Home Tuition
Children with liver disease often miss out on schooling either while in hospital for extended periods, recuperating or with regular visits. Home tuition is available where these circumstances arise. The link to the Departments current guidelines are below.
Home Tuition is provided by a teacher that is chosen by the parent. They are paid a rate of €41.99 per hour. The money is paid to the parent who pays it to the teacher. It is worth speaking to your child’s school to consider the options and suggestions that they have.
The hours available vary from 2-10 hours per week. 10 hours is really only given to Leaving Cert students.
Assessment of the number of hours is based on age and how much time is being missed. The application form (the link is below)has a section for the parents, Principle of the child’s school and the Consultant to fill in.
The Principle of your child’s school has to fill in how many days were missed in the previous year and how many days have been missed so far in the current year. It is important that this is filled in correctly. Remind your Principle of the days when your child may have to take half days for appointments. These count too.
The Consultant needs to fill in how long they think that your child will be absent. In many cases this section is not completed in returned forms. As we know liver disease can be unpredictable. Ask whoever you are speaking to to attempt to fill it in as if they don’t it is left to the Department of Education to guess.
Should you be unhappy with the amount of time allocated contact the department again to ask for more. The allocation is reviewed by another member of staff.
Application forms include information on the tutor. The Department recognize that we may need to have the hours allocated before you can get a tutor. Therefore apply for the grant before starting the teaching. Then you can send in the tutor’s information quickly afterwards.
The allocation includes the hours and number of months that they will allocate funding for. Should home tuition need to be extended beyond the allocated months you must contact the department to get approval.
When applying for Home Tuition you need to get a tax compliance certificate. In most cases this is just a case of calling your tax office. They are very helpful when they are told the circumstances.
All tutors need to be Garda vetted. This needs to be completed before they start teaching. Most teachers who are teaching in primary school already have this.
Many Principles are not aware of Home Tuition or are unsure about it’s uses.
This Department are very helpful so if you have any issues they are worth a phone call. Contacts are listed below.
The information on the Department of Education is under the section Children with Special Needs.
We have pointed out that it is not clear that this includes children with chronic conditions making it difficult to find information on their web site for families and teaching staff. They have replied to say that they have taken note of our concerns and that they will consider amending it in due course.
Circular from department of education-www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Active-Circulars/cl0026_2012.pdf
Web site with application form-www.education.ie/en/Parents/Services/Home-Tuition-Children-with-Special-Education-Medical-Needs/Home-Tuition-Claim-Form-2012-2013.pdf
Contacts for SPECIAL EDUCATION SECTION(for children with special educational needs and medical conditions)
Address: Department of Education and Skills, Special Education Section, Cornamaddy, Athlone, County Westmeath.
Phone: (090) 648 4187