Dr. Deirbhile Nic Craith:

Is mise Deirbhile Nic Craith, Ard Rúnaí Cúnta le Cumann Múinteoirí Éireann. Táim freagrach as cúrsaí oideachais agus taighde in ard oifig an Chumainn.

While all newly qualified teachers have completed modules in special education and inclusion as part of the reconfigured initial teacher education courses, teachers will always need to build on their professional and pedagogical knowledge throughout their careers. The postgraduate diploma courses in special education offered by the colleges of education as per circulars are of high quality and in demand. These courses are supported by the Department of Education and Skills for teachers in special education posts. In the context of a policy of inclusion, all teachers should have the opportunity to benefit from postgraduate courses in special education which are State funded and supported.

The special education support service, SESS, established and funded by the Department of Education and Skills has provided professional development opportunities to teachers. The SESS is currently staffed by teachers on secondment. The recently established inclusion support service within the National Council for Special Education will include the SESS and the visiting teacher service for children with hearing or visual impairment. It is essential that experienced teachers continue to be recruited as part of the inclusion support service. Therefore, the terms and conditions of future employees of the inclusion support service must be attractive to experienced teachers with specialist knowledge in special education.

In addition to courses in special education, tailored professional support and advice should be available to schools where they have identified particular needs within their own community. The provision of therapy related services, such as speech therapy, emotional counselling and mental health support, is currently inadequate and causing a lot of frustration for both teachers and pupils. Primary schools do not have access at present to behaviour support even though this is an area where primary schools need increasing support. Having access to professional development and support is essential to teacher well-being as the complexity of needs in classrooms grows. A sabbatical leave scheme for teachers, as promised in DEIS, must be acted on. While local projects supported by philanthropic funding enabled disadvantaged schools to enhance educational provision to the school community, reliance on philanthropic funding is not sustainable long term. The Department of Education and Skills must take responsibility for all funding of DEIS support programmes.

Regular professional development has been lacking in recent years for the home-school community liaison programme, the school completion programme and Early Start and needs to be restored. Early intervention is crucial for both children with special educational needs and children at risk of social and educational disadvantage. Early Start is a high-quality, intensive, early intervention educational programme for children most at risk of educational disadvantage and it should be expanded to all DEIS band 1 schools. We also need more support for Traveller pupils. The loss of the visiting teacher service for Travellers has left a lacuna in the system. The Educational Welfare Service should be given additional resources to support Traveller families and schools with a high concentration of Traveller families should have additional home-school community liaison teachers. Support for Traveller pupils should also be more explicit in the new allocation model for special education posts.

I turn finally to class size. Almost all primary school classrooms now include children with special education needs. It is unacceptable that we still have primary classes with more than 30 pupils, including children with special educational needs. Smaller class sizes are essential to support inclusion. The pupil-teacher ratio in special schools and classes must be revisited in the context that they now include pupils with far more complex needs than was envisaged in 1993. DEIS band 1 schools have a more favourable teacher-pupil ratio than non-DEIS schools but DEIS band 2 schools do not. It is the view of the INTO that the pupil-teacher ratio that applied in Breaking the Cycle of 15:1 in junior classes should continue to apply to the most disadvantaged schools. The current DEIS band 1 ratio of 20:1 in junior classes and 24:1 in senior classes should apply to all other DEIS schools. This is only bringing us closer to the European norm. I note that I agree with many of the comments previous speakers today have made.