Results 5,281-5,300 of 7,283 for speaker:Josepha Madigan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I understand that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has contacted the school on the request. It is a matter I take seriously as Minister of State with responsibility for special education. It is important to look at the growth in special classes. In 2011 there were 508 special classes and now there are 2,118, an increase of 386%. This year alone, we opened 269 special...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I understand that is was recently approved for additional mainstream accommodation and resource teaching. The NCSE is engaging with the school. We are putting about 360 additional special education teachers and 620 SNAs to all the special classes. The NCSE says there are sufficient places within existing special classes now but that is subject to change. The ongoing engagement between the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I commend the school on taking the initiative to contact the NCSE in the first instance. If the NCSE agrees in future to open a special class, if there is demand, it and the Department give funding either to reconfigure accommodation or to provide new accommodation. It is also important to stress that when a school is opening a special class, there are additional grants. There is a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Staff (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: The summer provision is extremely important. This year, we doubled the funding, from €20 million last year to €40 million. Some 81,000 children are eligible along with 4,000 schools. A total of 939 schools participated this year, in an increase of 72% on last year, which is considerable. We had 36,672 pupils, which is an increase of 60%. We recognise the risk of regression,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I commend the Deputies on bringing forward this Topical Issue matter. It is a very pertinent issue to me, as Minister of State with responsibility for special education. I appreciate all the work done by Deputy Bruton, a previous Minister for Education, who in fact kick-started the process of the school inclusion model, and thank him for that. I wish to reassure both Deputies that I feel...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: The important point to note, which I may not have mentioned yet, is the fact that the pilot has recommenced in CHO 7 this term. We have plans for expansion of that. The independent evaluation is critical, and I am very satisfied so far with a report we have received on the confidence children with additional needs have gained from availing of the school inclusion model and the fact that...

Education (Health, Relationships and Sex Education) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (24 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I am sharing time with Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and I ask the Acting Chair to remind me to give her two minutes. I thank all the Deputies for their contributions and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak during this debate on the Education (Health, Relationships and Sex Education) Bill 2021. Given that the Bill was only introduced in the House last week, it is important to state...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I am very aware of the needs of students with special educational needs who need care support to attend school. The role of the SNA is to support the class teacher to ensure that children with special needs can access the curriculum and participate in school life. For this reason, this Government continues to make very significant levels of financial provision to ensure that children with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government. It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion. Next year, my Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: The purpose of the School Inclusion Model (SIM) is to build the capacity of participating schools so they can support the inclusion of all children particularly those with special educational needs (SEN). My Department recognises that the current range of supports in schools i.e. teaching and care does not on their own meet the needs of some children with special educational needs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I wish to advise the Deputy that a COVID Learning and Support Scheme (CLASS) has been put in place to help schools mitigate the adverse impacts of Covid-19 on pupil/student learning loss and wellbeing arising from the periods of school closures in 2020 and 2021. Under the programme, a block of additional teaching hours is being provided to each recognised school, from which schools can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: Very significant levels of financial provision are made to ensure that all children with special educational needs can be provided with an education appropriate to their needs. The State currently spends approximately €2 Billion - almost a quarter - of its annual educational and training budget on making additional provision for children with special educational needs. This...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government. It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion. Next year, my Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: I am aware of the issue raised by the Deputy. While I have no remit regarding the Children's Disability Network Teams, which is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive (HSE), my officials are currently liaising with the relevant agencies to consider how the transition process for students impacted can be progressed. Ensuring that every child has an appropriate education placement...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: The Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile. Under the allocation model, schools have been provided with a total allocation for special education needs support based on their school profile. The provision of a profiled allocation is designed to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: The School Inclusion Model (SIM) is based on policy advice from the National Council for Special Education based on the principle of providing the right support at the right time delivered by a range of personnel with relevant qualifications and skill-sets. Its purpose is to help students achieve better outcomes. Independent evaluation is a central part of the project and the outcome will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government. It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion. Next year, my Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: Earlier this year, my Department announced the provision of a significantly expanded summer education programme for pupils with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a COVID-19 pandemic response. I am pleased to say that this has resulted in the biggest ever uptake of the programme during the summer period with the overall number of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (23 Nov 2021)

Josepha Madigan: Earlier this year, my Department announced the provision of a significantly expanded summer education programme for pupils with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a COVID-19 pandemic response. For the first time all primary and post primary schools had access in providing the summer programmes for students with complex needs and/or...