Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Mr. Ward has mentioned that planning is essential and that it is part of good professional practice. As someone who comes from the teaching profession, I take it as a slight on teachers who are not being given the time needed to engage in such professional planning. That is part of the frustration among parents and teachers who do not have the time they need to engage in the planning needed to give the children the proper and thorough education they deserve.

Mr. Ward mentioned the many resources made available up to 2011. If we reflect on what has happened in the past eight years, how many initiatives have been brought forward in schools since 2011? There is an overload. I have only been out of the teaching profession for three years since I was elected to the Dáil. Mr. Ward mentioned circulars. I had reached circular overload by 2016, by which time I had been involved in teaching for 20 years. Overload seems to have been reached since 2011. Teachers were reaching initiative and circular overload because the resources needed were not being put in place. Teachers are being told to implement these initiatives; they are being told about the drive-bys and that they face inspection after inspection. They know, however, that it is just a case of filling in a sheet or a form, but they cannot give children the proper education they deserve and should experience because they do not have the resources to do so. They need that non-contact time and funding. Essentially, they need training.

I worked in a DEIS school with many fantastic children who enriched my teaching experience because of their vast array of special educational needs. That is why I loved where I was teaching. However, it was frustrating as we only received a certain level of continuing professional development training. Someone would come in the afternoon, or when a specific need had presented in the school, rather than training being provided at the very beginning, as Ms Brady suggested. Teachers do not need to be trained when a specific need presents, rather they need to be armed with all of the training they need in order that when an issue presents, they will be ready to hit the ground running. That is what every teacher in a primary and secondary school wants and what every parent of a child with special educational needs wants. It is also what the parents of a child who does not have special educational needs want. For children to receive their fundamental human right to a proper, inclusive and thorough education, teachers must be resourced. They must have the non-contact time they need and it is essential that they be trained properly. I know that this is not Mr. Ward's decision to make but the Minister's.

He must prioritise our children with special educational needs. That means not passing the buck and saying it is down to the school to allocate the resources when they present themselves. We have had enough of that approach in our schools and it is not working. I ask Mr. Ward, as a result of this meeting, to pass the buck to the Minister and put the proper resources in place.