Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address concerns of school principals that they have not been provided with enough information on the way the allocations of resource and learning support teaching will be allocated for the 2017-18 school term; and if he will further address concerns that schools that experience a rise in identified special needs in 2017 and 2018 will have to consequently reduce current pupils' contact time in order that new special needs pupils can be supported. [10485/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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On 18th 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.

Over the course of the development of the new allocation model there have been extensive consultations with education partners at all stages, including in the development and implementation of the Pilot of the model.

The consultations included the Irish Primary Principals Network, the National Association of Principals and deputy Principals (post Primary), Management Bodies and Teacher representative bodies from the primary and post primary school sector. I can confirm that the principals' views have been fully accounted for in the development of the new model, the new circular which will accompany the new model, and the guidance material which will be provided to schools.

One primary and one post primary school principal also participated in the work of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) Working Group which recommended the introduction of the new model for allocating additional support teachers to schools.

A pilot of the new allocation model was conducted over the course of the 2015/16 school year and education partners, including Principals were were consulted regarding the development and review of the pilot.

Officials from my Department, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and the National Educational Psychological Services also recently made additional presentations on the new allocation model to the Irish Primary Principals Network, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, and the Directors of the Education and Training Institutes, in January and February of this year.   

A series of information days on the new model are also being arranged regionally, to which all school principals will be invited.

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.

Schools will also be provided with guidance on how to manage their resources to ensure that all pupils who have additional learning needs can be provided with support.  

Education partners and school principals have also been consulted on the development of this Circular and guidance for schools. 

Schools will also be able to discuss how the new model operates with their NCSE Special Educational Needs Officer.

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 €1.6billion, or one fifth of the total education budget, on supports for children with special educational needs.

This 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 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 and pupils in each school.

Schools will be frontloaded with resources, based on each schools 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 school will now receive a single allocation for all of their special education teaching needs, based on their school size and profile.  This includes provision for pupils newly enrolling to the school or pupils who may transfer from another school.

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 generally, a school’s profile will 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. Resources allocated under this model will not normally be adjusted between allocations.

The model will, however, allow for some additional provision for exceptional circumstances or where a school’s enrolment levels increase very substantially prior to the next review of the model. The Inclusion Support Service, 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.