Written answers

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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182. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools currently catering for special needs students at primary and second level schools throughout the country; if additional staffing is required; when she expects to be in a position to respond favourably to any such requests from the various school authorities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38454/14]

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The policy of my Department is that children with special educational needs should be included in mainstream placements with additional supports provided. In circumstances where children with special educational need require more specialised interventions, special school or special class places are also available.

All State funded primary and post primary schools have been allocated additional resources to provide for children with special educational needs enrolled in school. For children for whom mainstream provision is not appropriate, placement may be made in one of the 125 special schools which have approximately 1,000 teachers and approximately 860 special classes and units located around the country.

Primary and Post Primary schools have a permanent allocation of additional teaching supports to provide for children whose educational psychological assessment places them in the high incidence, or less complex, disability category.

Separately, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocates Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) for children with additional care needs, as outlined in Circular 00030/2014 and additional resource teaching hours to schools for children who have been assessed within the low incidence, or more complex, category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular Sp Ed 02/05. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special Education supports and the staffing resources available to my Department.

The total number of Resource Teaching posts which the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) may allocate to schools to support children with special educational needs for the 2014/15 school year is presently set at 6,225 WTE posts.

The NCSE are continuing to process applications for Resource Teaching support for the 2014/15 school year, where the necessary supporting documentation was not made available for the 26 March 2014 deadline. Decisions in relation to the remaining applications received by 22 September 2014 are expected to issue to schools in mid October.

To date, the NCSE has allocated over 10,900 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts to schools supporting students with special educational needs for the 2014/2015 school year. As the SNA allocation process is still ongoing, the exact numbers of SNAs and pupils being supported will become clear following the finalisation of enrolments of students in mainstream schools as at 30th September.

Should a school wish to make an application for additional SNA support for a child who was not previously considered for SNA support or who is due to enrol to a school, they may do so to the NCSE.

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.

It is a matter for schools to monitor and utilise their allocation of additional staffing resources to best support the needs of identified pupils, in accordance with my Department's guidance.

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