Thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of the special needs, I would agree with the Member that this is an area that is critically important to ensuring the success of as many of our children as possible in the North. It is an area that I have long wanted to see some increase in funding. I think the last government did a pretty good job of getting the funding increased from where it was to get it up to a level that we have it at today, but that is only part way.
We note from studies that have been done in the past, the student survey that was done several years ago told us what was needed in the classroom. It told us that most teachers saw students who needed more support than what they could get in the classroom, so we knew that we had a ways to go. We are ready to undertake a second study in the course of this year to ensure that we are up to date on what the needs are in the classroom, that we can follow through on them. We are going to also be completing the new directive on inclusive schooling. That has involved all of the divisional educational councils as well as the NWTTA and other stakeholders as we have gone through it. It has gone through a number of drafts. We are in the final draft right now. We expect to have the final version of it out by April so that it can be brought into the course this year.
The Member also raised an interesting situation where we know that there are some people who are going to need assistance through Health and Social Services. We don't necessarily have in our schools the people who are trained to deal with some of the situations that present. Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment are working together to see some teams implemented. These are being funded through Health. I think that there has been some discussion about those when Minister Miltenberger was here as a witness. There will be some collaboration between those teams and the schools to make sure that the services are better delivered within our schools for those students who need services like audiology and some of the more medically oriented assessments. We are hoping that, by bringing some more of that work into the schools, we will also be able to provide some assistance in coaching and training to our special needs assistants so that they can deal with individuals better who present with some of the issues that Health and Social Services will be addressing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.