Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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81. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has completed its review from the 63 schools that piloted filling out the education component of the assessment of need; if it is the intention of her Department to roll out this process beyond the pilot scheme; if so, when; and if a school (details supplied) was included in the pilot scheme. [5479/23]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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In reply to a written question on this issue, the Minister stated the trial involving 63 schools was completed in December. Has the Department completed its review relating to the 63 schools that piloted filling out the education component of the assessment of need, AON? Does the Department intend to roll out the process beyond the pilot scheme? If so, when? Was a particular school, the details of which I have supplied to the Minister, included in the pilot scheme?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her topical question. The AON process is provided for under the Disability Act and is under the remit of the HSE. The Deputy will be aware that there was a court decision and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is now required to assist the HSE purely in respect of the educational assessment of the needs of children who have applied to the HSE for an AON. In complying with this requirement, the NCSE will work with schools, which already hold extensive information arising from teachers' everyday practice in assessing their students and differentiating the curriculum to meet their educational needs. As the Deputy is aware, such information is currently collated and held by schools on the student support plan.

Specifically on the Deputy's question, the Department and the NCSE have worked intensively to ensure the process put in place to support the educational component of the AON fulfils legal obligations and is rooted in existing assessment practices in schools. A trial commenced last June involved 63 schools, as the Deputy stated. That trial period was extended to encompass 80 schools. My officials and I are very grateful to all those who participated, particularly the 80 schools that assisted in the process and provided detailed feedback on the guidance documents and the process. That feedback was incorporated into the guidance documents and the form itself.

The Deputy may be aware that the revised documents and the report of education needs form issued to schools yesterday, 1 February. When schools receive requests from the NCSE to complete that form, it is intended that they can use the revised forms and support documents. I recognise it is a new process for schools and we are anxious to support them through the NCSE and our officials.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply. She stated that, since yesterday, the NCSE will write to any school that needs an education assessment on the AON. In October, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, AsIAm and other organisations such as Inclusion Ireland expressed concern about this process. AsIAm stated the Department of Education and its agencies require education assessments for various supports, including access to reasonable accommodation and exams. The Department has clearly defined in practice that an educational assessment is a process led by educational psychologists, not a principal compiling data already at his or her disposal. The INTO had significant concerns, including in respect of workload, lack of training, pressure on teachers and principals and the potential impact. Has the Minister of State held discussions with the INTO and AsIAm in respect of the process?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The INTO was involved, along with other education partners. In fact, it welcomed assurances from the Department in respect of the new process yesterday. It issued a press statement stating that it is important "the new process for reporting of education needs will not be used as a replacement for assessments undertaken by educational psychologists and other health professionals". Obviously, there is concern relating to the general waiting times in terms of services and all that. The INTO stated it will be monitoring everything through monthly meetings and engaging with the Department and the NCSE until there is a review. That is an important point from the perspective of the Deputy. The Department is committed to monitoring the impact of the process but there will be a review at the end of the school year, in June, to see how everything has rolled out in the preceding months.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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AsIAm notes the inclusion of "carry out" in the wording of the Act and states that the process principals were being asked to do does not sound like conducting an assessment but, rather, simply collating existing information. It went on to say that even if principals had the knowledge and felt confident to do the assessment, there would be a conflict of interest. Principals assign the additional needs resources within a school and should not also be responsible for assessing what is needed.

AsIAm states the process would make relationships between school and home more fraught. We saw what happened to waiting lists when the agency tried to water down the required AON process. The court struck this down and so many thousands of assessments had to be redone, greatly extending the times.

The Minister of State said following up with an educational psychiatrist is only a stopgap. Is it? Is there a timeline in which the child can get an educational psychologist's AON?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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There is no stopgap. This is purely in relation to the educational component of the assessment of need, not the health component. The review in June and monthly monitoring will be important, as will engagement with the Department and NCSE.

There are supports available for schools. There is detailed AON guidance and a short video, and there are also email supports and a health line. If further supports are deemed necessary during the implementation phase and the monitoring of the process, the Department and NCSE must commit to providing them to individual schools. From the feedback we have received, the form takes only between 20 and 30 minutes to complete at primary level and maybe up to 60 minutes at post-primary level. All the feedback has been collated and included in the revised documents. We are confident they will work and that schools will embrace them.