Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 322: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the protocols that exist between her Department and the Health Service Executive in relation to children who have behavioural difficulties who require the support of a multidisciplinary team, child psychiatrist psychologist or speech therapist; the co-operation that exists between her Department and the HSE to provide a service to these children who are at risk of being put out of school due to behavioural difficulties and who urgently require services in a school setting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35866/07]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 323: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans in relation to providing support to school principals for children who have behavioural difficulties and for ensuring supports are in place to keep them within the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35867/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 322 and 323 together.

The services the Deputy refers to are therapy services provided by the Health Service Executive. Responsibility for the delivery of therapy services lies with the relevant health authorities who are allocated funding for this purpose.

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department provides a range of teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs, including children with behavioural difficulties.

The special educational needs of such children can be addressed in special schools, in special dedicated classes attached to ordinary schools, or on an integrated basis in ordinary schools. Decisions regarding the most appropriate model of response in each particular case are based on the professionally assessed needs of the individual pupil.

In this regard psychologists from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) work in close collaboration with health professionals in relation to the needs of individual children and interface with the relevant elements of the HSE at local, regional and national level.

In addition to the above, my Department's Teacher Education Section has developed a strategy designed to meet the continuing professional development needs of personnel working with children with special educational needs. This involves a major expansion of the range of post-graduate professional training programmes available to teachers in the special needs area and the ongoing development of the Special Education Support Service (SESS) to support schools staff locally. Significant levels of provision of training for Challenging Behaviour exist as part of post-graduate Special Education Needs (SEN) programmes in the seven colleges of further education. In addition, the Institute of Child Education & Psychology (ICEP) are involved in the provision of courses in this area in conjunction with St Patrick's College.

The Special Education Support Service (SESS) have adopted a dual approach to the provision of training in the area of Challenging Behaviour. The SESS has a "Local Initiative Scheme" in place in which the training provided is identified by teachers and schools. This dynamic approach in the area of Special Education offers the relevant support and training to suit the requirements of the individual teachers and schools. A Core Strategy of Managing Challenging Behaviour is also adopted by SESS. In this strategy they approach training on the basis of the level of behavioural difficulties encountered. Teachers working with students with a moderate general learning disability are offered training in the form of day long seminars with follow-up visits to schools if necessary. Teachers working with students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) were offered an Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) on-line course and three day workshop. A Summer Schools Programme at Primary level was offered for teachers who deal with serious and persistent challenging behaviour on a day-to-day basis, and was also offered to the teachers dealing with students with severe challenging behaviour.

As part of its work at whole school, customised and Behaviour Support Classroom levels, the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS) conducts in-school and out-of-school continuous professional development (CPD) courses which focus on systemic behaviour improvement in schools at post-primary level. To date, in-school CPD has mainly concentrated on upskilling staff in the areas of low level disruption and prevention and de-escalation techniques for high level disruption. Out of school CPD has been organised for Behaviour Support Classroom staff only and has concentrated on all aspects of the prevention and addressing of challenging behaviour in the classroom and around the school.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 324: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the further funding that will be provided to the National Education and Welfare Board and to the National Council for Special Education to ensure that they can fulfil their role properly; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35868/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has adopted a broad-based approach to tackling the issue of school attendance. The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) was established to monitor attendance and help to get young people back to school. The Board runs promotional campaigns on the importance of attendance and finishing school and provides a service locally through its Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) to parents, children and schools.

This Government is determined to do all that is possible to ensure that every child gets all the opportunities and support they need to enable them to achieve their potential and participate fully in education. The funding to the Board for 2007 amounted to €9.808 million, which represents an increase of 20% on the 2006 allocation and of 50% on the 2004 level. This substantial increase in funding is a clear indication of this Government's commitment to prioritise investment in favour of those most at risk. Sanction for 15 additional staff was given in 2007 and this brings the current authorised staffing of the Board to 109 posts of which 90 are allocated to working directly in the service delivery area. The staffing complement is comprised of 19 Head Office and support staff, 5 regional managers, 13 Senior EWOs and 72 EWOs. The allocation to the NEWB will increase to €10.119 million in 2008.

In addition to the NEWB there are some 620 staff, within the education sector, deployed in education disadvantage programmes of which over 130 are additional posts allocated under DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) the action plan for educational inclusion which provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP). The School Completion Programme and the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) are preventative measures designed to combat issues of poor attendance and early school leaving. Children at risk of early school leaving are targeted under the School Completion Programme for a variety of extra supports aimed at encouraging them to stay in school. The supports cover both educational and non-educational interventions and are provided during and outside of school time. The Home School Community Liaison Scheme works to involve parents in their children's education which is a crucial component in convincing young people of the value of education. Consequently work is ongoing to develop appropriate protocols for all agencies and services to work together in collaboration and to ensure that optimum use is made of the resources deployed.

Through increased investment and improved services we are determined to optimise access, participation and educational outcomes at every level of the system for disadvantaged groups.

I will be keeping the issue of resources for the NEWB under review in light of the rollout of services, the scope for integrated working and any proposals that the Board may put to me in relation to clearly identified priority needs.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which has been in operation since 1 January 2005 with over 90 members of staff, works exclusively in supporting students with special educational needs. The NCSE was established under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (EPSEN) 2004 to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities with particular emphasis on children. Since it was established in 2005, the NCSE has been responsible for allocating resources for children with special educational needs. The NCSE has a key role in the delivery of services and operates through a network of special educational needs organisers (SENOs) who act as a focal point of contact for schools and parents. SENOs are responsible for processing applications from schools for special needs supports and they convey decisions on the applications directly to the schools. These supports include resource teaching hours, special needs assistant (SNA) support and assistive technology and equipment. The budgetary allocation for the National Council for Special Education for 2008 is €10.832m and I am satisfied that the NCSE will be able to manage within the 2008 budgetary allocation.

Going forward, the NCSE has produced an Implementation Report regarding the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act, which is currently receiving detailed consideration within my Department. As part of this process, my officials have met with the education partners to obtain their views on the report and its recommendations. Arising from this process and taking account of the Council's implementation report, a Working Group in my Department has been developing proposals for the implementation of the Act and this work will be completed shortly. In this context, I am satisfied that effective progress is being made to advance development of the necessary policy and supports to enable formal commencement of the remaining provisions of the Act.