Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 20 together.

The NCSE recently published its policy advice on supporting children with special educational needs. This report makes a number of recommendations as to how students with special needs, including post-primary students, might best be supported in the future. My Department is currently considering the full range of the 28 recommendations.

The NCSE has recommended that a new model should be developed for allocating special needs teaching resources to mainstream schools to ensure that such resources are targeted at those children who need them most.

I have requested the NCSE to establish immediately a working group to develop a proposal for consideration in regard to the new allocation model. Mr. Eamon Stack, Chairperson of the NCSE and former chief inspector in my Department, has been appointed to chair the working group. The group, which will include parents, will begin its work immediately and will report progress on the proposed new model by the end of September. The NCSE expects to complete its work by February 2015.

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