I am committed to ensuring a quality, inclusive school system where schools are a welcoming place for all children, including Traveller children. In my recent Statement of Strategy 2023–2025, I restate my vision for an education system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential. The central goals of the strategy include providing high-quality education and a learning experience that meets the needs of all children and young people, ensuring equity of opportunity in education and ensuring that our education system welcomes all children and young people irrespective of their background or ability.
My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. These include the DEIS programme, the Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice, Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying, and additional support under the Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation model.
Providing specific support for all Traveller pupils in mainstream schools, additional pupil capitation for Travellers is provided at a rate of €75 per pupil at primary level and €213.50 per pupil at post-primary level at a current annual cost of some €1.3 million.
Based on 2022/203 enrolments and following the expansion of the DEIS programme that I announced last year, 60% of Travellers enrolled in our schools are enrolled in schools in the DEIS programme. The refined DEIS identification model includes a component to reflect the significant educational disadvantage experienced by students who have self-identified as Traveller or Roma. The DEIS Plan also includes reference to Travellers as a named group at risk of educational disadvantage, and includes specific actions in relation to Traveller and Roma education to promote improvements in school attendance and completion.
Currently, actions to advance Traveller education outcomes form part of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS). My Department is working with and supporting the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as they lead on the development of the next iteration of the strategy.
My officials are also progressing a Traveller and Roma Education Strategy in line with the Programme for Government commitment and in close consultation with stakeholders in the education, and Traveller and Roma communities. This will set out our strategic direction in relation to Traveller and Roma education policy. A public consultation process opened in July, with an online survey open to all interested parties to complete under 30 October.
The survey is available here: Traveller and Roma Education Consultation Survey.
Further information about the public consultation and the development of the strategy can be found here: gov.ie - Traveller and Roma Education Strategy (www.gov.ie)
A range of ongoing work will also inform the strategy. This includes:
• The independent evaluation of the Supporting Traveller and Roma (STAR) pilot project in education that is currently underway in line with the Programme for Government commitment. The project was established in 2019 and is active in four areas (Galway, Wexford, Dublin and Cork). It targets improvements in attendance, participation and retention and around €1.1million has been spent per year on additional supports provided through the project. A Research Advisory Group with Traveller and Roma representation has been established to support the evaluation.
• Ongoing work by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) since its 2019 audit of Traveller culture and history in the curriculum, including the publication of a research report in February this year that aims to capture what the Traveller community identifies as key aspects of their culture and history, and important from a curriculum perspective. Work is underway on gathering related examples of practice in teaching and learning.
• The NCCA has commenced work to update its Intercultural Guidelines for schools to support the further integration of intercultural education in the curriculum.
• My Department also created 10 new Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinator posts in 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools with high numbers of Traveller and Roma students using Dormant Accounts Funding.
Additional supports are available to pupils with special educational needs in all mainstream schools, including those from Traveller and Roma communities, under the Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation model. The model is based on the principle that those students with the greatest need receive the most support. It allocates special education teachers to schools based on the profiled needs of schools and is made up of two elements: a baseline component for every mainstream school, which is graduated in line with school enrolment numbers, and a school educational profile component, which is based on three components:
• Students with complex special educational needs;
• Percentage of students performing below a certain threshold on standardised tests at primary level and Junior Cycle examinations at post-primary level; and
• Social context of school, which includes gender and educational disadvantage.
This model for allocating SET resources to mainstream schools has been in place since 2017 and aims to support inclusion and early intervention. For 2023, the spend by my Department will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6bn (over 27% of the Department’s budget) providing supports to children and young people with special educational needs and their schools. Both my Department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) are committed to ensuring that all schools are treated equally and fairly in the manner in which their school profiles have been calculated. A school may seek a review of their allocations by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) where it considers that very exceptional circumstances have arisen.
The Assistive Technology Scheme is provided by my Department to supplement the overall approach to providing funding to schools for digital technology and equipment to support children for education purposes. Full details of the scheme are contained in Departmental Circular 10/2013. Where children with more complex disabilities require essential specialist equipment to access the school curriculum that they do not already have or that cannot be provided for them through a school’s existing provisions, schools may make an application for such equipment to the NCSE under the terms of this scheme..
The Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice 2018-2023 outlines what a school demonstrating best practice in this area looks like, which includes having strong policies and actions that ensure that students experience a sense of belonging, connection and safety and that the voice of the student is heard. This complements existing measures, including the Junior Cycle Wellbeing programme, an increase in the number of National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) psychologists, the restoration of guidance posts, and the rollout of suicide awareness for prevention, and critical incident management training for teachers. All schools and centres for education are to have embedded a self-evaluation wellbeing promotion process by 2023. Schools are being supported in this work by a national professional development programme for all schools and centres for education.
Other universal supports for schools include the introduction this year of free school books for primary children and implementation of Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying, which sets out a comprehensive approach to tackling all forms of bullying, including identity-based bullying, and to promoting positive, inclusive environments in all schools.
In Initial teacher education (ITE), Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education (2020) sets out the need for all higher education institutions providing accredited programmes of ITE to ensure that inclusive education constitutes a core element of all programmes. The Standards state that “a truly inclusive approach to professional practice recognises that teachers encounter a diverse range of needs in the course of their teaching […] includ[ing] additional learning needs […]and learning needs associated with diverse linguistic, socioeconomic, cultural and ethnic (including Traveller community, Roma) backgrounds.”
Under the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, schools must include an admission statement in their admission policy stating that the school will not discriminate in its admission on any of the grounds specified in the Equal Status Act 2000, including membership of the Traveller community.
