revised allocation process replaces the generalised allocation process at primary and post primary school level for learning support and high incidence special educational needs, combined with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocation process which provided additional resource teaching supports to schools, to support pupils assessed as having Low Incidence disabilities.
The new Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile.
Allocations based on the school profiles were issued to all schools on 7th March while details of the special education teaching allocations have been published on the NCSE website.
Under the previous General Allocation Model, each school decided the level of support required to be provided to children with learning difficulties and certain special educational needs e.g. high incidence special educational needs. We know that schools have done this well.
We also know that under the pilot of the new allocation model that was conducted in 2015/16 that schools welcomed the discretion that they had to allocate resources under the new allocation model to pupils based on their individual learning needs, as opposed to primarily based on a diagnosis of a disability.
A category of disability, by itself, does not identify how much support a child should receive – two students, with the same disability can need completely different levels of support.
Schools use their own knowledge of their students to allocate teaching supports and they can also call on a wide number of support services to assist them. These include the Visiting Teacher Service, NEPS, Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) and other support services such as the Special Educational Support Services. Under the new allocation model, schools will continue to receive guidance when making decisions about supporting students’ learning needs.
Guidelines for schools on supporting children with special educational needs under the new allocation model are also currently being prepared and will be published shortly.
Under the new model, schools will be guided as to how to identify pupils for additional teaching support and how to prioritise pupils for support taking into account the extent of their learning needs in order to ensure the appropriate level of support is being given to the child. Schools should inform parents about this process and how to request a review of their child’s additional teaching support, if this is required.
However, despite these measures, some parents, might still disagree with the level of support being given to their child. In such cases parents should discuss this first with their child’s class/subject teacher or his/her support teacher.
If parents remain unhappy with the level of support being given to their child in a school they may then raise this issue with the school principal and if necessary, at a later point with the Chairperson of the school Board of Management, who are the body which has responsibility for the management of the school.
The Guidelines for Schools Supporting Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools, which are due to be published shortly will support schools in identifying and addressing the needs of children with special education needs and also in monitoring their deployment of resources to meet those needs.
The Guidelines have drawn on best practice to assist schools to allocate the greatest level of resources to the pupils with the highest levels of needs. The school self-evaluation process also supports schools to examine their own practices in the area of special education, to identify what is working well but also to identify areas that require improvement. Schools will set targets for improvement and implement agreed actions at a whole-school level. This process will enable schools to monitor their deployment of resources in area of special education needs.
In relation to oversight of in the way in which resource hours are used in schools, my Departments Inspectorate operates a programme of evaluation in primary and post-primary schools. The range of evaluation models available to the Inspectorate regularly involves inspectors evaluating, advising and reporting on the provision for pupils with SEN at the various levels of the Continuum of Support.
The Inspectorate also conducts SEN-specific evaluations at primary and at post-primary levels which allow for an in-depth focus on issues relating to special education needs. For example, in Evaluations of Provision for Pupils with Special Educational Needs at primary level, one area of enquiry for the inspection team is the management and use of resources received to support pupils with special educational needs.
