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

I thank the Deputies for raising the issues in the motion. At the outset, enabling children with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is a priority for this Government. Since I was appointed as Minister for special education and inclusion five months ago, I have met children, their parents, teachers, SNAs and special interest groups who have provided me with invaluable insights and perspectives on the day-to-day challenges, issues and successes in special education.

Through school visits, I have seen generosity, care and compassion from entire school communities as they support, develop and nurture our young people with additional educational needs.

It makes me proud as an educator to see the progress we have made in schools in the area of special education, especially in recent years. Of course, there are very significant challenges. We all know and accept that. I reaffirm my commitment as a Minister of State to continuing to work to ensure that families and schools are supported. I am pleased to have the opportunity to set out the Government’s position on the education-related aspects of the motion and to outline some significant measures we have put in place to ensure that children and young people are supported to achieve their potential.

Regarding the issue of availability of school places, I understand and regret that some children have not yet secured a school place for this school year and that some families and students feel that our system is not working for them. This is not acceptable. It is not fair that families are put in a position of feeling they have to fight for the right to an education for their children. I am absolutely committed to improving the system we have and providing the supports needed to help every child to thrive and prosper in our education system.

It is important to state that the system works for many children. Some 250,000 children with a special educational need are accommodated in mainstream schools with supports. Approximately 28,000 children are either in a special class or a special school. We have provided 408 new special classes and four new special schools for this school year in counties Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Limerick. Since the Government came into office in 2020, more than 1,300 new special classes have been provided, bringing the total to more than 3,300. While there is spare capacity in the system, the problem is that capacity is not always close to where children live.

Throughout the summer, the Department and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, have worked with schools to provide further special education places. The NCSE has been provided with an additional budget of €13 million so an increased number of special educational needs organisers, SENOs, can work to support schools and families. The NCSE’s work to provide additional places has focused in particular on areas in north Dublin. Additional special classes and special school capacity has been secured and places have been offered in recent days to students and will continue to be offered in the coming weeks. It is important now that these schools move quickly to offer available places to children.

The NCSE plans for places based on children known to them, where a parent has made contact to advise they have a child in need of a place. However, there is an information gap. The NCSE is not always made aware of children in need of a place. In some cases, this has resulted in new classes being populated by children already in a school and not by children waiting for a place who are known to the NCSE. While the sharing of information has improved, more work is needed in this area. That is why I have asked my Department to develop new guidelines to ensure the NCSE has information on all of the children seeking a special education placement, regardless of where they live.

Pressure for places is extremely high in some areas. That is why I have established a new task force for Dublin 15, which will work to ensure sufficient special educational placements will be provided for the next school year and beyond. This group will examine better ways to establish the level of need in the area so that school places can be provided earlier, giving families certainty and avoiding unnecessary stress. Parents tell me they have applied to ten or 20 schools. Parents should not have to do that. We want this group to examine the possibility of a common application system being introduced to reduce the burden on parents so that parents only have to apply once. These measures will help give the NCSE a clearer picture on the number of children in need of a place, thereby allowing for better planning. Once the concept is developed for Dublin 15, I expect that a national system will be developed.

I met Mr. Don Mahon, the new task force chairperson, in person yesterday and outlined my aims for the task force. The task force will contact stakeholders, including parents, school principals and patrons, to secure nominees to sit on the task force and will begin its work shortly. As part of these efforts to identify and meet the need for special educational placements earlier, better communication and information sharing between the HSE and Departments are needed when children present with conditions that affect their education or when they are not meeting developmental milestones. All this information needs to be shared earlier on children's journeys so that when they come into the education system, there is no mystery about children with additional needs.

I welcome the work being done by my Department and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to share information on children in the early years sector who are receiving additional supports. This will allow for planning for special classes or special school places to begin not months in advance as currently applies, but years in advance.

I assure families that no efforts are being spared in ensuring that special class places are provided for this year. I chair weekly meetings of the NCSE and my Department to secure places, with ongoing engagement with schools and patrons. Most schools are helpful in providing special class places. However, a very small number have to be encouraged and, in some cases instructed, to open special classes using legislative powers introduced in 2022. These powers allow the NCSE to compel a school to accept a child with special educational needs. This power was exercised twice this year. To be absolutely clear, I will not hesitate to instruct the NCSE to use these powers if a school refuses to accept a child in need of a place.

We are all aware of the increased prevalence of disabilities such as autism. We know that children have different abilities and learn in different ways and that some may require more help than others. We must and do plan for this, to provide children with a place and a clear pathway through the education system. This is an investment in our children’s future, with €2.7 billion a year - a quarter of the education budget - allocated to it. Giving children the supports they need as early as possible is vital and ensuring timely and appropriate provision of school places is the first step.

I also recognise that additional supports are required for children with special educational needs. In that regard, almost 15,000 special education teachers and 22,000 SNAs are working every day in mainstream schools to support children and young people and their learning. We have also progressed other types of support for children in schools. I was particularly pleased in June to announce the establishment of the educational therapy support service, a service designed to build the capacity of teachers and school staff to provide as effectively as possible for the needs of students. This service will see therapists working in classrooms with teachers and while the service will initially comprise 39 therapists, it is my ambition to build this service over time to ensure schools across the country have access to it.

Deputies will also be aware of a more recent announcement relating to the provision of therapy services in special schools. In conjunction with the Ministers for Education and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the programme will be provided by the HSE in 16 special schools, supported by the NCSE. The purpose of the programme is to provide the effective delivery of in-school therapy supports to children and will supplement existing services being provided by the HSE. Therapists will work on-site in schools for the full duration of the school day and the school year. School selection is based on where children with the greatest need for supports are based and where appropriate resources are not currently available to meet those needs. The number of children in the special school and the profile of need of those children will determine the therapy supports to the provided. I hope to expand this pilot so children receive the supports they need.

While the provision of appropriate therapy services is extremely important, I also recognise the importance of supporting student transitions into and from school settings. The recently launched national strategy and action plan for lifelong guidance is about helping people to make better choices about their education, career and life, through information, advice and guidance counselling services. For the first time, guidance supports are being provided in special schools. In addition, my Department is working to support children as they transition through our education system from early childhood through to primary, post-primary, further education and training and higher education or whatever the transition is for a given child. This is part of our commitment to the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities.

We have instigated a pilot programme to improve access to, and opportunities for, post-school options, with 40 special schools taking part this school year. A second pilot transitions programme involves a collaboration between my Department and Walkinstown Association for People with an Intellectual Disability, which is currently engaging with and delivering its existing providing equal employment routes, PEER, ability programme in ten schools in Louth, Dublin, Westmeath, Cavan and Cork. The programme is supporting 170 students in their final two years in school.

There is also the towards inclusion programme. Its overarching purpose is to provide for collaboration between mainstream and special schools in teaching, learning and assessment practices. The programme seeks to break down the barriers between specialist and mainstream provision to allow for conversations at local level regarding inclusion and opportunities for collaboration. Towards Inclusion may be viewed as a foundation block in work being undertaken to develop an inclusive education system.

Despite the many challenges facing the education system, it is fair to say we are making progress. I recognise and accept that the system is not perfect. I am committed to working collectively across government to make children's lives better.

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