Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the recent policy advice from the National Council for Special Education in relation to tackling challenging behaviour in schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43063/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, recently published its policy advice on the education of students with severe emotional disturbance or behavioural disorders. I welcome the publication of the report, which makes recommendations on how education can best be provided for such children in future, while ensuring minimal disruption for other pupils. The Department will consider the recommendations of the report, including any resource, policy, and staffing implications, and will prepare a plan for the appropriate implementation of these recommendations in the context of available resources. In the interim, schools will continue to be supported through the provision of additional resource teaching and special needs assistant support. Earlier this year, the Department also published new guidelines for schools on supporting students with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, which are available on the Department's website. Schools may also seek advice from the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, their special educational needs organiser or from the national behavioural support service, on how children with behavioural needs can best be supported in schools.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. Mary Byrne, head of special education at the National Council for Special Education, recently estimated that more than €200 million worth of additional teaching resources is needed every year as a result of behavioural issues in schools. The Minister outlined that the council has recommended to him in its recent report that at least one teacher from every secondary school should undergo a three-day training course in how to deal with especially difficult behaviour from students. Recently, the TUI referred to how the loss of 700 teachers in second level schools has led to an increase in behavioural difficulties among some students there.

The Minister is looking into the report, but can he give a commitment that he will set up training in line with the recommendation for teachers so that at least we can ensure that one teacher from each school is trained in specialist behavioural management? Can he also give us a timeline as to when we can expect action in that regard?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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We are still studying the report. The decision to mainstream, where possible, pupils with behavioural or special educational needs into the classroom has a consequence for the rest of the class. Also, teachers were not traditionally trained to deal with such issues and that will form part of continual professional development as well as part and parcel of the new formation for primary school teachers and post-primary school teachers in the colleges of education.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Would the Minister agree that the earliest intervention possible is the best way of dealing with the issue of severe misbehaviour in schools? Would he also agree that the first four years are vital?

Would the Minister agree - I ask this of broader society as well - that one cannot expect a four year old child to be a normal happy-clappy child in junior infants if he or she comes from a violent, dysfunctional family and we must intervene early? In terms of good news, would he agree that there are many examples of good practice with children at risk and children misbehaving in the DEIS schools?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I agree with Deputy Finian McGrath's last point. It is one of the issues that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, and I have discussed, that is, at what point can one start to interact with the school. Many of the children arrive in school with problems that have originated from outside. We must recognise that and look at what the National Education Welfare Board can do. The board cannot do anything in terms of attendance until the child is aged six, when, in fact, the problems are probably gone beyond a possible early-intervention solution. That area and the link between the home and the school, and even the preschool period, are where the warning bells ring, and unless we can intervene at that early stage, the chances of a subsequent successful intervention are diminished.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The NCSE's report to the Minister also recommended that the two education programmes, the Incredible Years programme and the Friends programme, which have recently undergone trial successfully in counties Carlow and Kilkenny, would be rolled out across the country. The Friends programme helps the students to manage the behaviour themselves and also to recognise when they are feeling anxious and to develop coping skills to deal with that. They seem to have worked well. The NCSE recommends that the programmes be rolled out nationally. I would ask the Minister for his initial thoughts on those two recommendations.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will take a detailed look at these reports and the specific recommendations and seek advice from the specialists and the generalists in the Department of Education and Skills.