Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to increase the number of visiting teachers to children who have significant hearing loss in primary schools in County Cork (details supplied). [21407/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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My department, either directly or through the National Council for Special Education, provides a range of supports in schools supporting children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The NCSE has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. The visiting teacher service forms part of the NCSE support service for schools, and visiting teachers are now recruited, deployed and managed by the NCSE.

My department provides funding to the NCSE to provide supports including 34 Visiting Teachers (VTs) in the visiting teacher service. The number of VTs has recently increased by 5 posts nationally from 29 to 34. This increase has resulted in a reduction nationally of the VTs’ caseloads.

Each Visiting Teacher works across the three sectors (Early years, primary and post-primary), form the age of diagnosis to the end of second level education.

At primary school level, the support provided by the VT may include:

· direct teaching, particularly in the areas of language and communication,

· modelling teaching approaches for mainstream and special education teachers contributing to the child’s school support plan in cooperation with parents and school staffs,

· assessing and recording the child’s progress in attainment of targets,

· empowering mainstream staff to deliver the curriculum by advising them of the potential educational and social impact of hearing loss or visual impairment on a child’s development,

· making recommendations and advising teachers on the use of assistive technologies, amplification equipment, low vision aids,

· advising on the acoustics (in the case of deafness) and safe environment (in case of visual impairment) in the classroom, and

· liaising with other professionals and agencies who provide services for children with hearing loss or visual impairment.

The visiting teachers prioritise their caseloads based on the level of need of the students, parents, families and schools. It would be expected that this level of need will vary from one year to the next, based on a number of factors, for example the capacity building within the school itself, the building of independence, motivation and self-esteem of students, level of support from SETs, as well as parental knowledge and competence.

Caseloads are continuously reviewed to ensure that the children and young people with the greatest level of need receive the greatest levels of support from VTs. A review of the caseloads in the Cork area was conducted in September 2024 and officials in the NSCE will be reviewing this again before the end of the current school year.