Ms Pauline Dempsey:

I described our school as successful but struggling. I would like to focus for a moment on success in respect of injuries to staff. There is a high level of competence in dealing with challenging behaviour. Sometimes I think we take it to extremes and we deal with it for far too long. As for the network disability teams, we find that by the time we call them in to look for support, they often do not have suggestions; we have tried everything. There is a definite need for a behavioural analyst. We have found that to have worked in the past and it has been very successful. There need to be more such analysts in the network disability teams because anything a psychologist can tell us we already know and if we are calling a psychologist in, we are facing serious problems. We also believe in trying to keep as many children as possible in school. Sometime that costs and sometimes there are injuries. On occasion, we have reduced the day with a view to increasing it incrementally as behaviours are reduced, if we get that support.

It is a big thing but training is not the answer. We have looked at management of actual and potential aggression, MAPA, and have trained in it. By the time it gets to the stage we are at, one is talking about restrictive practices. When one is talking about reasonable force, most staff will back away and say that reasonable force is not a consideration in this. MAPA is a very grey area. We as a school go through strategies where one diverts and distracts and does all the nice things but we are not at all comfortable when it comes to restrictive practices and we tend not to do it which is also why there may be injuries. The network disability teams are crucial in this and they do not seem to have the level of expertise that we require in our school.

On the incentive for teachers, I can only look to my own experience. The reason I became passionate about special education was because I was exposed to it at quite a significant level in my initial teacher training. I did not realise that such a system existed and I found it wonderful and delightful and it was all I ever wanted to do. That is what has driven the passion of some of the teachers in our school who chose to go down that road. I know teachers on placement with us enjoy it. They have often substituted for us and we had two last year, who are two of the substitutes we listed, but it is not sustainable. I cannot offer any more suggestions.

The level 1 and level 2 learning programmes have been the most dynamic thing that has hit education. I cannot say that strongly enough and I was on the level 1 steering committee. I got the sense it was being considered a special schools programme and I argued quite positively about how it is a post-primary programme and therefore technically, it should be offered by post-primary teachers. We are in a very fortunate position where we were able to employ post-primary trained teachers even though we are a national school. They are the ones who offer our junior cycle. It is very dynamic and in the best-case scenario, they may go out to mainstream post-primary schools with that knowledge and perhaps will manage to effect better inclusion. It sounds as though I am trying to talk our own school out of a job but I know what high levels of expertise there are. We have four post-primary trained teachers. We have a very distinct separation. Even though we are a national school, we do eight years primary curriculum and five years post-primary. The post-primary teachers are the ones who offer our level 1 and level 2 learning programmes. Sadly, on my level 1 steering committee days, there was a suggestion that anyone can teach level 1. I know for a fact that all good teachers would be able to teach level 1 but I think it is discriminatory at a different level. It is a post-primary curriculum and should be offered by post-primary trained teachers. That opens massive floodgates for how special schools are defined. This is why the definition of what a special school should be is vital. There are special schools in Ireland today which offer nothing but the primary curriculum and that could go on for 14 years. That is not acceptable.