Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 836: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the right of appeal a person (details supplied) in County Wexford has following a decision of the National Council for Special Education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10126/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In the absence of a formalised appeals process, the National Council for Special Education will undertake to review the relevant decision on resource teaching supports on foot of a request from the school or parents/guardians, when accompanied by relevant additional information, which may not have been to hand at the time of the decision. The National Council for Special Education has outlined this process in its circular 01/05.

In this case, the application for four hours resource teacher support for the pupil concerned was referred to the local special educational needs organiser for determination. The organiser examined the application and expressed the opinion that the pupil's special educational needs appear to be within the high incidence disability category and, therefore, does not qualify for individual hours resource teaching support.

In 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, 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 so 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.

There are advantages of using a general allocation model. 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. It will automatically adjust a school's general allocation on the basis of changing enrolment.

While I am in favour of using a general allocation model for these reasons, 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. 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.