Written answers

Wednesday, 3 March 2021

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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423. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of the appeals avenue available to parents in cases in which a school should decide on the reallocation of SNAs in a school; the number of complaints her Department has received on this issue in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11293/21]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Special Needs Assistant (SNA) scheme is designed to provide schools with additional adult support staff who can assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the attendance of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports and my Department is not involved.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource.

The deployment of an SNA within a school is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school.

SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated.

Under the Education Act 1998 the school Board of Management (BOM) is the body charged with the direct governance of a school, and it is the BOM which employs the staff at the school.

Where a parent has concerns about the level of SNA support for their child, these should be addressed to the individual teacher or school Principal as appropriate. If matters cannot be resolved at that level then a complaint can be addressed to the school's Board of Management. A school may have a formal complaints process in which case this should be followed in pursuing any complaint.

The Department encourages parents and school authorities to engage locally regarding pupils' education. Parents who have concerns regarding the manner in which the resources or supports allocated to a school are being utilised, should in the first instance, raise this matter directly with their school Principal or the Board of Management of the school.

The NCSE offers support for parents through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENO). All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.

Schools were notified of the arrangements for the allocation of SNA support in respect of students in mainstream classes for the current school year. The arrangements include the following provisions:

- 2019/20 mainstream class SNA allocations were frozen, from the date of issue of Circular 0030/2020, and have automatically rolled over into the current school year. This means that no school will receive an allocation less than that which they have on the date of issue of this Circular and existing SNAs currently in standard SNA posts were allowed to continue in these posts for the current school year in the normal way.

- A diagnosis of a disability, or a psychological or other professional report, is not necessary for this process.

- The role of the SNA to support the care needs of students in mainstream classes, as set out in Circular 0030/2014, remains unchanged.

It is expected that schools will review and reprioritise the deployment of SNAs within mainstream settings and allocate resources to ensure those with the greatest level of need receive the greatest level of support. Providing access to SNA support continues to be based on primary care needs as outlined in DES Circular 0030/2014.

Schools may apply to the NCSE for additionality where they can demonstrate that the current SNA allocation does not meet additional care needs within the mainstream classes in the school. Applications for additionality arising from significant new or emerging additional care needs, which cannot be catered within existing allocations, are dealt with by way of the exceptional review process.

This arrangements do not impact on the way SNAs are allocated to special classes and special schools. Professional assessments will continue to be required in these cases and the normal application process will continue.

The exceptional review process for mainstream allocations is available to schools throughout the current school year.

Detailed information on the NCSE exceptional review process is published on the NCSE website .

I have arranged for the reply to be passed to the NCSE for the provision of data on the number of appeals received from schools on their SNA allocations.

A school can appeal the outcome of an exceptional review and details of how to do this are here

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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424. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that have changed the number of SNAs by county; if the reason and reports are sent to her Department on the matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11294/21]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The provision of education for children with special needs is an ongoing priority for Government.

The numbers of special classes, special education teachers and Special Needs Assistants are at unprecedented levels.

My Department will spend approximately €2 Billion, or over 20% of its total educational budget on making additional provision for children with special educational needs in 2021.

This represents an increase of over 50% in total expenditure since 2011, at which point €1.247 Billion per annum was provided.

Following Budget 2021, it is expected that a total of 18,000 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts will have been allocated to primary, post primary and special schools by the end of this year..

This will represent an increase of increase of 70% in the number of SNAs provided since 2011 at which point 10,575 SNAs were available.

The NCSE has responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews. The Department does not have a role in making individual school determinations.

The NCSE publishes statistics on SNA allocations to primary, post primary and special schools in tabular form, by county, for each school year, this information is available on their website, www.ncse.ie.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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425. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when resource classes for visually impaired children will resume; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11295/21]

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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426. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of visually impaired children attending resource classes by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11296/21]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 425 and 426 together.

Phase 2 of schools reopening has seen all Primary and Post-Primary Special Classes reopened on Monday 22nd February with pupils expected to attend these classes on a full-time basis.

Special classes at primary and post-primary level are supported in their return by the enhanced school teams put in place by the HSE and my Department. Updated guidance and information on the supports for schools has also been made available in advance of the return.

Recognising that remote learning has been particularly challenging for some students with complex needs, my Department has also put in place a supplementary programme to support the education and/or care needs of students with complex needs at primary and post-primary level.

Eligibility for the programme comprises:

- All pupils enrolled in special schools and special classes in primary and post-primary schools

- Pupils in mainstream primary and post-primary schools who are accessing the highest levels of support in school at the School Support Plus/Support for a Few stage of the Continuum of Support. This includes pupils with Autism, Down syndrome, sensory impairments, and other disabilities, as well as pupils who were identified for the Summer Provision Programmes of 2020.

- Schools have flexibility to identify pupils that require the highest level of support at any given time. This will ensure that pupils presenting with exceptional needs due to school closures can participate in the scheme.

This programme of in-person support is intended to supplement the teaching and learning provided by the student’s school and alleviate the impact of this period of school closure through the provision of 5 hours per week in-person teaching or care support to be delivered in homes.

An allocation of five hours per week of home-based teaching or care supports is available to eligible students for four weeks.

The support programme must be delivered outside of the normal school day (i.e. evenings and weekends), so that the student can continue to engage as fully as possible with the teaching and learning provided by their school.

Any unused hours can be delivered to families at any time before 30 April 2021, including during the Easter holidays.

I have arranged for the Deputy's query regarding the number of visually impaired children attending special classes by county to be referred to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) for direct reply.

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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428. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has considered bringing in children with special educational needs into mainstream settings ahead of the main cohort of students returning to school at eight years of age and upwards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11310/21]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I know that a phased re-opening is particularly challenging for many children with special educational needs who have not yet returned to school and their families.

The purpose of this cautious phased return is to continue to limit the mobility of the population and curb the spread of the virus.

These further phases have been developed in close collaboration with education stakeholders and follow ongoing engagement with the Department of Health and Public Health, HSE.

There will be a period of time between each phase to assess the impact of reopening on aspects of community transmission. It is not possible for other children to return to in-school provision during this period.

My Department is anxious to support those pupils/students with SEN who are unable to return to in-school teaching and learning under these phases.

At Primary level in recognition that not all primary pupils with special education needs will be back in school in this phase:

- Schools have been asked to prioritise deployment of their SET resources to facilitate the engagement of those pupils with SEN who are in 3rd to 6th class. This will necessitate further collaboration between the SETs and class teachers to establish current priority learning needs among those pupils.

- The supplementary programme for eligible pupils who are in 3rd to 6th class will be extended by a further two weeks (an additional 10 hours for a total allocation of 30 hours).

At Post Primary level in recognition that not all students with special education needs will be back in school in this phase:

- The supplementary programme for eligible students who have not yet returned to school will be extended by a further two weeks (an additional 10 hours, for a total allocation of 30 hours).

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