Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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221. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on claims that the proposed new model being designed to allocate resources to children with special needs in mainstream schools has the potential to discriminate against so-called high performing schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6456/15]

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if it is the case that children with an assessed low-incidence-special-educational need will no longer be entitled to special-needs-teaching hours under the proposed new model of allocation; if at present, each child who receives resource-teaching has the legal right to a certain number of hours of such teaching, as determined by the guidelines, and provided by the special education needs organiser. [6457/15]

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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226. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills regarding the National Council for Special Education's proposed document entitled Delivery for Students with Special Educational Needs: A better and more equitable way, her views on concerns that if professional diagnosis is eliminated then children will be at the mercy of school staff that often have inconsistent levels of experience and training; her further views that without professional diagnosis teachers will be guessing at the problem which hinders the remediation process; and if it is not the case that if the learning difficulty is identified early on by a qualified practitioner the teacher has a much better chance to remediate with proven teaching strategies that meet the particular learning need. [6478/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 221, 222 and 226 together.

The Deputy will be aware that on Tuesday of this week I announced that I am not proposing to change the way teachers are allocated to schools for children with Special Educational Needs for the coming school year.

In making this decision to retain the current model for allocating resource and learning support teachers for the coming year, I have been guided by the advice of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) Working Group report, which recommended that sufficient time should be allowed for further consultation to take place with the education stakeholders before the new model is implemented in schools.

Through consultations which have already taken place, there was a broad welcome for the proposed new model from parents, disability groups, schools and stakeholders. However, while there has been significant consultation in relation to the proposed new model, there has not been sufficient time to address fully all of the concerns which have been raised in advance the September 2015 school year.

In particular, a robust mechanism for identifying children with complex special educational needs has yet to be finalised. Similarly it will be important to ensure that the concerns that successful schools continue to receive appropriate levels of support to ensure that their successes can be maintained are addressed.

In relation to concerns about the removal of professional diagnosis as a basis for the allocation of teaching supports, the response from schools, parents, disability groups, and all other stakeholders who participated in the consultation process has been overwhelmingly positive to this NCSE recommendation. The view from schools is that, while the professional diagnosis is important in determining whether a specific disability exists, it provides little assistance in understanding the actual learning needs of individual children. In addition, the reliance on the professional diagnosis can often mean significant delays in providing access to additional teaching support. The proposed new model would eliminate this delay.

While the proposed new model is not proceeding for the coming year, it is not the case that the proposed new model would deny children access to additional support based on their needs.

Under the current model which will be in place for the coming school year, schools will be allocated support calculated on the basis of the numbers of qualifying applications which are received by the NCSE. The current model does not entitle an individual child to a quantum of hours as, under the model the allocation is made to the school for the benefit of all children with special educational needs.

Work will continue in the coming months to develop the proposed model and to address the range of concerns which were identified through the consultations which have taken place so far.

I have asked my Department to design a pilot of the new model which schools could opt into on a voluntary basis. Continuing consultation with stakeholders will be a vital part of the ongoing work.

The Deputy will also be aware that this week I also announced the establishment within the National Council for Special Education of a new Inclusion Support Service to assist schools in supporting children with special educational needs. This service will include the Special Education Support Service (SESS), the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS) and the Visiting Teacher Service for children who are deaf/hard of hearing and for children who are blind/visually impaired (VTSVHI) which until now have been managed by the Department. This change is to take immediate effect and is consistent with recommendations of NCSE reports and with the review of the VTSVHI.

This change will mean that schools will receive a better and more integrated service from this new Inclusion Support Service. The Inclusion Support Service will build on the existing good work and support which NBSS, SESS and VTSVHI provide to children and their families as well as to teachers and schools and which will continue as normal as the new arrangements are put in place.