Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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311. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the actions needed to fully implement the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 (details supplied); and the associated cost of each action, in tabular form. [54411/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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A number of sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 have been commenced, including those establishing the National Council for Special Education and those promoting an inclusive approach to the education of children.

The Sections of the EPSEN Act which have not been implemented are those which would have conferred a statutory entitlement to –

- an educational assessment for all children with special educational needs.

- consequent development of a statutory individual educational plan (IEP).

- the delivery of detailed educational services on foot of this plan.

- an independent appeals process.

Legal advice provided to my Department indicates that the EPSEN Act, as it is currently constituted, may not be implemented on a phased, or age cohort, basis.

The NCSE estimated, in an implementation Plan in 2006, that additional investment over a period of years of up to €235m per annum, across the education and health sectors, would be required to fully implement the EPSEN Act. My Department's opinion is that the level of investment required could be significantly greater than that envisaged in the NCSE report. However, a total estimate of this amount has not been quantified.

Revised estimates of the amount of additional expenditure required to fully implement the remaining sections of the EPSEN Act have not recently been conducted. The level of additional expenditure required would have to take into account annual demographic growth and service developments in the area of special educational needs, pricing adjustments and salary cost differentials on an ongoing basis. Estimates would also have to be made as to the number of pupils who might currently qualify for the statutory service provisions envisaged by the EPSEN Act.

Under the Programme for a Partnership Government I have committed to consulting with stakeholders on how best to progress aspects of the Act on a non-statutory basis.

At present, all schools are encouraged to use Education Plans. My Department's Inspectorate's advice is that the majority of schools are now using some form of individual education planning for children with special needs. In line with Circular 30/2014, schools are also required to put in place Personal Pupil Plan including a care plan for all pupils availing of SNA support.

Guidelines for schools on educational planning and monitoring of outcomes and the manner in which they should conduct educational planning, through the Student Support File, are contained in the Guidelines for Schools: Supporting Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools, available at www.education.ie/en/The-Education-System/Special-Education/Guidelines-for-Primary-Schools-Supporting-Pupils-with-Special-Educational-Needs-in-Mainstream-Schools.pdf.

Educational planning is an essential element of a whole-school approach to meeting pupils’ needs. Educational plans should be differentiated in line with a pupil's needs. A pupil's support plan should include clear, measurable learning targets, and specify the resources and interventions that will be used to address student needs in line with the Continuum of Support process. Individualised support plans for pupils should be developed through a collaborative process involving relevant teachers, parents/guardians, the pupils themselves and outside professionals, as necessary. The individualised planning process should include regular reviews of learning targets as part of an ongoing cycle of assessment, target setting, intervention and review.

Providing power to the National Council for Special Education, as envisaged under Section 10 of the EPSEN Act, to designate a school place for a person with special educational needs, is currently being considered in the context of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016.

While awaiting the full implementation of the EPSEN Act, the NCSE has published a number of policy advice papers which make recommendations aimed at developing a better or more effective alternative to the current resource allocation model, and which aims to move the system towards ultimate implementation of the EPSEN Act.

These reports include the NCSE policy advice on Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Schools, published in 2013, and the Report of the Working Group on a Proposed New Model for Allocating Teaching Resources for pupils with Special Educational Needs, published in 2014.

This new model for allocating support to pupils with special educational needs has been implemented from September 2017. Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and Circular 0014/2017 for post primary schools which were published on 7th March 2017 sets out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools. The revised allocation model 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 Guidelines for Schools: Supporting Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools also provides guidance on the organisation, deployment and use of their special education teachers. One of the benefits of this new approach is that schools will have greater flexibility as to how they will deploy their resources.

The NCSE is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the SNA scheme, in consultation with other relevant Departments and State Agencies, including the National Disability Authority (NDA), to identify the most appropriate form of support options to provide better outcomes for students with Special Educational Needs, having regard to the significant amount of State investment in this area.

In response to a progress report from the NCSE on the comprehensive assessment, the NCSE were requested to establish a working group, comprising relevant stakeholders, to assist in proposing a better model for providing care supports so as to provide better outcomes for students with special educational needs who have additional care needs. This Working Group has commenced its work and the work will run in tandem with the completion of the overall Comprehensive Assessment of the SNA Scheme.

It is intended that the reports of the Working Group and of the Review will be completed in Spring 2018.

It is therefore intended to bring into effect many of the good ideas contained in the EPSEN Act, on a non-statutory basis initially, through policy developments across a range of areas, in conjunction with NCSE policy advice.