Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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40. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the method used to decide the allocation of special education teachers for a school (details supplied) in the context of a current school population of 330 rather than the earlier 171 and the high number of children with special and additional needs, including 12 children with complex needs in the ASD evergreen unit classes; if she will make a recommendation to the NCSE to review the number of special education teachers allocated to the school and to consider the request from parents for a minimum allocation of six special education teachers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39981/20]

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 this process.