Written answers

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Department of Education and Science

Special Educational Needs

8:00 pm

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 227: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will assist on a matter (details supplied). [20206/08]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has established a number of measures to support and advise schools where pupils may experience behavioural and emotional difficulties. All second level schools have been required to provide Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) as part of the junior cycle curriculum since September 2003. This course builds on SPHE in the Primary School Curriculum. SPHE, when considered both at primary level and in the junior cycle, provides all students with opportunities to develop skills and competences to enable them to engage in responsible decision-making and to promote their physical, mental and emotional health and well-being.

In September 2003, my Department established the Special Education Support Service (SESS) to manage, co-ordinate and develop a range of supports in response to identified training needs. As part of its response to the growing demand from teachers for support and training, the SESS is currently developing teams of trainers to deliver training in four specific areas: Autism, Challenging Behaviour, Dyslexia, and Inclusion. This training will be delivered locally through the Education Centre network and/or through whole-staff in-school support. The SESS have also provided targeted support for post-primary schools. Funding is also provided through the SESS for on-line training in Managing Student Behaviour, Inclusion, Dyslexia, Understanding Autism, ADHD, Applied Behaviour Analysis, Gifted and Talented Students and Teaching Troubled Children. These online courses are run by the Institute of Child Education and Psychology Europe.

In 2006 the National Behaviour Support Service was established. A National Co-ordinator and five Assistant National Co-ordinators have been appointed In addition, ten Regional Development Officers and fourteen part-time Associates were recruited to ensure the success of this significant initiative. A Research Officer has been appointed and will carry out research of current Irish and international literature and test against reality situations in Irish schools. This should provide an invaluable benchmark of the level of disruption in schools and the effectiveness of intervention by the NBSS. A full-time administrator is based in Navan Education Centre.

Since their appointment, the team has been working on a number of key issues: The development of a Draft National Framework for Behaviour Improvement; The development of models of good practice for systems in schools which assist with and impact on classroom and whole school behaviour; On-going training for the NBSS team; and research into and communication with behaviour support systems in other jurisdictions.

The NBSS is currently working with 50 selected schools throughout the country. Behaviour Support Classrooms have been established and staffed in 30 of these 50 schools. These classrooms provide an individualised intensive intervention programme for a targeted group of students. The Behaviour Support Classrooms are staffed by at least one qualified whole-time teacher. The Board of Management of the schools concerned have flexibility in relation to the employment of another whole-time teacher equivalent and may employ people with different expertise to cater for the needs of the students involved. I want to emphasise however that these classrooms cannot be, in themselves, a solution to the issue of poor student behaviour. They must be one part of a holistic response which should see a school, actively supported by the Behaviour Support Team, defining for itself a pathway to improvement. The NBSS also propose to produce a training CD/DVD on all aspects of challenging behaviour, within the Irish context. It is envisaged that this would be available to all schools.

A key feature of the composition of the National Behaviour Support Service is the assignment to it of a team of four psychologists. These have been seconded from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and their presence will ensure that the team operates in a multi-disciplinary way. In addition all primary and post primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). Schools that do not currently have NEPS psychologists assigned to them may avail of the SCPA, whereby the school can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly.

It has always been the policy of NEPS, within the normal boundaries of finance and process, to endeavour to respond positively and flexibly to extraordinary need and circumstance as presented by school authorities on occasion and it is open to school Principals who have urgent needs for pupil assessment in excess of allocation to discuss the matter with the local NEPS Regional Director. My Department is committed to supporting schools and I want to advise the Deputy that since its establishment the number of psychologists allocated to NEPS has trebled.

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