Special needs education set for major Government review

THE Government is set to undertake an in-depth review of the education of children with disabilities, as thousands of young people return to school this morning without the extra help they need.

The workload facing Department of Education officials has led to a backlog in applications for resource teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) for pupils at primary and second level schools.

The current system of processing these applications is partly to blame for the delays, which could force some schools to turn away children with the most severe physical and learning disabilities.