Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That Seanad Éireann:" and substitute the following: "notes that:

- a child’s right to education is enshrined in the Constitution and, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live; and

- the Government is committed to ensuring that each child with a special educational need has an appropriate school place, in line with their constitutional right and Programme for Government commitments;

further notes:

- the continued significant State investment of €2.9 billion in supporting the provision of special education, a 48 per cent increase since 2020;

- the increase in the allocation of special education teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) to support children with special educational needs in our schools;

- the strategic initiatives introduced to provide for the continued accelerated delivery of special class places in mainstream schools and special school places with the number of special classes having doubled over the last 5 years and 16 new special schools being established;

- the work being progressed to provide up to another 400 new special classes and 300 additional special school places for the coming school year to ensure that every child known to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has an appropriate school place;

- the fact that the NCSE has confirmed that 336 of these new special classes are now sanctioned for the coming school year and that significant progress is being made in relation to the establishment of 5 new special schools and the expansion of provision in other special schools;

- the significant investment in the expansion of staffing at the NCSE to assist families of children with special educational needs in all aspects of their educational journey, including accessing a placement appropriate to their needs;

- the ongoing engagement between the NCSE, the Department of Education, school patron bodies, school management bodies and schools in relation to the forward planning of special education provision, which has yielded additional classes in every county at primary and post-primary levels in recent years;

- the enactment of priority legislation in 2022 which provides a power to compel schools to make additional provision for children with special educational needs and for the NCSE to direct schools to admit children with special educational needs;

- the establishment of the D15 Taskforce to support forward planning for special education provision in the area and to support the trial of a common application system for special classes;

- the recent publication of a circular letter by the Department setting out new guidelines for schools in relation to supporting the transition of students with special education needs, the review of special education placements and the removal of the need for parents to seek updated professional reports where a student is transitioning from a primary special class to a post-primary special class of the same designation;

- the introduction of a new pilot project in conjunction with the HSE, to reinstate therapy services onsite in special schools and the commitment in the Programme for Government to provide for an education-led therapy service for special schools;

- the funding provided for the training and upskilling of teachers and SNAs who support children with special education needs;

- the request by the Minister to the Teaching Council to include a mandatory assessed placement period in a special class or a special school setting in all initial teaching education programmes;

- the extensive review by the Department of Education of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 is nearing completion;

- the establishment of a new SNA Workforce Development Unit by the Department of Education; and

- the renewed focus of the Government on the area of disability services with a particular focus on improving the delivery of services for children with disabilities;

calls on the Government to:

- take any necessary steps to ensure that every child with special education needs who needs an appropriate school place has access to one in a timely manner;

- continue to expand the number of special school places, special classes and special education teaching hours as required across the State;

- improve communication and outreach to parents of children with special educational needs to streamline the process by which parents apply for specialist school places, reducing the burden on them and improving the timelines, including the introduction of a common application procedure;

- continue to increase investment into the area of special education to ensure that every child can reach their full potential;

- support additional schools and students to benefit from the Summer Programme;

- ensure that the NCSE will continue to engage intensively with parents and all educational partners to continue to increase capacity."

The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. He has hit the ground running. Since he came into office, we heard the announcement of 336 special school places, which is very welcome. It is also important to recognise that the Minister of State is not alone in his role. When we look at a child and put that child at the centre, there are educational, respite and therapeutic intervention needs. There has to be cross-government and cross-departmental support and collective working when we look at educational needs for children because, at all times, parents need all those vital supports. Respite is also a huge part of that when it comes to special education.

I have seen investment going into special education since 2020. It has been phenomenal to see a 48% increase in that investment. At the same time, there is no doubt that the building unit is struggling to keep pace with the requirement. There are peaks and troughs in this. Many of the peaks and troughs that add to this relate to the delays around assessments of need. There is no denying that whatsoever. It is very hard for school planning to take place. I welcome the new register that the NCSE brought out last September, whereby it is getting a wider lens of understanding of what the need is. One SENO cannot be across it all, but the most recent budget investment to increase the number of SENOs from 65 to 120, which means they can get to know the child better and get to know the family's needs, has been phenomenal. Work has also gone on in respect of the Dublin 15 task force, where we are working on a document to understand how families do not have to encounter countless applications from school to school. To see pressure put on that under the Minister of State's tenure, and to see it stood up and spread throughout the country, would remove much of the frustration and, at the same time, ensure that parents would have a one stop shop of knowing where they can be supported.

There is no doubt that the building unit is a frustration, but there is a need to understand that if a school is to be offered a modular unit, that school should be welcomed and taken on board. I know that a new ASD class was offered to Portumna Community School. There were no reservations about it. The raft concrete foundation went down, the room was built and it was opened instantly. From dealing with many boards of management, there is a reluctance when that bricks and mortar is not being offered. They feel that they are in something like the old prefabs of yesteryear. In fact, there are new methods of modern construction. We need to do a little work in reassuring principals, boards of management and parents' associations that modern methods of construction are really good. That classroom comes with a sensory room, is well kitted out and comes with large capacity. I understand the reluctance but there is a way to go when it comes to modern methods of construction.

The Minister, Deputy McEntee, said this week that there will be assessed placements for teachers in special classes and special schools. That is very welcome because there is no doubt teachers need to have that training module. You do not send occupational therapists to disability and mental health and not also send them into acute or primary care. It is the same way with education. Teachers need to have a good grounding when it comes to the whole-school population they will be supporting in order that they will all have the basic skill set required.

In my research for the debate on this motion - and I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about special education - I looked at the matter of the mild general learning disability class, which was decommissioned in 2013. Will the Minister of State consider looking at the mild general learning disability class that was decommissioned? The ratio for it was 1:11, which meant that children with mild learning disability needs were supported while in mainstream, but they also had the opportunity to integrate in and out of it. Sometimes, when children move to secondary school level, they find the step up too great. They should have that safe space where they could go in and out of it, while at the same time getting the educational supports they need.

The programme for Government is very strong on therapeutic interventions in special schools and the hub-and-spoke model of supporting classes. I would like to know how many therapists have gone into our special schools. In the upcoming budgetary cycle, does the Minister of State plan on ensuring that we go from 39 to 150 therapists within the NCSE to provide the clinical governance that is required?Clinical governance to ensure that the assistant therapists can be taken on board and supported, be it in mainstream or in special education, would be a game changer.