John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to address the inadequate number of special education teachers in schools; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that some schools are operating with at least twice the number of students per special education teacher than is recommended (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39907/20]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to supporting every child with special educational needs to receive an education. Next year we will spend approximately €2 Billion, or over 20% of the total educational budget, on making additional provision for special educational needs.

The manner in which special education teachers are allocated to schools is based on the profiled needs of schools. The profile takes account of enrolments, number of children with complex needs, gender profile, results of standardised tests and an allocation which takes account of disadvantage.

There are currently three special education teachers allocated to the school referred to by the Deputy, which provide additional teaching support for pupils who have special educational, or additional learning needs, in mainstream classes in the school.

The school has two additional special class teachers, allocated to two special classes for children with Autism, bringing the total number of additional special education teachers in the school to five.

In total, there are therefore over 16 additional staff including 11 SNAS providing support for pupils with special educational needs in this school.

The level of additional resourcing in this school is therefore very significant.

I understand that this school has made an application to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) for a review of their mainstream special education teacher allocation.

The NCSE is in the process of carrying out this review and will notify the school of the outcome in the near future.My Department has no role in the process.