Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) play a huge role in helping to ensure the inclusion of pupils with significant care needs in education and in school life.  This was acknowledged in the Comprehensive Review of the Special Needs Assistant Scheme (SNAs) published by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in 2018. 

The Review made a number of recommendations regarding SNAs and the need for a more broadly based set of supports including therapeutic supports for pupils with complex needs.  The Review also referenced the training needs of SNAs.  In this regard, the NCSE recommended that a new national training programme at Level 5 of the National Qualification Framework be developed for existing SNAs who do not have the requisite level of training and for new SNAs on appointment.  The NCSE also recommended that training tailored to the specific complex needs of some students being cared for by SNAs would also be provided.

The policy advice has been considered by the Department. It was decided that priority should be given to the development of a training programme for SNAs who may not have had a recent opportunity to access a training programme tailored to their role.

A public procurement competition was held for the development and delivery of a new national training programme for SNAs. A detailed specification of need and learning outcomes was developed and published for the competition. Formal accreditation to the National Qualifications Framework was not a requirement for the programme. Following evaluation of the tenders received, the contract was awarded to University College Dublin (UCD) School of Education, in conjunction with UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems. 

UCD has a strong reputation in the world of education and training.  It brings with it a wealth of experience and research knowledge in the training and has very strong quality assurance arrangements for its programmes.  Feedback from programme participants is a key feature of this quality assurance process.

This new programme aims to enhance the knowledge, skills and expertise of SNAs whose work is central to the inclusion of students with additional care and complex needs in school life.

The programme consists of five modules, delivered online over a 10-month period. Flexibility is a key part of the approach to the delivery of the programme and participation is voluntary.

The programme is fully funded by the Department and delivered at no cost to the SNA.

Completion of the programme may serve as a stepping stone to further education opportunities in the area.

Each participant who completes the programme successfully will receive a certificate from UCD School of Education which may be of assistance in pursuing further education. 

€2.45m will be allocated to this programme over the next 4 year period based on a full uptake of 3,500 SNAs. The first cohort of 500 SNAs enrolled in January and this phase was oversubscribed. 

This is the first national training programme for SNAs employed in our schools and is tailored to their needs.  The programme will be evaluated and the outcome will inform the approach to the training of SNAs in the future. There is no cost to serving SNAs working in schools. This course is fully funded by the Department of Education.

The Department recognises that a more strategic approach is required for the training of SNAs.  This would deal with a number of matters including the identification of need and the provision of appropriate training programmes.  The issue of programme accreditation will be considered further in this context.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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389. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in the primary school system who have been diagnosed as dyslexic; the number of children in the primary school system in respect of whom a recommendation for attendance at a reading unit has been made by an educational psychologist; the way in which her Department collects data on dyslexia in the primary school system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33429/21]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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390. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in the secondary school system who have been diagnosed as dyslexic; the way in which her Department collects data on dyslexia in the secondary school system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33430/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 389 and 390 together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that Special Education teachers support the mainstream class teacher by providing additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs, or additional learning needs, in schools.

DES Circular 007/2019 for primary schools and 008/2019 for post primary schools set out the details of the model for allocating special education teachers to schools.

The Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile. This model has replaced the previous model of allocating resource teaching support and learning support to schools.

The Special Education Teacher allocation, allows schools to provide additional teaching support for all pupils who require such support in their schools and for schools to deploy resources based on each pupil’s individual learning needs.

It gives greater flexibility to schools as to how they can deploy their resources, to take account of the actual learning needs pupils have, as opposed to being guided by a particular diagnosis of disability, and schools are guided as to how they should make such allocation decisions.

The school will take account of learning needs of children as evidenced by performance in schools but also supported where relevant by information provided regarding the nature of a condition that a pupil may have.

The Department of Education and Skills has published guidelines for schools as to how they should utilise and deploy their resources under the new allocation model, which are available at www.education.ie.

The guidelines support schools in how they identify pupils for additional teaching support and decide how much support to provide for pupils who need it.

Under the special education teacher allocation model schools are frontloaded with resources, based on each schools profile, to provide supports immediately to those pupils who need it without delay.

Children who need support can have that support provided immediately rather than having to wait for a diagnosis.

Children do not have to be labelled with a particular condition to qualify for extra teaching assistance.

The model gives greater freedom to schools to give extra teaching help to the pupils who most need it, regardless of their diagnosis.

Schools also do not have to give a set amount of time to pupils based on their disability category. They can give the most assistance to the pupils who need the support most and allocate resources based on needs.

Children who have additional learning needs in school, including those children who have additional learning needs associated with attainment in literacy, can receive additional teaching support in schools, regardless of wheter the child has a diagnosis of dyslexia or not.

As decision on the allocation of additional teaching support is made locally by schools, based on learning need as opposed to being based on a diagnosis of dyslexia, my Department does not have details of the number of pupils in primary or post primary schools who have been diagnosed as having dyslexia or who have been recommended to receive additional support by an educational psychologist. No reading classes have been established following the introduction of the new special education teacher allocation model.