Written answers

Wednesday, 14 July 2021

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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207. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the disparity in the allocation of special education teacher hours in a school (details supplied); if her Department will review the allocation in order for the school to meet the low and high incidence needs of its pupils; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38425/21]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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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.

Under the allocation model, schools have been provided with a total allocation for special education needs support based on their school profile.

The provision of a profiled allocation is designed to give a fair allocation for each school which recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but which provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the level of need in each school.

Schools are frontloaded with resources, based on each school’s profile. The allocations to schools include provision to support all pupils in the schools, including where a child receives a diagnosis after the allocation is received by a school, or where there are newly enrolling pupils to the school.

There are now over 13,600 Special Education Teachers allocated to mainstream primary and post primary schools.

This represents an increase of 40% in the total number of special education teachers allocated to schools since 2011, at which time 9740 teachers were allocated.

The allocations are based on the profiled needs of schools, and are designed to be updated, based on new school profile data, every 2-3 years.

For the coming school year, in order to minimise disruption and upheaval for schools as much as possible in light of Covid-19, and to provide for continuity of allocations, the existing Special Education Teacher Allocations for schools will be maintained for the 2021/22 school year, with re-profiled allocations now due to be made from September 2022.

This means that schools will not have to engage in an extensive redeployment of posts, or re-clustering, this year.

It also means that schools will have greater levels of certainty as to the staff that they will have in place for September.

It is therefore important to note that no school will see a cut, or reduction, to their special education teaching support next year.

Both the Department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) are committed to ensuring that all schools are treated equally and fairly in the manner in which their school profiles have been calculated.

Accordingly, a number of review processes have been put in place to support schools.

A process is in place to address circumstances where the school profile significantly changed following the allocation process e.g. a developing school where the net enrolment numbers significantly increased.

The criteria for qualification for mainstream school developing school posts are set out in the Primary and Post Primary School Staffing Schedule for the 2021/22 school year.

Schools who qualify for additional mainstream developing school posts in accordance with these criteria also qualify for additional Special Education Teaching Allocations to take account of this developing status.

It is also acknowledged that there are some circumstances, which may arise in schools, which fall outside the allocations for developing school status.

These relate to exceptional or emergency circumstances which could not have been anticipated e.g. where the school profile changes very significantly, or where other exceptional circumstances have arisen in a school and which may require a review of schools capacity to provide additional teaching support for all pupils who need it in the school, or of their utilisation of their allocations.

A process is available where schools can seek a review of their allocations by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), including the utilisation of their allocations, in circumstances where a school considers that very exceptional circumstances have arisen subsequent to the development of the profile.

If the school wishes to make an exceptional needs review appeal, they may do so at the following link: ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Primary-Schools-Review-Application-2020.doc

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