Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2023
362. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education the number of children with special needs receiving home tuition; and the aggregate number of hours of such tuition being provided nationally. [40358/23]
View answerMy Department’s Home Tuition Grant Schemes provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of specific reasons, are unable to attend school. By its nature, these schemes are intended to be a short term intervention.
My Department operates 3 categories of home tuition:
• special educational needs and medical grounds
• reasons other than special educational needs and medical grounds
• maternity-related absences
Each of the Home Tuition Grant Schemes are governed by annual circulars which sets out the purpose, eligibility criteria and details of the scheme. For instance, circular 0024/2023 provides information on the 2023/2024 Home Tuition Grant Scheme for children with special educational needs and medical grounds. It can be accessed by clicking on the following link: gov.ie/en/circular/67f37-home-tuition-grant-scheme-20232024-special-education-component/
Under the special educational needs and medical grounds category, funding can be provided towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for:
(a) Early educational intervention for children with autism who meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria
(b) Students with special educational needs seeking an educational placement in a recognised school
(c) Students, enrolled in schools, with a significant medical condition, or school phobia and/or associated depression/anxiety, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school
The allocation of hours under each strand is as set out below:
• Early Intervention for Children with ASD
The maximum home tuition grant for children with ASD up to 3 years of age is based on 10 hours tuition per week subject to the primary school calendar.
• Children with Special Educational Needs seeking a school placement.
The maximum home tuition grant for children awaiting a placement is based on 20 hours tuition per week subject to the appropriate school calendar year. Where a child is attending an early intervention or private pre-school setting the home tuition hours allocated will be the difference between the hours approved in the pre-school or early intervention setting and the maximum home tuition hours for which the child would normally be eligible under the terms of this scheme.
• Students enrolled in schools with a significant medical condition, or school phobia and/or associated depression/anxiety.
Generally, grant aid based on a range of between 2 and 10 hours tuition may be approved with the allocation reflecting the level of attendance in the previous school year (i.e. 2022/23 school year), and whether the attendance was at primary or post primary level. As a general guide, up to 5 hours may be granted to children at primary level while students at post primary level may be granted between 2 and 7 hours, and students sitting their Leaving Certificate Examinations may be granted between 2 and 10 hours.
To date, my Department has approved 521 applications under the 2023/24 Home Tuition Scheme for children in the special educational needs and medical conditions category. A breakdown of the current level of tuition hours per week is as follows:
|
Strand of Scheme |
Applications Sanctioned |
Aggregate hours per week |
|
Early Intervention for children with ASD |
376 |
6767 |
|
SEN children with no educational placement |
44 |
900 |
|
Students with significant medical/mental health conditions |
101 |
726 |
|
Total |
521 |
8393 |
