Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Canney for raising this very important issue. It has been raised with me by other Deputies, including very many here on the Government benches. When any change is made to how resources are allocated to schools, it can cause worry for students, parents and the schools in question. Inevitably, when a change is made, there will be schools that gain hours and schools that lose hours, but that is based on objective criteria and, most importantly, on the needs of the children in the schools concerned.

Special education teachers provide valuable additional teaching assistance for students with special needs enrolled in mainstream classes in primary and post-primary schools. For the next school year, which starts in September, there will be 14,600 special education teachers, 1,000 more than at the end of 2021 and many more than the entire Defence Forces at full strength, just to give the Deputy the context of the number of special education teachers we now have. This is reflected in the fact that 98% of all children with special educational needs are now in mainstream settings.

The Department of Education commenced a review of the model in late 2022. This involved consultation with unions, management bodies and schools to hear their views on how things could be done more fairly. There were 30 meetings and 12 consultation sessions. The NCSE undertook 40 reviews of individual schools to get their feedback. This feedback was incorporated into the revised model. The allocation for September next distributes the total number of special education teachers in line with each school's profile and need across the country. It is not about the schools, it is about the children who attend them and the needs of those children. Of course, that changes from year to year. The model ensures that children with the greatest level of need can get access to additional hours and are allocated the greatest level of resource. It is transparent and the model takes into account a number of factors. These include the total enrolment of a school, complex needs, literacy, numeracy and disadvantage. Of all the schools in the country, 67% will either have the same number of hours or will gain hours.

In County Galway specifically, there has been an increase of 25 in the number of hours for post-primary schools. There has, however, been an overall reduction of 148 in the case of primary schools. That is because the number of pupils in primary schools has fallen considerably. Ten schools will have 30 or fewer pupils next year. To give an example, that is the equivalent of 30 fewer classes of children in Galway next year in primary school. The Minister acknowledges, however, that there may be particular issues in particular schools that need to be looked at, and for that reason a review process is now being put in place. The Minister and I encourage any school that has a concern about its allocation to engage with the NCSE in order that we can see if it can be reviewed upwards or if, perhaps, a transitional arrangement can be put in place. Schools can make their applications for a review for March through to May of each year. The review will be completed before school the school holidays in order that a school will know where it stands for September.

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