Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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285. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the two new reports issued on 24 January 2017 and 10 February 2017 to a school in respect of two students with complex needs that both require immediate early intervention will be taken into consideration before his Department issues its new model for access and support in replacement of the learning support and resource hours scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9665/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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On 18 January last, I announced that a new model for allocating Special Education Teaching Resources to mainstream primary and post primary schools will be introduced from September 2017.

The aim of this new model is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Large amounts of research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and piloting have gone in to the development of this model and all the evidence points to the fact that this new system will deliver better outcomes for children.

No school will lose supports as a result of the implementation of the new model. In addition, no school will receive an allocation, for the support of pupils with complex needs, less than the allocation they received to support such pupils during the 2016/17 school year. No allocation made for such pupils by the NCSE will be removed from schools as long as that pupil remains in the school.

I also announced that an additional 900 teaching posts will be provided to support the introduction of this new allocation model. The provision of an additional 900 teaching posts is a very significant investment in the provision of additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs in our schools. This is additional to an increase of 41% in the number of resource teachers allocated to schools annually by the NCSE since 2011, when 5265 teachers were allocated, as opposed to provision for 7542 posts in the current school year.

The additional funding will provide additional supports to over 1000 schools who are identified as needing additional supports as a result of the new model. Supports for children with special educational needs is a huge priority for this Government. We currently spend €1.6 billion, or one fifth of the total education budget, on supports for children with special educational needs.

This additional investment will ensure that all schools receive a sufficient allocation of special education needs resources to provide additional teaching support to all pupils in their school who require such support. 

Under the new allocation model, schools will be provided with a total allocation which includes a baseline allocation for the school and an allocation based on the school profile.

The provision of a profiled allocation will give a fairer allocation for each school which recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but which provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the actual level of need in each school.

Schools will be frontloaded with resources, based on each school's profile, to provide supports immediately to those pupils who need it without delay. This will reduce the administrative burden on schools as schools will no longer have to complete an application process annually and apply for newly enrolled pupils who require resource hours. Children who need support can have that support provided immediately rather than having to wait for a diagnosis.

Schools will therefore no longer have to make applications, for newly enrolled pupils for whom resource teaching hours may have been provided under the old model, as schools will now receive a single allocation for all of their special education teaching needs, based on their school size and profile.  

Accordingly, the NCSE advised schools that there was no longer a requirement for schools to make applications for special education teaching supports for individual pupils with special education teaching needs, as resources would be provided for schools by the profiled allocation.

For the introduction of the new allocation model, from September 2017, the NCSE ‘Low Incidence’ allocations which had been made for each school during the preceding year 2016/17 school year, have been used to establish the complex needs component of the new allocation model for each school.

A model for the identification of pupils with complex needs in future is being devised by the NCSE, in consultation with the Health Service Executive and National Educational Psychological Services (NEPS). This model will take account of the qualification criteria for the selection of children for access to HSE Children Disability Network Teams.

For the next re profiling of the model, the pupils with newly identified Complex Needs will be included in this revised allocation.

It should be noted that this is a brand new model of allocation and is not comparable to the existing model. By using a broad range of attainment and socio-economic criteria it is expected that allocations made to school will be sufficient to meet both current and future needs as they arise until the next review.

Currently most schools' educational profiles remain relatively constant from year to year. Each year, some students with additional teaching needs will leave and others will enrol, broadly balancing the school profile.

The model will provide, from this year, additional resources to schools where it is expected that there will be additional needs. In protecting resources in schools where the profiles indicate that the levels of need are lower than are currently provided for some additional capacity is also provided for in those schools. Accordingly, all schools should have the capacity to meet the needs of additional children enrolling in the school in the following school year without the need for additional or new resources. 

The model will, however, allow for some additional provision for very exceptional circumstances or where a school’s enrolment levels increase very substantially prior to the next review of the model. The Inclusion Support Service, being established under the National Council for Special Education will support schools in managing their special education teaching allocations in the first instance. Only in very exceptional circumstances, where it can be demonstrated that the schools profile has changed very significantly since the allocation was made to the school, may an additional allocation of hours be made to the school.

A new Circular will be issued to schools in the coming weeks which will provide details of how the scheme will operate while details of the allocations for each school will also be provided to schools