•Extra teaching resources for children with Down Syndrome.
•Minister for Education allocates 2.5 resource teacher hours per week to each child with Down Syndrome.
Allocating additional resource teacher support to children with Down Syndrome is very welcome and will come as a welcome relief to parents and families. This will mean that children with Down Syndrome who are not already supported through the National Council for Special Education’s (NCSE) annual allocation process will now receive 2.5 resource teacher hours each week.
Parents and families have campaigned for 10 years to bring about this change in allocating teaching resources. This announcement is testament to their efforts and recognises the needs of children with Down Syndrome. For too long parents have had to struggle to get additional learning supports for their children, this decision goes a long way to meeting the educational needs of their children.
These changes will take effect from the beginning of the next school year in September. Although an interim measure it will provide extra support when it comes to general learning difficulties experienced by children with Down Syndrome. Over the next couple of years a new model of allocating supports will be piloted and implemented. Every effort must be made to ensure that this new model will meet the needs of all children who require additional teaching support.