Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be here, following on from statements to the Dáil by the Minister, Deputy Harris, and Minister, Deputy Foley on the reopening of education and the training sector in general. My specific focus is students with special educational needs. We want to ensure that they are supported in our schools. I have sought to be an advocate for young people with special educational needs and their families, and I have engaged widely and extensively with groups from across the sector over recent weeks. I have been in close contact with many schools, parents and students since taking up my position as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, and I have heard first-hand how many families and schools have been preparing to return to school and to welcome their students. The commitment of this Government and my Department is demonstrated in the overall financial allocation which is made annually to special education, which is €1.9 billion or 20% of the total of the Department's Vote.

As in many other sectors, the Covid pandemic, unfortunately, has created unprecedented challenges for young people and their families in Ireland, in particular, I would argue, the special education sector because the prolonged absence from school has posed particular challenges for these students and their families. Teachers, of course, have been excellent in responding very creatively to closures by endeavouring to provide remote learning for these students, but some of them have found it very difficult to engage with remote learning in a meaningful way. We know that families have experienced stress in trying to meet their child's learning needs within the home and that the transition for students in terms of routine and getting back to school and learning will be difficult. I want to reassure families that we are doing everything we can to relieve and alleviate the stress and anxiety for these students. It was critically important, therefore, that the summer programme went ahead this year. I will comment further on that later.

The National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, has published resources, which I mentioned yesterday, in terms of supporting the well-being of students with special educational needs. It is a well-structured document which is illustrated appropriately, and it is very accessible for families and should be of help to them. Various guidance documents have been provided to schools which address many matters pertaining to special educational needs. I want to work with schools and parents to ensure that everyone has the full information. By way of further clarity, a compendium of frequently asked questions, FAQs, will be published in the coming days, which will provide students and their families with the relevant information on practical issues arising in regard to the return to school. I have been anxious that this FAQ document would be provided as soon as possible. It is being provided in response to a request from families and teachers in the special educational sectors. I commit today to the provision of that document which will be really useful for people who have questions in regard to children with special educational needs and their return to school. We want to ensure that this happens successfully.

Deputies are aware that the Cabinet approved the roadmap in July which set out the public health advice provided to my Department on the safe return to school which could be implemented at individual school level. Approval, as we know, was given for more than €375 million at that particular time. This was necessary to support PPE and hand sanitisation. We know as well that schools with special needs students have particular concerns in this regard. In response, I wanted to ensure that we had a dedicated package for the special education sector covering additional resources in terms of personal protective equipment, PPE, enhanced cleaning, release days for staff, their supports and, in particular, to cover absences for special needs assistants, SNAs, because the SNA and the role of the SNA has to be protected for the child with special needs. The SNA is integral to the successful return of a child with special needs to school and for his or her continuation in school as well.

The provision of this dedicated package recognises all of the additional requirements and vulnerabilities faced by these students. Approximately €160 million has been paid out, including payments to special schools in Ireland, of which we have 124. There is a particular emphasis on the drawdown of PPE for those schools and hand sanitizer materials. Funding will continue to be made available for these schools into the future. Within these payments, the allocation for PPE provision is enhanced for these students. At primary level, the capitation payment for the first term is €25 for mainstream students and €100 for those with a special educational need. At post-primary level, the corresponding figures are €40 and €160, which gives Deputies an idea of the additional supports provided to children with special needs.

I recognise the particular challenges that these special schools and special classes face in dealing with young people with complex medical and care needs who are at higher risk in terms of Covid-19. The additional targeted resources that are being provided include special schools, which will receive the equivalent of ten days' support for the purposes of employing an aid to assist with the logistics of preparing for the reopening, and a once-off enhanced minor works grant was paid to all schools, with an enhanced rate paid to special schools and schools with special classes to support their additional needs. Special schools and schools with special classes where there is a teaching principal will receive one release day per week. Those schools with an administrative deputy principal will be provided with 16 release days. As I said, the Department is supporting the filling of all absences of SNAs in school settings. Enhanced related rates are also payable in respect of students attending special schools and special classes attached to mainstream schools to assist with the extra costs associated with the cleaning of classrooms, with a small number of students operating specialist provision.

