Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Members will be aware that the National Council for Special Education has a specific role under section 20 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act, to which reference has already been made, to provide me, as the Minister for Education and Skills, with expert independent evidence-informed policy advice on the education of children and others with disabilities. It is important to emphasise the nature of that advice. Last year I called on the NCSE to review and make recommendations on the supports to be provided to children with special educational needs and on how they are allocated to ensure we are delivering the best possible education experience and outcomes for our children. I was pleased to receive the report recently on 17 May.

The report is based on a review of best practice in both national and international research. It also follows a wide process of consultation with children with special educational needs, parents, representative groups, educational partners, voluntary bodies and advocacies. According to my note, which I do not doubt, children were part of the process as well. There is no doubt that the report is a comprehensive and significant review of the provisions we make for such children. The report makes it clear that there are many aspects of the current system which parents and schools are satisfied with and which are working well. It is important to put that on the record. We are making progress and this is a collective effort. No one owns this legislation; it came through from different Administrations and it is working substantially well for many people.

The report notes the extent of the investment that has been made in providing for children with needs in schools and highlights the level of investment in providing special educational support. This level remains at an all-time high despite the country's economic difficulties. It has been stated already that some €1.3 billion is spent and this represents approximately 15% of the total education budget. This includes spending on approximately 10,000 special education teacher posts - these provide additional teaching to more than 32,000 students - and more than 10,500 special needs assistant supports for more than 22,000 students. In addition, the Department funds specialist school transport, specialist equipment, assistive technology and the adaptation of school buildings. We have made considerable progress in this area.

However, the report also raises several concerns in respect of some aspects of our current system under the headings of enrolments, assessments and supports for children with special educational needs and how those supports are allocated. One of the main findings of the policy advice is that diagnosis should not be a prerequisite or a determinant for the allocation of additional resources for a child or young person with special needs. Instead, it should be based on the needs of the child irrespective of the category of disability. The report notes that the time of health professionals can be disproportionately taken up with conducting assessments as opposed to providing clinical interventions and supports, and states that in some cases parents may be delayed in getting resources because they have had to wait for assessments. The report recommends that the allocation of additional teaching and care supports should be in line with the profiled need of each school. The development of these resources should be linked to the student's learning plan process, a point made by Senator Moran, and it should be time-bound and outcome-focused. The report recommends that a new model should be developed for the allocation of additional teaching resources to mainstream schools based on the profiled need of each school and such that it breaks the direct link between the allocation of additional resources and the diagnosis of disability.

Section 2 of the EPSEN Act relates to enrolments and provides for an inclusive education for children with special needs. While not all aspects of the EPSEN Act have been commenced as of yet, section 2, providing for the right to inclusive education, has been commenced. The section provides that, to the greatest extent possible, children with special educational needs should be educated with children who do not have such needs. The policy of the Department is that children with special needs should be educated with their peers in local mainstream schools where additional support such as assistance and resource teachers are provided. Where children with greater levels of need require specific interventions, special classes and special school placements are also provided.

On school enrolment policies and practices, the NCSE report noted the majority of schools operate inclusive enrolment policies and practices. It stated, generally, management bodies and schools have responded very positively to educating students with special educational needs in inclusive environments in mainstream schools. However, it also indicated some schools still operate less than wholly inclusive enrolment practices by placing certain conditions on enrolment of children with special educational needs.

During the consultation process on the NCSE advice, some parents and NCSE staff reported finding difficulties in securing placements for children with special needs. Some parents felt schools placed soft barriers to enrolment by advising them that a different school would be more suitable or better resourced. Some schools also placed conditions in their enrolment policies.

To address these issues, the report recommended a robust regulatory enrolment framework should be introduced for schools. As Senator Hayden already said, I am moving on that issue independently as there are concerns about general enrolment policies.

All mainstream schools are resourced in accordance with the same policy parameters and, therefore, they should all be equally welcoming of children with special educational needs. That is the underlying principle behind the review of enrolment policy. The NCSE has, accordingly, recommended that to address the outstanding difficulties that remain with this matter, an appropriate regulatory enrolment framework should be put in place. The discussion paper on a regulatory framework for school enrolment contained suggestions on how to make the process of enrolling in schools more open, equitable and consistent. It is available on my Department's website.

While section 15 of the Education Act requires schools to publish their enrolment policy and to make provision in that policy for pupils with disabilities or who have other special educational needs, the Act is light-touch in terms of providing ways and means of ensuring all schools welcome all children. In summary, the existing legal framework is in essence confined to specifying the establishment and maintenance of an enrolment policy as a function of a school and providing for an appellate process under section 29 of the Education Act 1998. It is not satisfactory and we intend to change it. The primary aim of the proposals will be to ensure every child is treated fairly and that every child, including those with special educational needs, has a place at school. This recent policy advice from the NCSE will be fully considered in the context of the proposed regulatory framework for school enrolment. It is proposed that any legislative changes in the area of enrolment would seek to maintain and support the current position whereby decision-making resides with the board of management to the greatest extent possible.

Work is ongoing on this legislation. I intend to bring heads of a Bill and the draft statutory instrument to Cabinet and send them to the Oireachtas committee on education for feedback. A similar approach was adopted with the Education and Training Boards Bill which proved to be very satisfactory.

There are 28 recommendations in this comprehensive report, the first in 20 years. It would be a dereliction of my duty as Minister if I were to give a commitment to implement uncritically all 28 recommendations without the Department having the time to analyse and cost them, as well as assessing how they could be implemented and the subsequent implications. That is why we have put down this amendment to the motion. As Senator Norris said, the preamble and thrust of the motion has been accepted. I will carefully consider implementing all 28 recommendations but it would be irresponsible of me to give a commitment to the House to accept all of them before advice on them comes from the Department.

The Department is accountable to the House through the Minister. The NCSE is a very fine organisation and a new chairman was appointed to it recently, a former chief inspector in the Department, Eamonn Stack, and a new board. It gives us advice, but giving the Department of Education and Skills advice is different to making policy. We have to be accountable for the making of policy. We have to take advice carefully, analyse it and decide how much of it we want to implement.

One of the reasons the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 has not been fully implemented is the cost. It was conceived in a different time when costs did not seem to be an obstacle to anything.