Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. It is nice and quiet here on a Thursday. It is a good place to be to think properly and listen to individual contributions.

I welcome this opportunity to address the House on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills report on training and supports for providers of special needs education and education in DEIS schools. I thank all the committee members and its Chairman, Deputy O’Loughlin, for their deliberations and report on this matter. I will follow up on the provision of autistic schooling services in County Laois which Deputy O’Loughlin raised with me. I join with her in acknowledging the witnesses who presented to the committee and their invaluable contributions. We are in such an evolving space with special education, particularly when one considers the trajectory of funding from 2011. That in itself is a sign that there has been change and there will be more. We need to be in a position to adapt to that.

The topic is significant and worthy of the full consideration of the House. The matter at its core relates to our most vulnerable children and young people with special educational needs and those who are educationally disadvantaged. The committee identified the topic of training and supports for providers of special needs education and education in DEIS schools as one of its priorities. It undertook a consultation process with a broad range of education stakeholders. A key component of the committee’s report recognises the need for greater inclusion and diversity in the educational system for all children, based on their individual strengths.

The committee made eight recommendations. The recommendations include the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act, compulsory training for all school staff, standardisation of nursing and clinical supports throughout the education system and that an update on the implementation of the five goals identified in the DEIS plan 2017 be provided to the committee.

Ensuring children with special educational needs are supported and given the opportunity to reach their full potential is a key priority for the Government. The Government’s basic aim is to use our economic success to build a fairer and compassionate society. Equality of opportunity is at the heart of our vision. Notwithstanding the fact that not all the sections of the EPSEN Act have been commenced, several significant developments have taken place in recent years regarding the provision of supports for children with special educational needs in schools. This includes significant levels of additional investment, combined with a number of reforming measures.

My Department continues to seek to improve provisions by implementing the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, policy advice recommendations, including the policy advice on supporting students with special educational needs in schools published in 2013. It also seeks to bring into effect many of the good ideas contained in the EPSEN Act on a non-statutory basis initially through policy developments across a range of areas.

During the worst years of the recession, when public spending was cut across the board, we not only protected supports to children with special educational needs, we increased them. In 2018, my Department invested more than €1.75 billion in this area, one fifth of my Department’s overall budget and up 42% since 2011 at which point €1.24 billion was invested. This additional investment has provided for an increase of 38% in the number of special education teachers allocated to schools from 9,630 in 2011 to almost 13,300; a 137% increase in the number of special classes from 548 in 2011 to 1,304; and a 42% increase in the number of SNAs available in 2011 with 15,000 SNAs working in our schools at the end of 2018. That figure will come close to 16,000 this year.

A range of other supports are also provided for children with special educational needs such as special school transport arrangements, assistive technology supports and additional teachers in special schools. My Department is committed to a number of measures across the sector to ensure training and upskilling teachers and other professionals working with students. We will continue to examine all avenues of training and not just the traditional routes. There are many good people looking after children in the school environment, as well as acting their guardians. We need to ensure they get equal access to training.

The NCSE strives to bring about improved educational outcomes for students with special educational needs by developing schools’ and teachers’ capacity to provide a relevant and meaningful school experience for students through a multi-tiered continuum of support which is inclusive and responsive. This is achieved by providing supports to schools; by giving advice to educators, parents and guardians; by undertaking and disseminating research into special education; and by providing policy advice to the Minister for Education and Skills on special education issues.

The NCSE aims to support the professional development needs of teachers and schools in the teaching of children with special needs in as flexible a way as possible. The establishment of one NCSE support service, incorporating the special education support service, SESS, national behaviour support service, NBSS, and visiting teacher service with a special education needs organiser service, provides a more integrated and coherent support structure to support schools, parents and students. The NCSE provides a range of supports to teachers, parents and students in the area of special educational needs. This includes continuing professional development, CPD, for teachers which includes school-based seminars, NCSE designed and delivered seminars; NCSE supported courses; online courses; e-learning and book borrowing schemes. The NCSE support service also provides support for schools, groups and individual teachers, including school visits, phone support and email support. CPD courses are available through Middletown Centre for Autism, while college and university courses are provided at postgraduate level such as applied behavioural analysis, deaf-hard of hearing and visual impairment.

