Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form the number of teachers working in the education system who hold a BCBA or BCaBA qualification. [48167/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not maintain records of the number of teachers who have obtained the qualifications to which he refers.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form the number of persons employed on the SESS Advisors Behaviour Team and the number of those advisors who hold a BCBA qualification. [48168/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware of the brief of the Special Education Support Service (SESS) in relation to the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) and support for teachers in the area of special educational needs in the learning and teaching context. Currently, there are eighteen full-time members on the SESS team together with one part-time specialist advisor.

The SESS has a number of teams involved in the provision of CPD and support to teachers of students with challenging behaviour; the Challenging Behaviour Team, the Autism Team and the Contemporary Applied Behaviour Analysis Team. Thirteen members of the SESS are directly involved in these teams. I am satisfied that the SESS are making appropriate provision to support teachers and schools in this area. One SESS team member holds a BCBA qualification with three others currently working towards obtaining this specific qualification.