Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2022
619. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Education the number of children with SEN who are awaiting assessment to be sanctioned for home tuition in the absence of a school placement or early intervention class placement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34299/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra621. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Education the number of children with SEN in County Kildare who are awaiting assessment for sanction for home tuition on the grounds that they do not have a school placement or an early intervention class placement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34301/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 619 and 621 together.
The purpose of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme is to provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of specific reasons, are unable to attend school.
The aim of the Department is to meet the needs of families and to ensure every child is allocated a suitable school placement. The preferred approach is that children are educated in school settings where children may have access to fully qualified teachers, individualised education programmes, special needs assistants, school curriculum with the option, where possible and appropriate, of full or partial integration and interaction with student peers.
Accordingly, home tuition is provided as an interim measure only for children for whom a placement in a recognised school is not currently available and should not be regarded as an optional alternative to a school placement.
The scheme provides a compensatory educational service for
- Children with special educational needs seeking an educational placement in a recognised school
- Students, enrolled in schools, with significant medical conditions which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school
- The scheme also provides Home Tuition for pre-school/early educational intervention for children with autism who meet the schemes eligibility criteria.
The applicable criteria under which children qualify for Home Tuition support are set out in Circular 0046/2022.
Home Tuition support is not provided only on the basis of an assessment but where it is part of the application process, the Department would only receive information when an assessment is complete. Therefore, the Department does not have data on the number of special educational needs children awaiting an assessment for home tuition sanction, in the absence of a school place.
