Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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169. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views that there is an inconsistency in his Department's aversion to using school level data on education achievement or outcomes in addition to school level survey data to identify schools in which there is concentrated disadvantage for the purposes of DEIS, but is willing to use the same data to indicate schools' socioeconomic context for the purposes of allocating resource teaching under the new SEN allocation model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20990/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Firstly, I wish to advise the Deputy that there is no inconsistency in my Department's use of school level data on education achievement. The use of school level data, i.e. standardised test results, is not used in the identification of schools for inclusion in the DEIS programme nor is it used to calculate the social context element of the school's profile in terms of the new SEN Allocation Model.

DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. The DEIS Review consultation process noted stakeholder concerns about the use of educational outcomes as a basis for extending DEIS supports to schools, or for reducing such supports.  In particular it was felt that outcomes achieved due directly to the input of specific additional resources and supports should not be used as a means to remove these supports from schools.  It was considered that this would give rise to a perception of penalising success and rewarding failure.

In relation to the new model for allocating Special Educational Needs Teachers to schools, in 2014 the National Council for Special Education Working group Report recommended a new model based on the profiled needs of each school, rather than primarily based on the diagnosed disability of individual children.

It recommended that the allocation of additional teaching supports to schools should be based on a Baseline component provided to every mainstream school to support inclusion, and a school’s educational profile, based on: 

- Students with complex special educational needs.

- Percentages of students performing below a certain threshold on standardised test results

- Social context of school which includes gender and educational disadvantage.

However, it should be noted that these are separate elements of the school profile and that standardised test scores have therefore not been used to calculate the social context component of the school profile under the special education teaching allocation model.

Full details of how the special education teaching profiles have been calculated for schools are set out in my Departments Circulars on the 0013/2017 and 0014/2017.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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170. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that students that commenced primary school in 2016 and that would not have been assessed at the time their school made an application for the new special education resource teaching model have been omitted from consideration for this system in view of the fact that they were not taken into consideration during the decision making process; if he will allow appeals in relation to these students that require access to this new model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20991/17]

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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171. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that students that will commence primary school in 2017 and would not have been assessed at the time their school made an application for the new special education resource teaching model; if he will allow appeals in relation to these students that require access to this new model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20992/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 170 and 171 together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools were published on 7th March 2017.

These Circulars set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools.

The revised allocation process replaces the generalised allocation process at primary and post primary school level for learning support and high incidence special educational needs, and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocation process which provided additional resource teaching supports to schools, to support pupils assessed as having Low Incidence disabilities.

The new Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile.

Allocations based on the school profiles were issued to all schools on 7th March.  Details of the special education teaching allocations have also been published on the NCSE website.

The aim of this new model is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Substantial research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and piloting have gone in to the development of this model and all of 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.

An additional 900 teaching posts have been 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.

The additional funding will provide additional supports to over 1200 schools who are identified as needing additional supports as a result of the new model. Supports for children with special educational needs is a key priority for this Government. The new funding will ensure that all schools receive a sufficient allocation of special education needs resources to provide additional teaching support to all pupils, including pupils who have yet to enrol 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’s 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, or for pupils who have received a new diagnosis, as schools will now receive a single allocation for all of their special education teaching needs, based on their school size and profile.   

The new allocations to schools will include provision to support all pupils in the schools, including where a child receives a diagnosis after the allocation is received by a school, or where there are newly enrolling pupils to the school.

All allocations to schools include a supplementary provision, which has been referred to as the ‘baseline allocation’ which is allocated over and above the profiled allocation.

For students who start school from September 2017, with a specific diagnosis, either in junior infants or transferring from another school, the resources they need will already be in the school under the new model.  

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 NCSE has published details of the appeals process on the NCSE website: www.ncse.ie.

Schools were asked to submit appeals by March 31st 2017. The appeal process will consider whether the data used to calculate their school profile was correct and complete and whether it was correctly applied in the calculation of their 2017/18 allocation.

DES Circulars 0013/2017 and 0014/2017 outline the basis on which the Education Research Centre determined the allocations for all schools.  

The model will 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 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.

Guidelines for schools on the organisation, deployment and use of their special education teachers to address the need of pupils with special educational needs are now published and available on the Departments website.

The Guidelines will support schools to reflect on how they can review and manage their timetabling practices to ensure the timetable is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of all pupils in their school who have special needs. The Guidelines encourage schools to ensure they deploy their resources appropriately to meet the needs of all of the children in their school who require additional teaching support, including pupils with emerging needs, or new entrants.