Mr. Brendan Doody:

I thank the Senator. There was quite a bit there. My colleagues may provide additional material and responses regarding some of the questions. I will start in reverse order.

Regarding transitions, we accept that young people need to be supported effectively to make sure they make the appropriate transition into whatever the destination for them is, be it the world of work, further and higher education and so on. As the Senator is aware, in all post-primary schools, there is guidance provision and there are guidance counsellors who support the work of students with special education needs, including those with visual impairments. It is important to note, however, that we have added a number of programmes into the mix in recent years, recognising that some students with additional needs require more support. I am referring specifically to two transitions programmes the Department has instigated in recent years. One is teacher-led and one is led by an NGO. They are very different programmes, but essentially we are trying to test what is the best way of supporting students with additional needs to make optimal transitions from school.

The programme that is teacher-led is probably the most relevant to the Senator's question because we introduced it as part of the Department's commitment to the comprehensive employment strategy for persons with disabilities. We have moved the programme, which we introduced last year. Initially, it was in mainstream schools and special schools. It is a very simple concept. We provided the schools with additional resources in the form of teaching hours. We did not come to them saying we wanted them to do A, B, C, D and E. We asked, were we to give the schools an additional teaching resource and taking account of the number of people in the school with additional needs, how the school would best deploy that teacher. It is an organic approach, if you like. We expected and saw very different approaches in the 20 schools involved in the initial stages of the programme.

That has morphed this year, and it is now being offered in 40 special schools, including the special school for the blind in Drumcondra. That school is in receipt of additional teaching hours this year. Due to the fact that we have expanded the number of schools significantly, and based on our engagement with the initial schools last year, we made a decision that six hours or one additional school day is probably what is required, because in most instances it is a small number of young people who are actually going to make the transition. We have provided six hours to 40 special schools. We are still very much in the testing phase. We are asking the schools to test the approach with us and for us and there has been a very positive response across the board. We support that programme through the NCSE. It is co-ordinated through the NCSE. An evaluation of that programme will be undertaken, which will determine the way in which we develop policy for the provision of children and young people with special education needs, including young people with visual impairment in their transition from school into the next stage.

In addition, the Minister announced that guidance provision is to be extended to all special schools. As the Senator knows, rightly or wrongly, special schools are categorised as special primary schools. It is an historic issue, but that is the way it is at the moment. There is no post-primary allocation of teaching hours to those schools. Regarding guidance provision, what we are doing is testing this approach on the transition side with a view to inform how we will ensure guidance provision is provided to special schools, including the school for the blind. That is going to take some time to work its way through, but it is the Department's and the Minister's intention to make sure that young people with additional needs, irrespective of their location, are supported really well to make the appropriate transitions.

The second programme is the NGO-led programme, which is very different as it is an off-the-shelf manualised programme offered to young people in special schools, but it does not include the school for the blind in Drumcondra at the moment.

That is another way of working. The learning from all of those programmes is intended to determine how we develop policy for children and young people to ensure they transition effectively into school and from school and beyond. A budgetary measure that was included for 2025 refers to a specific piece of work that is to be undertaken on transitions and, most particularly, to support the transition of young people from primary school into post-primary school. We have to work through the details, but that was included as a budgetary measure for 2025. I know I have not been very short in my answer. This is a long-winded way of saying there is an awful lot going on in that space, all of which will inform future policy development.

I presume the Senator was referring to the extended core curriculum in the UK and other places.