Dr. Aideen Hartney:

I thank the Chair. The National Disability Authority, NDA, welcomes this opportunity to appear before this committee on the topic of inclusive education. The NDA is a statutory agency established to provide evidence-informed advice and guidance to the Government on disability policy and practice and to promote awareness and application of universal design. This statement is organised according to the topics of interest identified by this committee.

Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities confers a right to education for persons with disabilities and requires State parties to have an inclusive education system that supports the full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth. In our recent written submission to this committee on the theme, we highlighted that despite the fact that the Irish policy and legal position is that all children can attend and receive support to be educated in the mainstream, the Irish statutory education system is likely to be considered a dual system by the UN monitoring committee on the convention. This is due to the rise in numbers of special classes and special schools as a response to the perceived educational needs of learners with disabilities. The UN committee believes that inclusive education involves learners with disabilities undergoing their education in the same environment as mainstream students, enabled by the built environment, teacher competence, assistive technologies and other supports as relevant. In previous concluding remarks from the UN monitoring committee, State parties have been criticised for segregated provision of education, particularly where the committee sees the scale of this segregation as persistent or increasing over time.

The Government has recognised the disconnect between current practice and the goals of the UN convention, as is evident in the commitment in the newly published national human rights strategy for disabled people to developing a road map towards inclusive education. The NDA advises that this important work will take time to achieve as it will involve close engagement and consultation with learners with disabilities, disabled persons' organisations, parents and families, educators and experts in the field. We are aware of examples of good practice from other jurisdictions including Portugal, Italy and Canada that can offer learning for the Irish system. It should be noted, however, that even in these jurisdictions challenges remain in managing the allocation of resources and building awareness and understanding of true inclusion.

The principles of universal design offer a route to designing and delivering an education system that can meet the needs of all, regardless of ability or disability. The NDA's statutory centre for excellence in universal design has developed an advice paper on universal design in education that sets out a whole-systems approach to inclusive education based on four pillars: learning, teaching, curricula and assessment; supports services and social engagement; the physical environment; and the digital environment.

Assistive technology, AT, is recognised as an important enabler in an education setting. Approximately a quarter of students in secondary schools report needing some support around accommodation to enable them to complete their second level education journey, which can include access to technologies or additional personal supports. Challenges remain, however, in the level of awareness from teaching staff about what technologies are available or in having the training needed to keep up with the pace of technological advancement. Where AT is provided, the management and ownership of this system can cause further barriers to smooth transitions between schools or educational stages. As AT is often a requirement across the life course, it is important that the State develop an approach to its allocation that recognises this and is appropriately person centred.

Delivery of universal design in education also involves ensuring that transition points in the education journey are as seamless as possible for students. In our work we have frequently advised on the importance of managing transitions between second level education and employment or further education and training opportunities. This is a point at which students can often fall between stools and be routed into specialist services where their potential is not fully realised. The same risks exist at the start of the education journey. The access and inclusion model of support in early childcare settings has seen some welcome results in developing fully inclusive settings where children receive tailored supports according to their level of need. More work is needed, however, to manage the transition between these settings and primary education. In particular, work is needed to communicate clearly to parents, families and educators what the next stage in the journey looks like and what supports will be in place for the learners in question. We understand the anxiety on the part of parents to have their children educated in an environment where the necessary supports are in place. Due to a combination of a lack of awareness of what is currently in place in mainstream education and a recognition that the quantum of support provision is not always as it should be, some parents can believe that specialist education provision is the only way of ensuring their child's needs can be adequately met. The NDA advises that the response to this cannot be a constant increase in segregated education settings but rather must be a dual approach to building capacity and resources in the mainstream joined with close engagement with families to build trust in this system.

The NDA has recently completed a rapid evaluation of the pilot enhanced in-school therapy model and submitted a report to the HSE and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. The learnings are being used to inform the development of the new education therapy service. While in principle schools can be an appropriate place to deliver therapeutic supports, we advise that further work is required to offer clarity on where they would be efficiently and effectively interacting with community-based therapy supports and how inequity can be avoided in the system if these in-school supports are confined to special schools.

We thank members for their attention. Dr. Craddock, Dr. Tamming and I will be happy to discuss any of these matters in further detail.