Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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555. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that in future all decisions are made in a timely manner in order that new appointments can be made prior to the summer holiday break regarding the new model for the allocation of teaching hours for special education needs to post primary schools (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28049/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools were published on 7th March 2017.

These Circulars set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools.

The revised allocation model replaces the generalised allocation process at primary and post primary school level for learning support and high incidence special educational needs, and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocation process which provided additional resource teaching supports to schools, to support pupils assessed as having Low Incidence disabilities.

The new model provides one single allocation to schools based on the profile. Schools will be frontloaded with resources to provide additional teaching support to all pupils who need such support. 

The NCSE notified all schools of their special education teaching allocations for September 2017 on 7th March 2017.

The NCSE also published details of the appeals process on the NCSE website: www.ncse.ie.

Schools who wished to submit an appeal were asked to do so by March 31st 2017.

Schools could appeal whether the data used to calculate their school profile was correct and complete and whether it was correctly applied in the calculation of their 2017/18 allocation.

DES Circulars 0013/2017 and 0014/2017 outline the basis on which the Education Research Centre determined the allocations for all schools.  

In advance of any submission of an appeal, schools were asked to read carefully the DES Circulars and in particular the relevant sections, which relate to the breakdown of the allocation, which may be under consideration for appeal.

It is regretted that the consideration of the appeals could not be concluded in advance of 31st May this year, however, the NCSE has now confirmed that this process will be concluded as soon as possible.

I can also confirm that in future years, when an appeal process is being put in place, that the NCSE will endeavour to conclude the appeal process before the end of the school year. 

The model will also allow for some additional provision for exceptional circumstances or where a school’s enrolment levels increase very substantially prior to the next review of the model. The National Council for Special Education will support schools in managing their special education teaching allocations in the first instance. Only in very exceptional circumstances, where it can be demonstrated that the schools profile has changed very significantly since the allocation was made to the school, may an additional allocation of hours be made to the school.

Guidelines for schools on the organisation, deployment and use of their special education teachers to address the need of pupils with special educational needs have also now been published and are available on my Departments website.

The Guidelines will support schools to reflect on how they can review and manage their timetabling practices to ensure the timetable is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of all pupils in their school who have special needs. The Guidelines encourage schools to ensure they deploy their resources appropriately to meet the needs of all of the children in their school who require additional teaching support, including pupils with emerging needs, or new entrants.