Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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9. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns regarding the new system of allocation of resource and learning supports that is being piloted in 2015; and if she will address the long waiting times for special needs assessment by the National Educational Psychological Service. [43884/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The National Council for Special Education identified that the current model for allocating resource teachers to schools is potentially inequitable because access to professional assessments is not always readily available to those who cannot afford to access them privately.

The council also advised that the current model leads to unnecessary labelling of children from a young age. For the first time, NEPS support is now available to every primary and second-level school in Ireland. NEPS does not maintain waiting lists for assessment but, in consultation with schools, prioritises children who have failed to make adequate progress despite an appropriate continuum of support being delivered for those children. The proposed new model, which is currently being piloted, will remove the formal requirement for such assessments. The pilot will test the new model and allow for any concerns to be fully addressed prior to its implementation. Significant guidance has been prepared and provided to the schools involved. During the pilot, all participating schools will complete an assessment questionnaire to gather information on their experiences. All participating schools attended a pilot information day on 15 September and a further information day took place on Friday last.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister knows, there is real concern in schools across the country as to what system will face them next September and what allocation model will be used to decide on the number of resource hours that individual schools will get. The schools will be making their applications in February or March 2016 for the following September, yet there is a total lack of clarity as to the level of resources they will receive. In her reply, the Minister indicated that the current system is inequitable due to a lack of resources in NEPS to ensure that educational assessments can be provided. Given that the current system is very much predicated on the assessed needs of individual children, can the Minister explain how schools can be certain that children with a requirement for additional supports will get appropriate supports in the absence of NEPS assessments? Would it not be a better alternative approach to ensure that NEPS has sufficient resources so that schools can have assessments carried out on those children they feel require them and can then be assured that additional hours will be provided specifically for those children?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The new model was proposed because the system was perceived to be unfair in so far as people felt they had to pay for private diagnoses. The National Educational Psychological Service was not designed to spend all its time on diagnosis. It is meant to be a support service. Nevertheless, a huge amount of time is being taken up on the process of diagnosis. One can certainly question the labelling of children at a young age in order to provide them with the supports they need. That is why the new model was proposed. The pilot scheme that is under way this year is designed to find out about the kind of questions Deputy McConalogue has just asked with regard to ensuring schools get the level of support they need and that the model will work for schools. I will not comment on it at this stage as I have not yet received any reports as to how the model is working. We will have to consider it carefully in terms of what will be put in place for the future.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister give any indication as to what the planned model for the allocation of resources will be this coming September? There are only two or three months left before schools start applying for resource hours for next September and time is running short in terms of providing clarity. It is important that the Minister provide some indication this morning as to whether it is her plan that the new model will be adopted this coming September. The importance of assessment is not only with regard to diagnosis; it also guides schools in terms of the supports a child may need and ensures, where a diagnosis is made, that resources are put in place. There is real concern that in the absence of that, schools will not get a fair allocation based on the number of students they have with particular needs. Can the Minister comment, as I asked her to in my previous question, on how, under the new model that is being piloted, schools with students with particular needs can be assured that they will get proportionate teaching resources to support those children?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I will ensure that information is provided to schools in time. I realise there is a time issue in this case but, as of now, I have not had an opportunity to engage with the pilot programme in any meaningful way and, as such, I do not want to pre-empt what information might emerge. In terms of the issue with regard to the needs of individual children, the concept of an individual learning plan exists in the system and each child should have his or her own particular learning plan in the school. That is part of the system. We will have to ensure that schools have the appropriate support they need. That is the whole purpose of the new model. We have evidence that where parents cannot afford to get assessments currently, their children are not being provided with the supports they need. That is something that we want to address in the new model.