Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to be clear on the purpose of the AON process as it applies to schools. The assessment of educational needs requires schools to take information about a student that already exists, usually in the student support file in the school, and make it available to the HSE via the NCSE. The assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning and teachers assess their students constantly using a range of formal and informal assessment practices. This is the information that informs the assessment of educational needs. Obviously, there are other elements to the AON process, but these are a matter for the HSE to progress. In short, teachers are fully qualified to assess their students, record the outcome of those assessments and use those outcomes to inform the teaching approaches.

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