Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection

Special Needs Provision in Second Level Schools: SNPA, NCSE and NAPD

1:30 pm

Mr. Paul Byrne:

It is where one puts a second teacher into a classroom and sometimes one may even need to put in a third teacher. To take the example of the subject like mathematics, one could take three students out of a class and do work on a ratio of 1:3 with them but in the time they would have been taken out of the class and would not be following the flow of the class. Whereas if a second teacher is put into the classroom and the three students are strategically placed, that teacher can help those three students to keep up. It is a very good use of resources. It also opens the door to teachers accepting the idea of peer review. It opens the door for those teachers to show good practice and for them to communicate on what is the best way of teaching a subject. It provides a great opportunity and more schools should use the concept. I will now pass over to Mr. Clive Byrne.