Home > Supports

Supports

SESS Supports Scheme

The SESS aims to provide support to schools and individual teachers in as flexible a way as possible. For example, support might be financial, advisory or facilitative in nature, in response to schools, professional groups or individual teachers identifying their own professional development needs in relation to the teaching of children with special needs. Support can be applied for in four ways – further guidelines for applicants are provided on the application forms:

Types of support provided

1. In-School Support

Schools may be looking for advice or support relating to a specific special education issue in the school. The SESS may be in a position to offer telephone advice, a school visit from a member of the team, or an in-service course for the staff.

2. Individual Professional Development

Individual teachers may wish to attend a course that is specific to their professional development needs and to the needs of their students and school.

3. Group Professional Development Initiatives

A school, group of teachers or professional organisation may wish to undertake a professional development activity in relation to a specific area of interest.

4. Telephone Helpline and E-mail Support

A telephone helpline is available at 1850 200884 and email support is available through this website at info@sess.ie. However, due to the large volume of enquiries that come through these, please first check if the information you require is available through our most ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

Consideration of applications for support

The review of applications by the SESS takes into account the overall strategies and priorities of the SESS, along with the need to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Other considerations include the validity of the activities for which support is being sought, whether they reflect best practice and are cost effective, and if they are in keeping with DES policy.

An acknowledgement is forwarded immediately on receipt of each application. Each month’s applications are considered collectively – usually on the first week of each month – and a further period is then needed to inform applicants of decisions or to request clarifications. This administrative time-scale should be taken into account when submitting applications, in order to ensure there is adequate time for the application to be processed before notification of the decision is needed by the applicant. Approximately six weeks should be allowed for this.

The release of teachers to attend in-service is the responsibility of the Board of Management of the school, informed by the relevant Rules and Circulars of the Department of Education and Science.