Related Stories

• Pleasant occasion – great cause
  
  
• Viability of Duntryleague cemetery to be examined by council
  
  
• Lismore crozier may be permanently housed in Heritage Centre
  
  
• IFA cheque presentation
  
  
• Fermoy Gathering promises much
  
  
• Local woman leading Toronto camogie team for The Gathering tournament in Dublin
  
  
• Help promote Heritage Week in your county
  
  
• A summer evening with Jane Austen a great success
  
  
• Art winners at Ballindangan NS
  
  
• Water quality complaints in Lismore
  
  
• Flags on the double for Kildorrery NS
  
  
• Celebration time for Clogheen residents
  
  

Minster Sean Sherlock, who welcomes the news that the working group is to include stakeholders as well as Government representatives, as he feels this is the most beneficial approach to take.

Minister Sean Sherlock has welcomed the news that a working group is to be established to develop a new model for allocating resource teachers in schools.

The group is being established by the National Council for Special Education, chaired by Eamon Stack, will include parents and advocacy groups and will begin its work immediately.

It will provide an interim report to Minister Quinn in September with advice on how to reform the way the substantial additional educational resources for pupils with special educational needs are allocated in the school system.

“I welcome the news that the working group is to include stakeholders as well as Government representatives, as I feel this is the most beneficial approach to take. I understand that there has been quite a lot of anxiety around allocations and firmly believe that this is the best way to address these concerns at all levels. It is important to note and reassure parents that children will not be disadvantaged as we work towards the development of this new model," Minister Sherlock said. 

The group will urgently probe the reasons for the unprecedented 12% rise in applications for resource teacher support this year. This compares with an annual 1.3% increase in the number of students attending school in the current year.

Minister Sherlock added that as an interim measure, there has been a cabinet agreement to release 500 additional teaching posts for September to meet the current rise in demand as a once off measure. 

Minister Quinn had previously outlined his concerns about the current system, saying that it creates an unequal distribution of resource hours and it has been found that students in disadvantaged areas often end up with less special education support than those in better areas.

blog comments powered by Disqus