Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the engagement he has had on the policy of progressing disability services; and if he has contacted other Ministers regarding the policy. [16172/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Progressing disability services, and ensuring that people with disabilities can participate in further and higher education, is an important priority of my Department.

In terms of access to higher education, the National Access Plan (NAP) has set targets to increase participation in higher education by people with disabilities. Specific targets have been set to increase participation in higher education by students with physical or sensory disabilities. It is expected that the measures that have been implemented through the Plan, including the Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) will assist in the realisation of this target. 

A progress review of the NAP, published in 2018, shows that the most considerable progress toward realising the targets of the NAP has been achieved amongst the disabilities target group.  The target of 8% that was set for the lifetime of the Plan has been exceeded by the Progress Review stage with a new target of 12% set for 2021.  Current data shows the percentage of full-time new entrants in higher education with a disability is 12.3% in 2019/2020.

The Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD) provides funding to further and higher education institutions to assist them in offering supports and services to eligible students with disabilities so that they can access, fully participate in and successfully complete their chosen course of study.  Funding can be used to provide supports and accommodations for assistive technology, equipment and software, non-medical helpers, academic or learning support, deaf supports and transport.  In 2019/20 academic year a total of 14,358 students received supports eligible for funding under the FSD. This represents an increase of 8.7% compared to the previous year. 987 of these were postgraduate students and 463 were part-time.

I recently approved a number of initiatives under the FSD aimed at supporting students with disabilities to access and engage with higher education. The initiatives, which involve 23 higher education institutions (HEI) and €5.4m in expenditure, are broad and are aimed at improving access to higher education for people with a disability, to improving college campuses and to assist staff with training and development. Among the projects are a number of projects for students with autism including the establishment of autism friendly rooms across nine different campuses, the development of assistive technology including for students with disabilities, an app to help students with visual or hearing impairment navigate their way around campus and specialist assistance for students who are deaf.

In 2020 approximately €42 million within the core funding allocated to HEIs was in recognition of the additional costs of recruiting and retaining students from National Access Plan target groups, including students with disabilities. This enables all HEIs to have an access infrastructure, including disability support services, in place that provides for the pre-entry and post-entry work required to support students from target groups access and successfully complete higher education.

In terms of access to further education and training, the Deputy may be aware that fostering Inclusion is one of the three core pillars around which the Further Education and Training (FET) Strategy 2020-2024 is built. The FET sector is committed to increasing levels of inclusion through the provision of high quality, more accessible and flexible education and training programmes and supports suited to the identified needs of individuals, including for learners with a disability. The FET system aims to ensure that systemic and structural barriers within FET to learner participation and success are proactively addressed so that each learner can access the available learning opportunities and be enabled to fulfil their potential within FET.

In line with SDG4 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, FET has applied Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Here inclusive systems fulfil every learner's potential by learning from the same flexible curriculum, facilitating formative assessment, providing all necessary accommodations to remove obstacles to learning and providing where required one-to-one supports and assistive technologies to support differentiated learning.

I have engaged with Government colleagues, including the Minister for State for Disability, on this important work.