Written answers

Wednesday, 5 April 2006

Department of Education and Science

Special Educational Needs

9:00 pm

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the action she will take to ensure second level schools do not shirk their responsibility to admit students who have special needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13494/06]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware some second level schools do not appear to be doing as much as they could to ensure students with special needs are as welcome in those schools as students without special needs. The Education Act 1998 requires all schools to have in place an admissions policy, detailing admission to and participation by students with disabilities or who have other special educational needs. The Act also requires schools to ensure that as regards that policy the principles of equality and the right of parents to send their children to a school of the parents choice are respected.

My Department provides a range of supports to all schools to enable them to welcome students with special educational needs. My Department allocates additional teacher support and special needs assistant support to second level schools and VECs to cater for students with special educational needs. The nature and level of support provided in each case is based on the professionally assessed needs of the individual student. However, this requires a willingness on the part of schools to be proactive in this area and also a willingness on the part of parents to more actively assert their rights in terms of their choice of school.

The level of resources being made available to support students with special educational needs in the second level system has grown significantly in recent years. In the current school year, my Department has allocated approximately 1,653 whole-time equivalent teachers and 1,102 special needs assistants to second level schools to cater for pupils with special educational needs. This represents an increase of approximately 264 teaching posts and 470 special needs assistant posts on the previous school year. Under section 29 of the Education Act 1998, parents of a student who has been refused enrolment in a school may appeal that decision to the Secretary General of my Department. Such appeals are dealt with within 30 days of their receipt and where an appeal is upheld the Secretary General is empowered to direct the school to enrol the student. With effect from 1 January 2005, the National Council for Special Education took over key functions from my Department in regard to special educational provision. I am confident the advent of the NCSE will prove of major benefit in ensuring all children with special educational needs receive the support they require, when and where they require it.

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of schools in which behaviour support classrooms will be trialled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13316/06]

Photo of John PerryJohn Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the arrangements that will be made with schools with behaviour support classrooms to provide for supervision of such classrooms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13315/06]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 120 and 139 together.

When I launched School Matters, the report of the task force on student behaviour in second level schools, on 14 March last, I referred to the establishment of behaviour support classrooms in schools. The report recommends the establishment of behaviour support classrooms in those schools experiencing severe behavioural difficulties with students. There is an obvious benefit in schools being in a position to remove particularly problematic students from the mainstream classroom setting for a limited period of time, once this removal results in intensive work with those students and results in their reintegration into the mainstream system. Much of this work, by its nature, will be of a behavioural management form. This will be a time limited intervention designed to facilitate early reintegration into the mainstream system. The putting in place of behaviour support classrooms will be a very significant step and one which we simply have to get right. For instance, we will have to examine different models of such classrooms and to see which approach brings about real improvement in student behaviour. For this reason, I intend to trial up to 30 behaviour support classrooms initially and to evaluate their effectiveness in their first year of operation.

Selecting schools for inclusion in the pilot phase of this new development will be based on recommendations from the behaviour support team, which I will establish in the coming months. I would like the team to report within a few months after it commences its work. Schools chosen to trial a behaviour support classroom will be expected to demonstrate a real commitment to dealing with all causes of the discipline problem in their school. A behaviour support classroom must be seen as part of a wide ranging plan to improve discipline in the school and not just a dumping ground. The supervision of behaviour support classrooms will be a matter for the schools themselves. However, my Department will allocate additional staffing resources to the schools selected for inclusion in this trial.

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