Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to set out the importance of the special education teacher allocation in supporting children with special educational needs, SEN, in mainstream schools. My colleague, Deputy English, has spoken to me about the incredible work being done in Kilbride National School in Kilbride. He has consistently worked to ensure appropriate supports are provided to children and those who need them.

It is important to say there will more special education teachers in our schools in September 2024 than ever before, with an increase of 1,000 on the 2020-21 school year. This is in addition to a significant reduction in class sizes at primary level over three budgets to where our pupil-teacher ratio is now 23:1. This means that children with SEN in our mainstream schools are better supported than ever to meet their needs.

I would like to clarify that the SET model is an allocation model to provide schools with additional teaching hours to support the teaching needs of their students. When the 2017 model was introduced, it replaced a diagnosis-led model with one based on need. This has not changed for 2024 and the allocation to schools is to support all of the children who require some level of additional teaching support. There has been a limited change to the method used to allocate SET to mainstream classes. The allocation model for 2024-25 distributes the total available number of SET posts in line with each school’s profile of need. The model makes an allocation on the basis of a number of inputs, including enrolment numbers. It also uses school-level data from standardised tests to reflect relative levels of overall need. It seeks to distribute teaching resources in the fairest possible manner, taking into account quality, robust evidence in respect of individual schools. This ensures that resources are in the right place at the right time to meet the needs of children in mainstream.

In addition, the model will be run annually in line with general teacher allocations. This allows schools to better plan their staffing structures and gives them time to arrange clusters in areas where schools share an SET teacher. The Department acknowledges that every school is different and that schools can experience unique circumstances that may be difficult to reflect in any standardised method. This is always a challenge when making allocations in respect of the 4,000 schools. It is for this reason that the Department, working with the NCSE, has streamlined the review process for SET hours and schools who have any concerns can engage with the NCSE on their allocation. Reviews are being conducted by the NCSE between March and May to better enable schools to plan for the following September. Additional resources will be provided to schools in cases where the council has identified that they are required.

I am aware that representatives from Kilbride National School were in Leinster House last week. Unfortunately, I was not in a position to attend that meeting. However, the NCSE has confirmed to my Department that the school has submitted a review application. The council has communicated with the school and is awaiting documentation from the school to progress the review.

On receipt of the documentation, the review will be prioritised as a matter of urgency. In all cases where the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, review identifies the requirement for additional special education teacher, SET, resources to support students these resources will be made available to the school for the 2024-2025 school year. It is important to note that SET hours are only one component of support for children in mainstream education, but the most important support is the mainstream class teacher. The pupil-teacher ratio at primary level is now 23:1, which means there are more mainstream teachers than ever before in our educational system. There will be 14,600 special education teachers supporting mainstream classes, which is an increase of 1,000 since the end of the 2021 school year.

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