John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 557: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of students being taught by home tuition in County Sligo; the training persons who provide home tuition must have; the checks her Department carry out in order to ensure that the required number of hours tuition is being provided; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11298/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that the home tuition scheme provides funding to parents to provide education at home for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme was extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting a suitable educational placement.

I wish to inform the Deputy that 1,000 students have been allocated hours under the home tuition scheme in the 2006/2007 school year. I can arrange to have numbers with an address in Co. Sligo forwarded to the Deputy.

A recent review of a number of applications for home tuition highlighted some cause for concern regarding the qualifications of proposed tuition providers. The Deputy will appreciate that, as this tuition takes place outside of the normal school structure, there is a need to ensure that the tuition providers are appropriately qualified to give educational intervention. Following the review of qualifications, which took place in consultation with my Department's Inspectorate, an extended list of qualifications acceptable under the scheme has been published. This list is available on my Department's website. Aside from recognised teaching qualifications such as the Bachelor in Education and approved Montessori training, the list includes certain qualifications in autism and in applied approaches to teaching children with autism, such as ABA, PECS and TEACCH. Third level qualifications in relevant areas such as psychology may also be appropriate depending on circumstances.

Responsibility for ensuring that a child is receiving an appropriate level of education under the terms of the home tuition scheme rests with the parents/guardian of the particular child. In order for my Department to process a claim for home tuition grant payment, the parent/guardian and the tuition provider must certify the extent of tuition that has been delivered to the child in question.