A statement regarding educational provision in mainstream school for children with Down Syndrome
| dc.contributor.author | Ombudsman for Children Office (OCO) | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-05-07T11:26:59Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2014-05-07T11:26:59Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2012-12 | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Ombudsman for Children Office. A statement regarding educational provision in mainstream school for children with Down Syndrome. Dublin: Ombudsman for Children Office; 2012 | en_GB |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10147/316565 | |
| dc.description | Explanatory Note: 1.8 Resource teaching is teaching that is provided to children with special needs in addition to ordinary classroom teaching. It is provided in order to allow children with special needs to achieve their educational potential in a mainstream setting. 1.9The current system for allocating resource teaching to children with special needs involves the use of categories of special need. The category of special need a child is assessed as belonging within sets the parameters for the additional teaching resource to be allocated in respect of the child. The categories of special need that form the basis of allocation of resource teaching hours in primary schools are set out in Department of Education Circular SP ED 02/05 which was issued for the purpose of providing guidance for mainstream primary schools. 1.10 Under the current system, a child who is assessed as having a mild learning disability may receive resource teaching support from block allocations of resource hours that are made to schools by the Department. The system whereby schools are allocated block hours in order to cater for the needs of children within certain categories of special need is known as the General Allocation Model (GAM). Under the GAM, blocks of resource hours are given to schools at a level that is calculated with reference to the size of the schools and other factors such as gender and socio-economic disadvantage within the school. These block hours are allocated to schools to cater for the needs of children with high incidence special needs. For children assessed as being within other categories of special need, known as low incidence categories of special need, individual allocations of teaching hours are made to schools in respect of the specific child so assessed. Under the arrangements set out in Circular SP ED 02/05, Down Syndrome is not included as a specific category of special need recognised for the purpose of allocating resource teaching hours to individual children. 1.11 Information from the schools received during the course of the examination and investigation indicated that the children who were the focus of the complaints in this case were both receiving resource teaching hours under GAM at the time the complaints were made. The resource teaching the children were receiving was as a result of having been assessed as being within the mild learning disability category of special need. 1.12 Both complainant mothers contended that the special needs of their children arising from Down Syndrome are quite different from those arising from a mild learning disability. Both mothers asserted that the current system for allocating resource teaching does not take account of the multiplicity of special needs that arise for children with Down Syndrome. Both mothers stated that they felt Down Syndrome should be recognised as a category of special need giving rise to individual allocations of resource teaching hours. | en_GB |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Ombudsman for Children Office (OCO) | en_GB |
| dc.subject | CHILD HEALTH | en_GB |
| dc.subject | DOWNS SYNDROME | en_GB |
| dc.subject | EDUCATION | en_GB |
| dc.title | A statement regarding educational provision in mainstream school for children with Down Syndrome | en_GB |
| dc.type | Report | en |
| refterms.dateFOA | 2018-08-30T10:34:29Z |
Files in this item
Name:
Educationprovisionmainstreamsc ...
Size:
231.3Kb
Format:
PDF
Description:
Main Report