In 2017 in all areas of special educational need, the NCSE delivered 7,211 courses or events in CPD. More than 15,600 participants, school management and teachers, received CPD outside of school and over 22,200 participants received in school support through visits and presentations. The concept of co-teaching, or team teaching, is already in evidence in my Department’s policies and supports for inclusive education. There is experience of this both in special educational needs and DEIS. Team teaching encompasses a range of models which have to be used in a way that is appropriate and meaningful to the individual school context, as well as acknowledging the roles of the teachers and students involved.

The professional development service for teachers provides CPD support to teachers on an ongoing basis for team teaching and also has had involvement with student-teacher projects in this area. Section 39 of the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2015 provides for the council to review and accredit programmes providing continuing training and professional development for teachers. In the Education (Amendment) Act 2012, section 39 was amended to enable the council to regulate for conditions for renewal of teacher registration, including attendance at programmes of continuing education and training. These amendments have yet to be commenced.

Under section 38 of the Teaching Council Act, all initial teacher education programmes have been reviewed and accredited by the Teaching Council for registration purposes. The criteria and guidelines for programme providers, published in 2011 and revised in March 2017, is an important document which must be observed by all providers of initial teacher education in order that their programmes are recognised for the purposes of teacher registration. Inclusive education is a mandatory area of study for all student teachers who are undertaking programmes of initial teacher education at primary and post-primary levels in Ireland in accordance with the criteria and guidelines.

The graduate teacher is required to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the factors that promote and hinder learning, the impact of pupils’ backgrounds on learning and the need to provide for the holistic development of the learner, particularly through differentiated approaches. It is widely accepted that the issue of training and supports is much broader than teacher education. Students can benefit when all staff in schools and people with whom they interact have been trained in whole-school approaches to inclusion.

The 2018 comprehensive review of the special needs assistant scheme, which set out to ensure the scheme is achieving the best outcomes possible for children with special educational needs, recommends the development of a national training programme tailored to the needs of school communities. This will include training for special needs assistants to ensure school staffs have the requisite skills to meet the needs of students' care needs arising from significant medical, physical, emotional, behavioural, sensory and other significant difficulties with engaging with learning. The full report of the SNA comprehensive review also contains a recommendation on the provision of nursing and clinical supports which was informed by the report from the working group on nursing supports for students with complex medical needs. The Department of Health and my Department are tasked with agreeing and delivering the health and education supports required to meet the complex needs of students in special schools and classes.

In response to the comprehensive review of the SNA scheme I have undertaken to develop proposals for the implementation of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, recommendations and I will bring to the Government shortly a proposed implementation plan for the policy recommendations of the report for approval. I acknowledge the Connacht-Ulster branch of SNAs that I met in the past two weeks who raised the matter and asked when we would advance the issue. I am glad to say we will be doing it as a priority very shortly. The issue of complex behavioural needs was also examined as part of the comprehensive SNA review. My Department is currently working on the development of guidelines for schools on the specific matter of the use of restraint and intervention. Before finalising this work, the Department will consult with stakeholders and training will also be considered as part of this work.

With regard to the recommendations in the committee report relating to issues affecting schools raised in the course of the committee's consultations with stakeholders, I have recently requested the NCSE to develop advice on the educational provision that should be in place for students educated in special schools and classes and to make recommendations on the provision required to enable students in special schools and classes achieve better outcomes. The advice will also look at international approaches. The NCSE has been asked to complete and submit its report to the Minister not later than June 2020.

This Government has been able to continue to meet the needs of children with special educational needs attending our schools and to increase provision to address emerging needs in this area. The Government will continue to prioritise investment in the area of special education support. I assure the House that the education of children with special educational needs remains a key priority for this Government.

