Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism

Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed)

Ms Phil Fox:

Within the areas of training that are under our remit, including initial teacher education, that is exactly what we have done. We have included inclusive education as one of the seven core elements, as I explained earlier. The Droichead induction framework is also our policy. In the areas under our remit, we focus on special education and inclusion in the round. However, in areas that are outside our remit, we have a role in promotion. With regard to the areas we promote, we had Mr. Adam Harris from AsIAm at our FÉILTE conference. I believe that was in 2018 but I am not sure of the year. We always have inclusive education and inclusion as part of the brief for our FÉILTE conference, which happens on World Teachers' Day, which happened to be last Saturday. However, the council does not have a remit to provide programmes and courses.