Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school (details supplied) in Dublin 24 has had its special needs assistant allocation cut from 13 to 6.5, a reduction of 50%, which, combined with a possible loss of language support teachers, will have an impact on the lives of children with special educational needs and behavioural difficulties. [21351/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Firstly, I wish to clarify for the Deputy that Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations are not permanent, as the level of SNA support allocated to a school may be increased or decreased as pupils who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. They are also decreased where a child's care needs may have diminished over time.

I also wish to clarify that the recruitment and deployment of SNAs within schools are matters for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.

The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts.

The NCSE has issued a circular to all schools advising of the allocation process for the 2011/2012 school year. A key feature of the amended scheme will be to provide for an annual allocation of Special Needs Assistant support to eligible schools.

The NCSE is currently in the process of informing schools of their annual SNA allocation for the coming school year.

The NCSE will advise schools early in the new school year of a review process to review allocation decisions to ensure that correct procedures were followed and that they comply with my Department's policy. The merits of individual allocation decisions will not be open to appeal under this mechanism.

It will be expected that schools, before requesting a review, will be in a position to demonstrate that they have made every effort to manage their allocation of SNA posts to best effect.

The Deputy will also be aware that significant support is given to schools by way of language support provision. The level of extra teaching support provided in respect of language support to any school is determined by the numbers of eligible pupils enrolled and the associated assessed levels of those pupils' language proficiency. This is done through an annual application process in the Spring/Summer of each year.

Schools that made applications, and where more than 25% of the enrolment would qualify for language support, have had their applications assessed on the basis of the same criteria as last year and have a right of appeal to the Primary Staffing Appeal Board. The criteria on the number of children outlined in Circular 15/2009 still applies, i.e. the first post is granted where there are 14 to 30 eligible children the second post granted for between 31 and 90 children, the third post granted for between 91 and 120 eligible children, and the fourth post for between 91 and 120 eligible children.