With respect to the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, programme, inclusive education is a fundamental principle of our education and training system. It is vital that all learners have the opportunity to benefit from education in order to help them fulfil their potential in life. DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative aimed at tackling educational disadvantage in primary and post-primary schools. The DEIS plan for 2017, launched by my Department in February 2017, contains five key goals and 108 actions to achieve those goals. In line with the recommendations of the report, my Department has recently submitted an update to the committee on the implementation of that DEIS plan for 2017. There are now 896 schools participating in the DEIS programme, with my Department having invested over €125 million last year in the range of additional supports provided to DEIS schools, such as DEIS grants and enhanced DEIS book grants. Additional funding of approximately €81 million in 2018 was provided by the Government for the school meals programme and the school completion programme. A number of years ago Deputy Burton was keen to ensure that aspect of funding could be protected, which I acknowledge.

The current level of funding provided to DEIS schools highlights the Government's commitment to ensuring education becomes a proven pathway to better opportunities for all learners, especially those at risk of not maximising the benefits of education. DEIS schools receive financial resources in the form of a DEIS grant, as well as an enhanced book grant. They also have access to literacy and numeracy supports, priority access to professional development and the Centre for School Leadership, enhanced guidance allocation, access to the Incredible Years and Friends for Life programmes, as well as access to the school meals programme, the home school community liaison scheme and the school completion programme.

My Department has introduced an objective, statistics-based model for assessing which schools merit inclusion in the DEIS programme so that all stakeholders can have confidence that we are targeting extra resources at those schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. The rationale for allocating resources and supports based on a school's level of concentrated disadvantage is based on the existence of a "multiplier effect", whereby students attending a school with a concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer academic outcomes. Research by the Educational Research Centre, ERC, and the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, indicates a strong evidence base in the Irish context that the social class mix of a school matters, providing a rationale for prioritising supports for schools that cater for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Students in schools with high concentrations of peers from lower socio-economic backgrounds have lower achievement levels than those in schools with a more socially advantaged intake, all other factors being equal. There is strong evidence of such an effect in DEIS post-primary schools and in urban DEIS primary schools, especially band 1 schools.

The latest report published by the ERC on 7 January on the evaluation of DEIS at post-primary level indicates significant positive trends in achievement at junior certificate level. However, more work needs to be done as indicated in last week's ESRI report on the impact of the revised leaving certificate grading scheme. At the heart of the DEIS initiative is the requirement and opportunity for schools to determine their own needs, set their own targets and use resources as they think best to target those students most at risk of educational disadvantage. I have listened closely to Deputies' comments on a targeted approach in order to get the highest impact and get support services to those most in need. The new DEIS identification model will have an impact not only on the assessment of schools for inclusion in the programme but also on the scaling of resources to allow for more graduated levels of support. This in turn will allow for the ultimate objective of allocating resources to best meet the identified need of individual schools.

I thank the committee for its contribution and observations. I have had meetings with leaders in the school system while touring around to different schools, including special schools, and I know there is always room to do more. There are weaknesses but there are also strengths. We must ensure we can continue to engage with stakeholders. The committee's work involved reaching out to the people who matter and who have the experience and knowledge, which is really important. I thank the committee for doing it.

There has been an enormous influx of representations from colleagues around the House because of pressure to seek additional support for autistic young people. I have already spoken this week about the language we use in the area. I will not use the word mentioned by Deputy Burton but we must figure out a better way of getting our vocabulary around these issues so we do not create stigma and alienation in a school environment. I know from the representations I have seen that there is pressure to provide the required classes for pupils on the autism spectrum.

This does not just affect the greater Dublin area and it also has an impact on the Acting Chairman's county of Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and the rest of the country. I acknowledge what Deputy Funchion described in her constituency. A complex process of consultation is required and as the Deputies mentioned, the onus is on parents to find a place. There can be complications and there may be better ways of facilitating information flow, such as through training boards of management or giving schools more of a roadmap on how to help. It is difficult enough for a parent of a child with special needs without that parent having to go through the harsh reality of fighting for a school place. There will be a big demand down the line but we must figure out a way of meeting it.

In the Department's work and especially in the special needs area, there is a deep awareness that the inclusion model is working. There is a need for special classes but there are also elements of choice and mainstream participation. There is an awareness in the officials with whom I work that we must continue to prioritise the issue. A change in legislation came into effect last December on the ministerial role with respect to special classes. This is something we will monitor closely.

See this speech in context