Ms Andrea Feeney:

We have a document, the reasonable accommodations instructions for schools, that sets out very clearly all of the information about the scheme. It is very much school-led and is based on schools making applications for reasonable accommodations based on their knowledge of the students who are before them every day. There are criteria that apply, and the schools can also carry out testing in relation to those criteria.

We undertake training in schools, along with NEPS. We have a series of webinars running at the moment, the first of which was this week. Some 350 schools attended that webinar and two more sessions are planned, one for today and another for next week. That is in a bid to ensure consistency in the scheme.

We have a quality assurance process that takes place during the application process each year. NEPS, on our behalf, visits schools where there might be difficulties with application forms. Equally, NEPS visits schools where there is lower number of applications for reasonable accommodations than we would expect to see based on the profile of the school.

A lot of work is done to engage with schools through the webinars I mentioned and school management bodies, namely, the Joint Managerial Body, JMB, the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, ACCS and Education Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, at stakeholder level to ensure issues relating to the scheme are properly managed and reported back to the State Examinations Commission. We find that schools are motivated to do the right thing by students in their schools and put in place accommodations and supports that are needed for their students in taking their examinations in the context of the scheme.

What the Deputy mentioned is not an issue we have noticed. We are coming across issues of consistency. One facet of the scheme is in place in order to iron out issues of disagreement. It may be the case that a parent is advocating for a child who needs accommodations and a school might disagree and say that the child, in line with the criteria, is not eligible. We provide a complex case referral process so that those types of cases can be referred to directly to the SEC for it to make a determination.