Mr. John Kearney:

I thank the committee for the kind invitation to be here today representing the National Council for Special Education. I am privileged to be CEO of the NCSE. I am accompanied today by my colleague, Ms Helen Walsh, head of inclusion and education support services

The NCSE was established more than 20 years ago to improve the delivery of educational services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities, with particular emphasis on children. In the last decade, a significant and exponential growth in activity in special educational needs resulted in an 81% increase in SNA numbers, a 40% increase in SET numbers, a fivefold increase in the number of special classes and a doubling of applications and sanctions for transport and assistive technology. In the last five years alone, there has been significantly accelerated growth in special provision. This has resulted in 16 new special schools being established. Almost 1,700 new special classes have been delivered and, as we speak, almost 28,000 children are being supported in specialist placements for the coming academic year. All in all, a total of 3,700 special classes nationwide are up and running for the coming year.

The NCSE has a vision of a world-class inclusive education system for Ireland, where children, young people and adults with special educational needs are supported to achieve better outcomes in their education and are enabled to reach their full and true potential. The NCSE supports schools to enable students with additional needs to develop skills for life in order that they can participate meaningfully and to their fullest potential in society. The restructuring of the NCSE has effectively enabled the organisation to deliver a multidisciplinary integrated national programme of teacher professional learning and direct student support. Teacher professional learning research indicates that a sustained model of simultaneous support for both teacher and student is required to embed practice across school communities in achieving inclusion and belonging. Since 2023, the NCSE has worked to deliver a multimodal teacher professional learning programme in tandem with tier 3 supports to students.

In the last decade or so the NCSE has provided six policy advice publications to the Minister for Education across a wide range of areas relevant to the provision of special education.

The most recent policy advice on an inclusive education for an inclusive society was presented early last year and was prepared following an extensive period of research, consultation and deliberation undertaken by the NCSE. Great care was taken to establish a strong evidence basis to inform this policy advice paper and involved extensive consultations and school visits, a multi-strand programme of research, international study visits and examined evidence of how education provision for students with special educational needs is supported within other jurisdictions.

There are already exceptional inclusion practices occurring in our schools right across the country that provide supportive and nurturing learning environments for students. Schools are using innovative approaches to teaching and learning tailoring interventions to meet students’ needs and accessing specialist support to ensure that all students have access to the curriculum and achieve their true and full potential. The NCSE commends and celebrates these best practices and seeks to embed these practices across the education system.

Last year saw the introduction of the school Circular 80/24, which enabled the NCSE to have a greater overview of specialist demand at both special class and special school levels. The NCSE established the notify system for parents and guardians and NCSE SENOs and team managers worked closely with school leaders, school boards of management and school patrons to establish with quicker timelines prior to Easter 399 sanctioned classes for the coming year. The NCSE is also supporting the establishment of five new special schools in Dublin, Monaghan, Tipperary and Cork. School Circular 39/25 affords the opportunity of providing strengthened delivery for pupils, parents and schools.

In addition to the SENO service, the NCSE provides a professional learning programme to all schools nationwide. This programme includes the delivery of seminars, webinars and in-school bespoke training to teachers and whole school communities. The NCSE visiting teacher service provides teaching and professional learning supports directly to students, their families and to schools. NCSE therapy is an educationally based therapy service and operates a scope of practice encompassing a sustained in-school therapy and a regional therapy model.

The NCSE advisory service provides an integrated service that is underpinned by multiple educational interventions. This service is facilitated by adviser-therapy-SENO-visiting teacher school visit and case resolution interventions that deliver internationally recognised teacher professional learning programmes. A suite of teacher learning programmes will provide 431 professional learning opportunities for over 27,000 teachers in the coming year. A productive inspector to adviser delivery memorandum of understanding has been established with the inspectorate to enrich inspectorate inter-discipline report reviews and school-based practice. The NCSE advisory participates in all Department special needs assistant workforce development unit, SNAWDU, development working groups and is progressing an evaluation of school practice in SNA reviews. The NCSE has facilitated the first national special needs assistants' training course developed in collaboration with the school of education in University College Dublin and currently being by delivered by St. Angela's College, Sligo, which is a college of the Atlantic Technological University. This course has provided training to close on 3,500 SNAs in our schools and has assisted these wonderful SNAs around the country to have a greater understanding of their students' strengths and needs.

The Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Michael Moynihan, recently published the education plan 2025. This comprehensive plan aims to deliver a world-class education system that breaks down barriers and ensures every child can achieve his or her full potential. This education plan confirmed that Government approval to establish the education therapy service had been secured and highlighted the intention of the Minister and Minister of State that the NCSE will progress work to provide 90 therapists to work in 45 special schools in the next school year. This recent ministerial announcement by the Minister and the Minister of State for the establishment of the education therapy service for schools envisages further expansion for the NCSE. The NCSE warmly welcomes the opportunity to assist the important work of the Joint Committee on Education and Youth on matters relating to supporting young children with additional needs. I look forward to this afternoon's deliberations.