Ms Martina Mannion:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the committee for the invitation to represent the Department of Education before it and to speak about the supports available for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and young people in our education system. I am an assistant secretary in the Department. I am accompanied by a number of colleagues and the Cathaoirleach has outlined who they are and their roles and responsibilities.

The Department's policy in respect of supporting children and young people with additional needs, including students who are deaf or hard of hearing, is very clear. It is based on a child-centred approach to the provision of education and our role is to ensure all children with additional needs are supported to access an education appropriate to their needs. This means that children with additional needs should be supported to the greatest degree possible in mainstream settings, with additional teaching and care supports to allow them to achieve their potential.

In circumstances where children with additional needs require more specialised interventions, we ensure access to a special class or special school places. We have a number of special classes and special school places dedicated to supporting deaf students and students who are hard of hearing. The vast majority of children with additional or special educational needs are supported in mainstream settings. It is estimated that almost 98% of all children in our schools attend mainstream settings.

This year, the Department will spend in excess of €2.6 billion, or just over 27% of its budget, supporting children with special educational needs. This is the highest ever provision of funding by the State for special education. By the end of this year, there will be working in our schools more than 40,000 special education teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs, who are dedicated to supporting students with special educational needs.

It is important to note a particular major policy initiative undertaken by the Department in respect of the provision of support in schools to children with special educational needs. In 2017, the Department introduced the special education teaching allocation model. This model of allocation provides additional teaching resources to schools and enables them to provide for the identified educational needs of students without a requirement for diagnosis. The underpinning principle of this model is that the child with the greatest level of need should receive the greatest level of support in the school.

In line with the agenda for today’s meeting, I want to take the opportunity to set out details on some of the specific supports that are available for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. There is a long-standing provision in place that provides a dedicated special needs assistant with ISL competency to support students in mainstream settings to access the curriculum and engage with school activities. There are currently 13 such SNA posts in place in our school system. For deaf or hard-of-hearing children with greater levels of need, 24 dedicated special classes are attached to primary and post-primary schools and there are two special schools for deaf children. These special classes and special schools support just under 300 students at present.

As committee members know, the Irish Sign Language Act commenced in late 2020. It placed a number of obligations on the Minister and the Department of Education. In accordance with the legislation, in 2022 the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, announced the commencement of the first phase of the implementation of an enhanced scheme of ISL provision. A key element of the enhanced scheme is to provide for two new roles in our education system. An ISL specialist classroom support will assist students and convey the spirit and content of the communication occurring in the classroom and enhance active engagement by the student with learning and participation in school life. The other role is that of an ISL adviser, who will have a broader remit and will work to try to build capacity in ISL throughout the school community, including among teachers, SNAs, other school staff and students. My colleagues and I will be happy to provide further information on the roll-out of the new scheme during the meeting.

The NCSE employs 29 visiting teachers who support children and young people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Visiting teachers are qualified teachers with particular skills and knowledge of the development and education of children with varying degrees of hearing loss. They offer longitudinal support to students, their families and schools from the time of initial referral through to the end of post-primary education. Following the introduction of the newborn screening programme, visiting teachers also provide valuable early intervention support in the home to families.

With regard to supporting Irish Sign Language in the curriculum, at primary level, ISL interpretation has been added by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, to materials published as part of the toolkit which supports the primary language curriculum. At junior cycle, schools can develop a short course on ISL, the emphasis being on developing communication skills. There are four modules on sign language available as part of the leaving certificate applied programme and there is also an opportunity for students to learn sign language during transition year. The NCCA redevelopment of the primary and senior cycle curriculum are obviously significant pieces of curricular reform under way at present. This provides an opportunity for the NCCA and the Department to further consider how we support ISL within these new curricula.

In addition to the main supports I have outlined, supports are also available for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and their families through the home tuition scheme. A total of 104 hours of tuition are available annually to students and their families. Currently, 152 children and their families are being supported under the scheme by approximately 52 tutors. I can confirm that we are currently reviewing this scheme with a view to streamlining the application process. The Department also has an assistive technology scheme, which provides technological support to children who need this for accessing the curriculum. This includes audiology supports for students with hearing impairment, such as sound-field systems, microphones and receivers. The Department increased its funding for this scheme by €2 million this year and we are fully committed to providing a range of technological supports to support students who are deaf and hard of hearing.

The concept of universal design now underpins all Department technical guidelines relating to the design and build of new schools and school extensions. The acoustic performance of a building is a key determinant of a quality learning environment. Additional provisions are also made in the design and build of new classrooms which are specifically to support deaf or hard of hearing students. Another significant development in this area is the profession of the bachelor of education ISL initial teacher education programme, which enables deaf and hard-of-hearing people who use ISL to become primary teachers. The first cohort of four students are graduating from this new programme this year and approval has been given for a second cohort to undertake the programme.

In conclusion, we have worked hard to ensure we are providing a supportive, inclusive system for all children. While huge progress has been made we are always aware of the challenges faced by individual children and their families and we are continuing to work with the NCSE and all of the education stakeholders to address any issues as they come to light. I thank the committee for the opportunity to outline some of the supports available. My colleagues and I look forward to engaging with committee members and answering any questions they might have.