Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 540: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department will implement the proposed changes in the provision of special needs education in mainstream primary schools in September 2005; if so, the reason children who have been identified as having mild general learning difficulties and children who have been identified as having severe specific learning difficulties, that is, dyslexia and children with Down's syndrome will no longer be entitled to access resource teaching; her views on the advantages of these proposed changes; the alternative tuition which will be made available by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8642/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In the light of the reality that pupils in the high incidence disability categories of mild and borderline mild general learning disability and dyslexia are distributed throughout the education system, my Department, in consultation with educational interests, developed a general model of resource teacher allocation to schools to support students in these disability categories. This model which was announced by my predecessor in 2004 to come into effect from September 2005 was designed to put in place a permanent resource in primary schools to cater for pupils in these categories.

The model was constructed in order that allocations would be based on pupil numbers, taking into account the differing needs of the most disadvantaged schools and the evidence that boys have greater difficulties than girls in this regard.

The advantages of using a general allocation model are as follows: it facilitates early intervention as the resource is in place in the school when the child enrols; it reduces the need for individual applications and supporting psychological assessments; it puts resources in place on a more systematic basis, thereby giving schools more certainty about their resource levels; it gives more security to special education teaching posts and makes special education teaching a more attractive option; it allows flexibility to school management in the deployment of resources, leading to a more effective and efficient delivery of services; and it will automatically adjust a school's general allocation on the basis of changing enrolment.

I have made it clear that while I am in favour of using a general allocation model for the reasons I have just given, I am conscious of the particular difficulties that the model announced last year could cause for small and rural schools if implemented as originally announced. For this reason I have asked my Department to conduct a review of the model announced last year. The review will be completed in the coming weeks and its outcome will be announced in time to be implemented for the next school year. In carrying out the review, my Department is consulting with representative interests, including the National Council for Special Education.

It is important that where there is a particular special need in the low incidence category, these children are considered individually. These pupils are not evenly distributed among schools and a general allocation model would not be appropriate. Resources will continue to be allocated on the basis of individual applications to children in the low incidence category.