Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
939. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Education the steps she is taking to ensure that a school (details supplied) has adequate resources to facilitate its student body; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20828/22]
View answerThe provision of education for children with special needs is an ongoing priority for Government. The numbers of special classes, special education teachers and Special Needs Assistants are at unprecedented levels.
The State currently spends in excess of 25% of its annual education and training budget (€9.2 Billion) on making additional provision for children with special educational needs. This represents an increase of over 60% in total expenditure since 2011, at which point €1.247 Billion per annum was provided.
The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews. The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.
The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.
SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated.
It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
Where circumstances change during the course of the 2021/22 school year that materially increase the level of care need in a school to the extent that the school can clearly demonstrate that it cannot be met within the existing SNA allocation, the school may apply to the NCSE for a review. Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website ncse.ie/for-schools
The Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile. This model has replaced the previous model of allocating resource teaching support and learning support to schools based on a diagnosis of disability.
The Special Education Teacher allocation, allows schools to provide additional teaching support for all pupils who require such support in their schools and for schools to deploy resources based on each pupil’s individual learning needs.
The allocation gives greater flexibility to schools as to how they can deploy their resources, to take account of the actual learning needs pupils have, as opposed to being guided by a particular diagnosis of disability, and schools are guided as to how they should make such allocation decisions.
The school will take account of learning needs of children as evidenced by performance in schools but also supported where relevant by information provided regarding the nature of a condition that a pupil may have.
The Department of Education and Skills has published guidelines for schools as to how they should utilise and deploy their resources under the new allocation model. The guidelines support schools in how they identify pupils for additional teaching support and decide how much support to provide for pupils who need it.
A process is available where schools can seek a review of their allocations by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), including the utilisation of their allocations, in circumstances where a school considers that very exceptional circumstances have arisen subsequent to the development of the profile. Detailed information on the NCSE review process is published on the NCSE website ncse.ie/for-schools
In relation to the school as outlined in the details supplied and in regards to their SET allocation, the re-profiling for the 2022/2023 school year has been completed and the school has been advised in writing by the NCSE of a significant increase in their SET allocation from the start of the next school year (September 2022), details of the new allocation is also available on the NCSE website.
