Ms Teresa Griffin:

I will echo Ms Byrne's point. In each of our policy advice statements we have identified teacher training as absolutely crucial. However, we need to manage expectations. This proposal is about how to allocate the resources and the use of those resources. It cannot answer every issue. It is simply a mechanism to determine if there is a better way to allocate the resources that are available to the school system. It stems from an equity issue more than anything else. Our supports paper, published in May 2013, had 28 recommendations and this change is simply one of them. For example, in respect of the work of individualised education plans and so forth we have recommended that schools should be required to develop learning plans for students.

There was a question on timelines. The question of timelines is very much a matter for the Department at this stage. The Department hosted a process of consultation last week involving several partners. The assistant secretary said that September 2015 would be the earliest date. That is literally one year away and the change must be introduced at the beginning of a school year. The Department listened to people's concerns and advice but, as far as I know, no decision has been taken on a timeline.

The issue of piloting was brought up. The working group advised the Department to take time to listen to people's concerns. One concern of the National Council for Special Education is the need to support children with special educational needs, ensure they are supported well in schools and that they receive the right amount of supports. We have no wish to send an absolute shock to the system and we do not believe this should necessarily be a shock to the system. There are over 11,000 teachers at the moment in the system. Whether they have received much training, they are in place at the moment and they are working. It is about a fairer distribution of these teachers.

There are three components to the baseline. The working group made a recommendation to the effect that at the top the most weighting should be given to children who had very complex needs, followed by the results of the standardised tests and then the social context. Those are the three components.

Some concern was expressed last week - those of us on the working group were aware of it - on the survey and the use of the survey and estimates. It is fair to say that a good deal of time was spent around the table trying to establish whether we could find another way rather than putting out a survey to schools. Teachers were represented on the working group and it was a matter of concern for us. Actually, the feedback from partners following our consultations was that it was very important for the voice of the principal to be heard when describing the social context of the school. Partners were strong about the need for this voice to be heard.

One question that arose was whether there was one source of information that could give us this information independently and objectively. There was a concern about what would happen if a person from one school did not exaggerate but someone from another school did and this was tossed around. Anyway, the reality is that because of the mobile nature of students they are not simply linked to the demographics of a given area. In many cases there is only one school in an area but in the case of many urban and city schools children travel. One example might be a fee-paying school in a disadvantaged area. If we considered the demographics of that particular area, the school might get many supports but it may not necessarily have a large number of children who need those supports.

An extraordinary amount of time was taken over this. We were advised by the Educational Research Centre that surveying would be an appropriate way to get data. It is not an ideal way but it is a valid way. When the ERC has examined the exercises over the years on DEIS schools, the survey has stood the test of time, even with all of its difficulties. Obviously, we were aware that there would be concern.