Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are no ready statistics on temporary accommodation. The programme in that regard is still under consideration. It is a case of prioritising programmes that can be implemented. I take the Senator's point about the need for more training in special education at primary level. There is huge emphasis on continuous professional development, including in the area of special needs education. I am sorry I do not have the statistics in that regard available to me just now. We are developing the inclusion support service within the NCSE. This will be a centre of excellence to support schools in respect of special educational need and will improve access.

In regard to the preschool area, it is unfair to describe this as a crisis area. It is an area identified as being hugely under-provided for. Implementation of the second year extension is proving challenging. Our piece is around inspection of the Aistear curriculum. Inspections are focused on the educational element of that curriculum, which I think has been welcomed. As I understand it, a couple of hundred evaluations have been done already, with more to be done. We are doing our piece. This is an area in which we need to increase provision, improve standards, extend access to continued professional training and reward those in the sector with the type of higher skills that are important to its development. For example, the access and inclusion model, AIM, provides for a top-up payment to a school that has a co-ordinator with experience and training in special education co-ordination. AIM also allows schools to access equipment grants or adaptation grants to equip preschools to accommodate children with special needs. We are developing a programme through which the system is developing in parts. There are a number of bodies involved that are working closely on the issue. I understand there is a pretty good working relationship between those involved. We know what we are doing and we are respected for the skill of our inspectors. There is no point taking the inspectors out of an education and supervision model and putting them into something else when they have developed a good curriculum and are implementing it. I take the Senator's point that this is an area we need to keep a very close eye on to ensure we are getting quality. It is an area that is evolving.

I was asked about successes and failures. There have, in my view, been many successes, including the action plan for education.

A huge effort was made in my Department to bring the action plan for education together. We have multiple strategies but to bring them into one concerted programme that pulls them together, to corral our actions for 2016, 2017 and 2018, and allow a committee like this one to have a better view of what it is we are doing on all these fronts, is really important. That was done within the targeted time, albeit we had to wait for a Government to meet to get it out there. The plan is in draft form and we look forward to the committee's input, if changes are to be made.

The appointment of SNAs was an important milestone in the course of the last period. We had the introduction of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill, our discussions in the Dáil on the future of how admissions should evolve, Deputy Jim Daly's Bill and the Labour Party's Bill. That all shows a minority Government does not necessarily mean one cannot implement change. In fact, at times it can accelerate the pace of change if there is a degree of consensus at political level. In some ways there has been a shift in influence from stakeholders within education to political stakeholders now. I hope that is a good thing to see emerge and that we can make decisions around important issues for the future of education. I do not know of any failures but I am sure some member of the committee will point them out to me.

Perhaps we take for granted the successes that happen every year. I mean the completion of the leaving certificate and the junior certificate that is run without significant incidents even though 60,000 pupils sit papers each year. Everyone perceives it as a fair, objective and well-delivered outcome, and it is done year in and year out. A lot of what works well in my Department has taken a lot of work to make sure it happens. Perhaps we are used to this situation. Perhaps we do not take the opportunity to step back and say how valuable the work is. If I had been told this information earlier, I might have better prepared.