Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. She asked several questions. Her first was on the legislation. Obviously, I would prefer to be in a position where schools volunteer to open special classes. However, in circumstances where we still have 56 children in Dublin without a special class and approximately 49 children who do not have a special school place, we had no option but to bring forward the legislation. This relates even to some of the schools that have been named, such as Scoil Bhríde boys school in Blanchardstown, which is a very diverse school that welcomes migrant children from many different backgrounds and already has a special class. It is not that these schools are not already inclusive; it just means that some of them will need to open second special classes and others will open a special class for the first time. We do not want to be in a position every year where we are scrambling to try to open special classes at the last minute. The legislation will help to truncate the section 37A process so that there is a six to eight week timeline in which the Minister can give a direction or an order to compel a school to open a special class. It is always open to the school to open that special class earlier in the process. Indeed, the school would have already received letters from us. The section 37A process has worked on two occasions in the past. This is the third time we are triggering it. That is the reason we are bringing this legislation forward tomorrow. It will be of great assistance to families. It is a bittersweet act, one that we were reluctant to take, but we believed that we did not have an option.

In terms of SNAs, the Deputy is aware that the exceptional review process is available to schools. We will have approximately 19,169 SNAs by the end of the year, which is an increase of 81%.

There should not be a difficulty in a school accessing an SNA. It can be tricky sometimes if a child is moving from one different placement to another in those circumstances but a school should always contact the NCSE if it requires more SNA support or a child comes on stream, perhaps. Through this legislation, under section 67, a child will be able to be designated a placement in a school. That will be a new child and there may need to be additionality in the SNA support there. It is always open to them to do that.

I think the Deputy asked about training for teachers as well. She will know there is a mandatory inclusion module at the beginning for teachers, so all teachers are trained and they are qualified to teach. The NCSE will the give the advice primarily that you really need experienced teachers for special classes and special schools, but there is ongoing continuing professional development, CPD, and the national induction programme for teachers where there is a range of induction workshops for newly-qualified teachers. With the Department of Education, I mentioned earlier the two postgraduate programmes - the certificate and also the diploma programme on CPD as well, which is for special education teachers. Those two are very valuable. There is also the professional development service for teachers, where they provide quite a lot of different, varied modules and programmes. The NCSE itself has teacher professional learning, which is within the confines of the Teaching Council national framework and there are supports there. There is a complete suite of professional learning opportunities. If any teacher has an interest in pursuing this particular area they should contact the NCSE or indeed the Department because there are bespoke in-school supports that can be offered for whole school staffs, for small groups and for individuals. It can be tailored as well to specific needs of the particular school.

I mentioned earlier the Autism Good Practice Guidance for Schools, which we only published in March of this year. It is really critical, especially for this committee to know about, because it is specifically around ASD and it is developed as a resource for schools to support them to support the needs of autistic children. It will assist leaders, SNAs and teachers. The guidance was developed by an expert working group drawn from the NEPS, the NCSE, the inspectorate and of course the Middletown Centre for Autism.

I am sorry Chairman. There were a lot of questions.