Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Currie for her acknowledgement of the resources provided for in the budget. As the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, it was very important to me that we put extra resources into children's additional educational needs of which we are aware there is a whole spectrum. Some 90% of children with additional needs are in mainstream education. If a child has a more complex need he or she will go into a special class, and if it is more severe again the child would go into a special school.

The Senator will be aware there are 126 special schools in the State that look after nearly 8,000 pupils. In the budgets we increased provision for SNAs by 70% since 2011. We are now at 1,165 special needs assistants, and there are 980 new special education teachers, which will help to create about 140 new special school places. We are putting significant funding into this. The Senator mentioned resources at the outset. There is significant funding overall into special education schools and special education classes, and indeed into mainstream schools. It is very important that we provide a flexible and tailored support for each child so that each child gets the appropriate education he or she deserves from the teachers. Obviously, we always look to see if we can do better than we are already doing.

It is important that the Senator has highlighted this issue to me today. My understanding is that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is engaging quite extensively with the school and with the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, in trying to provide a bespoke and tailored support to the school. I understand that the school already has access to a behavioural practitioner, which is de factothe same as a behavioural therapist. There is availability there. One of the issues that is coming back to me is around staff capacity, which the Senator also mentioned, and making sure that staff have adequate training and advice. The NCSE is working with NEPS to make sure that teachers have appropriate training and appropriate insight for this particular area. The behavioural issues often go unnoticed. We often think about education as just teaching the ABCs and the 123s, but it does not work like that. The behavioural issues can be very problematic and particularly in special schools when there is acute need for such training.

The Senator asked about the distinction between a special class and a special school. There is a huge difference in terms of the supports that special schools receive. There are much more enhanced supports from a staffing level and an SNA level. All of the supports they receive are above and beyond those in a special class.

From my perspective, the most important aspect is that there is ongoing support with NEPS, and ongoing collaboration and engagement. They are in constant contact with the school around sorting this out. They will be on site visiting the school next week for further engagement and further discussion. This is a relatively new school. I have been out to visit and I am aware of the building and the issue there. It is important that the school is supported. The Senator referred to the increase in numbers of children from 30 to 36, which may well increase into the future. Obviously, there are mechanisms and processes in place so we can ensure that adequate supports are given on an ongoing basis. When considering special needs in general, there has been an increase in special classes by 386% since 2011. We went from 584 special classes to 2,118 special classes, which is significant.