Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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6. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the ongoing training that will be provided to current teachers to deliver appropriate education and supports to autistic children entering their school or class; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34026/22]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this question on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, who sends her apologies for not being present. The Deputy is interested in the ongoing training that will be provided to current teachers to deliver appropriate education supports to autistic children entering their school or class. This has to do with the integration in mainstream classes of children with these kinds of additional needs.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The training of teachers is very important, particularly when we are talking about special education and before the opening of a special class. The initial teacher training includes modules on special education, which means qualified teachers are already able to support children with special education needs who are in a special class setting. Recognising that teachers in these classes may also wish to access additional training and supports, a range of departmental continuing professional development, CPD, and National Council for Special Education, NCSE, supports are also made available to those who wish to avail of them.

Prior to the opening of a class there is a programme of professional support for schools with newly established special classes, and that is being developed by the NCSE. That programme will be available to schools as soon as practicable upon the completion of the recruitment process. Some of the supports available include a seminar for principals, a four-day intensive training course for teachers, a two-day training course for new teachers, whole-staff CPD, and a school being linked with an NCSE adviser, which is critical for having a two-way communication channel. There are also further modules available.

After opening the special class, the NCSE provides a comprehensive programme of teacher professional learning seminars each school year, which cover a variety of special education needs topics. In-school support forms part of a suite of teacher professional learning provided by the NCSE in addition to a programme of seminars and online resources for teachers. Schools may apply directly to the NCSE for in-school support for the whole staff group and for individual teachers, and that support is tailored to the specific teacher professional learning needs within a school. I will come back to some of the resources that are available to teachers on topics in a minute.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response and for the information she has imparted. Deputy Carroll MacNeill maintains that access to psychological training is necessary to help understand and better manage behaviours, especially overstimulation behaviours that might reflect the child's anxiety, and she is interested in what kind of training is made available to teachers in this area.

The Deputy asks if teachers will be given better training on special education, which the Minister of State has probably addressed already. Deputy Carroll MacNeill maintains it appears that teacher training involves a two-week placement in a special school. Will the Minister of State clarify the amount of time teachers spend in situin special schools as part of their training? Is there a requirement to provide lesson plans, as is the case in other places? She maintains there is no such requirement and she is concerned about how the special classes will be staffed without proper training and a deep understanding of real inclusion. We often have children integrated in mainstream classes. What encouragement and supports are in place to enable teachers to get training in those circumstances?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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In my reply I outlined some of the teacher training that takes place prior to the opening of a class. Subsequent to a class being opened, resources are provided on behaviour management, language and literacy, numeracy, metacognition, school self-evaluation, CPD audit tools, teaching methods and organisation, assessment, individualised planning, and co-teaching, and other seminars on inclusion are provided.

The Deputy specifically asked me, on behalf of Deputy Carroll MacNeill, about psychological support and particularly about autism training when we know that the main driver of special classes is autism. In March 2022, the Department published an interactive guidance document, Autism Good Practice Guidance for Schools, as a resource for schools and their teachers. That guidance document has been developed as a resource for schools to support the needs of students with autism and it aims to assist teachers and SNAs.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response. Is it mandatory for teachers who work with children with additional needs such as autism to have a specific level of training and qualification before they work with these children? If so, what is the extent of those qualifications and that training, certification and oversight?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I may let the Minister, Deputy Foley, answer Deputy Murnane O'Connor's query on DEIS schools if she has time at some point.

On training for teachers, the guidance was developed by an expert working group from the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, and it is important to say that. The Deputy was talking about the mandatory training and I mentioned that there are modules of special education in place already for qualified teachers, and that is part of the process of becoming a teacher. We are looking at all of this through the Teaching Council as well and we are making sure we have up-to-date CPD assistance. Both the professional development service for teachers and the national induction programme for teachers provide ongoing training from a postgraduate perspective in the postgraduate diploma programme, and there is another graduate certificate for the education of pupils on the autism spectrum for newly qualified teachers.