Written answers

Thursday, 19 May 2005

Department of Education and Science

Special Educational Needs

5:00 pm

Photo of Dan NevilleDan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 154: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a special needs teacher will be made available to a person (details supplied) in County Limerick. [16737/05]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, which was established recently and which has been operational since 1 January 2005, is responsible for processing applications for special educational needs, SEN, supports.

Seventy one special educational needs organisers, SENOs, have been recruited throughout the country and are a focal point of contact for schools and parents.

My officials have been advised by the NCSE that no application for SEN supports for the pupil referred to by the Deputy has been made to the SENO. It is open to the school to contact the SENO directly regarding any special education needs that the pupil may have.

Photo of Dan NevilleDan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will take account of the unique needs of smaller rural schools, reinstate three categories of learning difficulties (details supplied) and allocate resource hours on the basis of the needs of children with learning difficulties and not on the total enrolment numbers of their schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16738/05]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary 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, has developed a model of general teacher allocation for these disability categories. The general allocation, which also includes an allocation for pupils requiring learning support, is designed to put in place in primary schools a permanent resource to cater for the pupils in these categories.

The advantages of the new system are that: it puts resources permanently in place in schools and thereby facilitates flexible and early intervention; it reduces the need for individual applications and supporting psychological assessments for pupils in the categories involved; it puts resources in place on a more systematic basis thereby giving schools more certainty about their resource levels; greater flexibility is given to school management in the deployment of resources; and it makes the posts more attractive to fully qualified teachers.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department has now completed its review of the general allocation system of resource teaching support. The new model replaces that which was notified to schools in June 2004, which has been reviewed to take account of difficulties that it may have caused for smaller schools.

Under the new model, which I published recently, a new ratio has been introduced for small schools, with a lower appointment ratio for the first full post for each type of small school.

As differing pupil teacher ratios apply to boys' schools, mixed schools and girls' schools, for the purposes of the general allocation system, a small school, in the case of boys' schools, is a school with fewer than 135 pupils; in the case of a mixed schools it is a school with fewer than 145 pupils; and in the case of a girls' school it is a school with fewer than 195 pupils.

Small boys' schools will now qualify for their first post at 100 pupils. Small mixed schools will qualify for their first post at 105 pupils. Small girls' schools will qualify for their first post at 150 pupils.

All allocations up to the point for the first full post will be made on a pro rata basis. If a small boys' school has just 50 pupils for example, it will get 0.5 of a post. The allocations between the point of the first full post and the cut-off enrolment point for small schools will stay at one post, that is, a small boys' school with between 100 and 135 pupils will get one full post.

These changes represent a substantial improvement for small schools on the original model.

The introduction of this new system will involve the provision of an estimated additional 340 permanent posts in primary schools from September next. A further 320 posts are being provided on a temporary basis to facilitate the transition to the new system.

My Department is now devising school clusters in respect of allocations to be made under the general allocation system. These will be notified to schools shortly along with the details of each school's individual allocation. My Department is also finalising a circular for schools which will contain detailed information on how the new system will operate. It is intended that this circular will issue before the end of the current school year.

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