Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 November 2020

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Key Priorities and the Effects of Covid-19 on the Education System: Department of Education

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I will be very brief. Special schools have an enhanced pupil-teacher ratio. There are about three medical special schools attached to child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. There are 114 schools for children with special needs.

Regarding the school inclusion model, the World Health Organization has always said that schools are best placed to have an inclusive education model because they already have a management structure in place. This is the very first budget in which we are in a position to roll the model out nationally. We ran a pilot in two community health organisation areas. We will now be in a position to implement the model in three. This is a tailored wraparound suite of therapeutic supports for children with special needs, including occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and crisis behaviour practitioners. It is really about putting the child at the centre of education.