Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the National Council for Special Education has included any recommendations stating that girls in an all-girls primary school should get less learning support than girls in a mixed primary school as part of its recent review; if not, the reason he allocates less learning support to an all-girls primary school compared to a mixed school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27475/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that differing teacher allocation ratios are applied under the General Allocation Model (GAM) in relation to boys, girls and mixed schools in order to account for differentials of prevalence of learning difficulty between boys and girls. The objective of this differentiation is to ensure that resources provided to schools to support children who have additional learning needs are targeted to ensure that those children most in need benefit from these resources.

The rationale for the differing ratios is based on international literature on the incidence of disability as well as international and national surveys of literacy and numeracy which indicate that there is a greater incidence of disability/learning difficulty in boys than girls. The NCSE has published a report 'A study of the Prevalence of Special Educational Needs' which is available at www.ncse.ie and which contains details regarding the prevalence of special needs among the pupil population including noting gender differentials. The criteria for the allocation of GAM hours is outlined in Circular 0007/2014, which is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.

Finally, the recently published NCSE Report Delivery for Students with Special Educational Needs, which is also available at www.ncse.ie, has recommended that a new resource teaching allocation model be devised for schools taking into account the profiled need of schools including consideration of the number of pupils with complex special needs in the school and also the educational profile of a school, of which it is recommended that gender continue to be a factor in deciding on school profile for resource allocation purposes.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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75. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a special needs assistant in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27482/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support. Where children have significant care needs whereby they may need additional support to be able to attend school, the NCSE may make an allocation of SNA support to the school to assist that child.

The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014. The deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter 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 NCSE invited schools to make applications for SNA support for children who have assessed care needs for the coming 2014/15 school year by 26th March 2014, for their consideration. Details of the NCSE application criteria are available at www.ncse.ie. The NCSE will shortly advise all schools of their SNA allocations for the coming school year. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.