Ms Mary Byrne:

What we say in our booklet is that it must be remembered that assessing children's needs is part of good teaching. Teachers in schools are already engaged in assessing, on an ongoing basis and in a number of different ways, their students' learning needs. They also use their professional judgment on how best to use resources in schools. We would hope this good practice would play an important part in the proposed model, if it is accepted.

However, we have recognised in our papers that schools will need additional guidance in that regard.

We have identified the area of professional training and development of teachers as perhaps the most important element in all of our policy advice. This applies in the most recent paper and in an earlier paper on how children in general should be supported in schools. We have said consistently that the teacher and the quality of teaching in the classroom are probably the most important things in a child's education. In the documents we have set out a framework for the professional development of teachers and our recommendations in that regard. A central concern of the National Council for Special Education is the need to have in place an appropriate framework of professional development for teachers.

In looking at children's needs in schools and identifying and assessing those needs to determine the level of support required in schools, we envisage schools would receive support from the National Educational Psychological Service. NEPS has already issued guidelines around the continuum of support and how children should be supported in schools.