Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 161: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in the context of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004, she will ensure that the necessary professional personnel to carry out assessments are put in place, special education needs organisers receive appropriate training and schools are given the necessary support to cope properly with special needs students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5753/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2005, also known as the EPSEN Act, was enacted in July 2004. While many sections of the Act have already commenced, the remaining sections relate mainly to the statutory assessment and education plan process for which the Act provides. These cannot come into effect without the National Council for Special Education having an opportunity to present an implementation report to my Department which it must do before 1 October 2006. On 21 October 2005, the council published a call for submissions in the national media on the implementation of the Act. The closing date for submissions was 13 January 2006.

I understand that the National Council for Special Education has recently commissioned Dr. Eileen Winter at Queen's University, Belfast, to undertake research on its behalf on the resource requirements needed to implement assessments as identified in the EPSEN Act. Results from the study will inform the production of the implementation report which will detail how the council will implement the Act. The research is due to be completed in June of this year.

A total of 71 special educational needs organisers, SENOs, commenced employment with the National Council for Special Education on 1 September 2004. The SENO posts were required to provide for an organisation and co-ordination function that is new to the education system. The council, with the assistance of training consultants, developed, prepared and delivered an extensive induction programme for SENOs.

SENOs, although having previous experience of delivering education or other services to children with disabilities, are from a variety of professional backgrounds and training for their new role had to take that into account. Further training focused on decision making within my Department's policy parameters was provided up to the end of the year by my Department's inspectorate and the National Educational Psychological Service from within the Department and National Council for Special Education staff. In 2005, a similar exercise was undertaken for nine SENOs who commenced employment last year. With regard to 2006, provision for training has been made in the 2006 budget with a view to the provision of further structured training for SENOs arising from the evolution of their role and also the implementation of the EPSEN Act.

A new scheme for allocating resource teachers to schools to cater for the needs of children with high incidence special needs, such as mild general learning disability and learning support needs, was introduced in schools in September 2005. Resource teachers will now be in place in the school from the start of the school year so that children who need their assistance can get it straight away.

The new system for allocating resource teachers in primary schools comprises a general allocation for pupils with learning difficulties and those with high incidence disabilities. Applications for individual resource allocations for pupils with special educational needs arising from the more complex low incidence disabilities, such as autism, will be processed by the National Council for Special Education through its network of SENOs and decisions on the applications will be communicated directly to schools by the SENOs.

The Deputy may be interested to know that in September 2003, my Department established the special education support service, SESS, which is based at the Cork education centre. The aim of the service is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning with particular reference to the education of children with special needs. The service provides support for school personnel working with pupils and students with special educational needs in a variety of educational settings, including special schools and special classes.

Professional development and support is available to principals, middle management in schools, class teachers, subject teachers, special-class teachers, resource teachers and special needs assistants. It is open to the management authorities in schools to address any additional training needs for staff employed in their schools through the SESS. I can assure the Deputy that this Government is committed to ensuring that the EPSEN Act is fully implemented.