Mr. Dalton Tattan:

I should mention that we are joined in an observer capacity by Mr. Colm McGarvey and Mr. Terry Reynolds, both of whom are assistant principal officers in the Department's special education section.

I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee for the invitation to attend and brief members on the proposed new model for allocating teaching resources for children with special educational needs and provide an update on the pilot scheme of the new model which took place over the course of the 2015-16 school year. Members will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has a statutory function under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 to provide the Minister for Education and Skills with policy advice on the education of children and others with disabilities or special educational needs. The council provided policy advice in 2013 which concluded that elements of the current model for allocating special needs resource teaching supports were flawed. In particular, it reported that the existing allocation system was inequitable, as children in less well off areas could experience delays in accessing support because of delays in accessing assessments which were required for the allocation of resource teaching hours; that the general allocation model used to allocate learning support teachers was inequitable as it took little account of the differing needs of different schools, as allocations were made on the basis of the number of mainstream teachers in each school; that there was a real risk that children were being diagnosed as having a special educational need for resource allocation purposes rather than such a diagnosis being required for health reasons; and that there was a spectrum of ability and disability within every category of special educational need and that the existing system allocated the same level of support for students within certain categories of special educational needs, even though one student might have a greater need for support than another with the same disability.

Following the publication of this policy advice, the NCSE established a working group which was chaired by Mr. Eamon Stack to develop proposals for a new model based on the policy advice. In 2014 the working group recommended that the existing special needs teacher allocation model be replaced by a new model to allocate supports on the basis of the profiled educational needs of schools. It proposed that the allocation of additional teaching supports to schools in the future be based on two components. The first is a baseline component provided for every mainstream school to support inclusion, prevention of learning difficulties and early intervention. The second is a school educational profile component, which takes into account the number of pupils with complex needs enrolled in the school, the learning support needs of pupils, as evidenced by standardised test results and the social context of the school, including disadvantage and gender. The combination of a baseline allocation based on school size and profiled allocation would give a fairer allocation to each school, which recognises that all schools need an allocation to provide special needs support, but which would also provide a graduated allocation to take into account the actual level of need and pupil mixture in each school. It is intended that the new model would replace the existing system of the general allocation model or learning support allocations, combined with NCSE allocations, with a single profiled allocation model for schools.

In February 2015 the then Minister for Education and Skills announced that she was not proposing to change the way in which teachers were allocated to schools for children with special educational needs for the 2015-16 school year. In taking this decision she was guided by the advice given in the NCSE working group's report, which recommended that sufficient time be allowed for consultation before the new model was implemented. A number of the education partners had also suggested a pilot scheme of the model be implemented. To maintain momentum behind the NCSE's proposal, the Minister established a pilot scheme of the new allocation model, which took place during the 2015-16 school year. Following a selection and invitation process, 47 mainstream schools, including 28 primary and 19 post-primary schools, participated in the pilot scheme. Schools in various parts of the country and of different type and size participated in it to provide for the broadest possible representation. The pilot scheme was developed to test the new model in a number of schools and allow for the practical effect of its application in pilot scheme schools to be gauged.

It also allowed us to take into account the learning experiences of schools, principals, pupils and the views of parents over the course of the pilot prior to the full implementation of the new allocation model. Throughout the pilot the Department gathered information from the participating schools. This information was gathered using surveys, information and training days, self-reflective questionnaires and a formal review undertaken by the Department's inspectorate. A review of this pilot has now been finalised by the inspectorate. In summary, the review found that the new model has been positively received by schools and parents; schools indicated that they welcomed the increased flexibility and autonomy provided by the model to allocate resources based on need; most schools believe the model allows more scope for team-teaching, targeted interventions, mix of in-class and group work, with less focus on withdrawal and one-to-one teaching; schools welcome the move away from the unnecessary labelling of children in order to secure resources and welcomed that they no longer need to wait for diagnosis; and that this facilitates intervention at an earlier stage based on the schools identification of need. In addition, schools indicated a belief that they were broadly well supported in meeting the needs of children with special educational needs. Most schools acknowledged that over the course of the pilot their whole-school approaches had improved and that they were targeting students more effectively. Schools reported improvements in their planning for students, better collaboration between classroom and support teachers and better tracking of student progress.

As part of the recent budget announcements for 2017, the Minister for Education and Skills announced that following development and piloting over the past number of years a new model for the allocation of teaching resources for children with special educational needs will be implemented from September 2017. An additional €18 million will be provided in 2017 to provide for approximately 900 resource teacher posts. The additional provision, which is being made for 2017 to support this model, will ensure that it can be introduced successfully; that it can provide additional resources to meet the needs of children and schools; that these resources will be placed in the schools where the needs are greatest; and that it can ensure a successful transition from the existing model to the new model without too much disruption for schools. Allocations will be made to schools which provide a baseline allocation for each school, while also taking into account each school profile, including the number of pupils with complex needs in the school, the extent of learning needs in the school as evidenced by standardised test scores and an allocation which takes account of disadvantage and gender for each school. While schools will have greater discretion as to how they can distribute resources under the new model based on the individual needs of pupils, it is intended that there will be no reduction in allocations made to schools in respect of pupils previously in receipt of a low-incidence special needs allocation.

Engagement with education partners, parents and disability representative bodies has been ongoing regarding the development of this new model and will continue until its introduction. Further details regarding implementation of the new model will be announced in the coming months. I will now ask Ms Teresa Griffin, chief executive officer of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to make her opening statement on the council's policy advice on supporting children with autism spectrum disorder in schools.