Earlier, I mentioned the NEPS psychologists. There are approximately 120 additional psychologist posts because of the particular emphasis on well-being this year in the context of Covid. It is a fundamental element of my Department's overall plan to ensure the successful return to school and to continue to manage the impact of Covid-19 during the year. My Department has developed and prepared a comprehensive tiered response to support the well-being of school communities at this time. It comprises the provision of guidance and services built on a strong, universal approach to support the transition back to school while also recognising that some may require more ongoing, targeted or individualised support. As I said, there are approximately 120 psychologist posts, which represents the full restoration of the guidance service following on from previous cuts. Schools will have flexibility to consider how best to align these posts within the schools guidance plan.

In addition to NEPS, they will play a key role in leading and implementing the Department's well-being response. An additional 17 NEPS psychologists will be appointed to provide enhanced services to support the well-being of our school communities at this time with, as I said, a particular emphasis on the well-being of our special school communities. I welcome the well-being resource that I mentioned in regard to NEPS, which is accessible on the gov.ie/backtoschool webpage. This is a companion resource to the well-being webinars and the well-being toolkits for school staff, which contain information, guidance, tips and advice for schools on how best to support the well-being of children and young people, including those with special educational needs.

I was also very pleased to support the work of the NCSE, which produced a suite of resources to support young people and their families to transition back into school. The resources include a booklet for parents and teachers on helping to prepare young children for primary school. There is also an engaging leaflet for schools to help young students understand public health advice, various resources for young people with complex needs to foster resilience in the transition back to school and a signposting guide for teachers, directing them to existing resources around managing the transition back to school, starting school and well-being in that transition.

I refer to summer provision. More than 15,200 people registered this year, which is the most ever for the summer provision. There were 3,900 in a school-based programme and 11,375 children with special needs who availed of a home-based programme. It is considerably more than in 2019 and in previous years. It was a crucial stepping stone in reconnecting students with their schools and learning which had been disrupted during the closure of school buildings back in March. The programme aimed to re-establish relationships, build connections, meet emotional needs and re-engage students with the school environment. I had the privilege of visiting the summer provision programmes at St. Augustine's school in Blackrock and Gaelscoil na Fuinseoige in Churchtown. The excellent work done by both schools was a testament to the commitment of the staff to fully support the educational rights of young people with special educational needs. I pay tribute to them and all the schools that took part in the programme this year. It was significantly broader than in previous years. Approximately 24,000 children with special needs were eligible compared to 15,000 who were eligible in previous years. This helped children with diagnoses of autism, severe and profound learning difficulties, any child in a special school or special class, young people transitioning into a special class in primary school from early years settings, pupils in primary school mainstream classes who present with Down's syndrome, young people who are deaf or most severely hard of hearing, who are blind or have a visual impairment or who have a moderate general learning disability, and young people with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties. I commend all those who were involved with the July provision in all those schools. It was really appreciated. Report cards have gone back to the schools now which will help with those children.

On school places, one of the most important things for me coming into this role as the first dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for special education is to ensure that every child has a suitable school placement. It is a key concern for me in this role. We have a long tradition of schools enrolling young people with special needs. Since 2011, the number of special classes in mainstream schools has increased almost threefold from 548 to 1,618 for the 2019-20 school year with 1,353 of those places catering for young people with autism. In recent times, a small number of families have experienced particular challenges in securing a place for their child in a special class or special school, particularly in south Dublin and Cork. There has been momentum in recent weeks from all involved to secure places for all of these students. There are powers under the Education Act, through the section 37 letters, whereby we can require schools to open new special classes where it is clear that they have the capacity to do so. The Department is working with various schools to see if we can collaborate on it, and most of them have been very obliging in engaging with us and trying to facilitate these places. It is a natural consequence that children can look for places during the year. I believe in equality of opportunity for children with special needs and it is something I want to try to eradicate if I can. The NCSE does a lot of work and is working with school patron bodies, boards of management and families to resolve this. Progress is being made and school visits are under way at present. I am hopeful that a conclusion can be brought to matters for the families concerned. It is hard enough to parent a child with special needs, not to mind trying to find a school place for them. I will be doing all I can to support these families.

On the school transport issue, I can speak to the special education sector only because the primary bus transport brief is with the Minister. Bus Éireann has advised that with regard to young people on dedicated post-primary special education services, more than 70% of the 560 services are in a position to operate at 50% capacity at the start of this year. The company has returned to the market seeking additional operators to provide services. The commitment is there on my part and on the part of the Department and Bus Éireann to have 100% of services operating at 50% of their capacity as soon as this is possible to achieve. Some parents are anxious about how their child will travel to school. Provision has, therefore, been made for parents of young people who are eligible for transport who decide not to avail of the post-primary transport services to receive a grant to support them with the cost of private transport arrangements within the defined parameters.

See this speech in context