Fears for allocation of special needs teachers

Potential difficulties with a new way of allocating special needs teachers will have to be closely monitored, Education Minister Richard Bruton has been warned.

While the system being rolled out from September removes the need for children to wait for professional assessments of more complex learning needs, Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS) president, Antoinette Nic Gearailt, said it is crucial that any issues which arise must be overcome.

She said that the biggest requirement will be to allow schools to appoint a staff member to co-ordinate, plan, and deploy SEN (special educational needs) resources without reducing the total time available for teaching.