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

I thank the Deputy for her question. I note what she has said about the school inclusion model. It does give the appropriate supports to children with additional needs and it is best practice. It is based on the principle of providing the right educational, care and therapeutic supports at the right time for children with special education needs. Its purpose is to help these students achieve better education and life outcomes. The policy is based on evidence-based advice provided by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. Independent evaluation is critical to the development of this new model of service and its extension to other schools.

The school inclusion model includes the provision of in-school therapies, such as: speech and language and occupational therapies; the allocation of special needs assistants on a front-loaded basis, thereby removing the need for a diagnosis in order to access care support; additional professional supports for schools, including psychology, behavioural and professional development; and the training of special needs assistants. The model has been developed in collaboration with the Departments of Health and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the NCSE and the HSE.

In February 2019, the Government approved the trialling of the model for the 2019-2020 school year. Initially designed as a one-year pilot involving up to 75 participating schools in the CHO 7 region, comprising west Wicklow, Kildare and south west Dublin, it was interrupted by Covid-19 with the closure of schools and the diversion of HSE therapists from the project to Covid-related work. It was then extended to the 2020-2021 school year which was been interrupted by Covid. Progress has been made on aspects of the model but much remains to be done in terms of in-school implementation and evaluation.

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