Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The policy of my Department is to provide a continuum of education provision to support the education of children with special educational needs. This continuum extends from placement in a mainstream class with the necessary additional teaching and care supports through to placement in a special class or special school depending on the complexity of need.

The Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation aims to provide the necessary additional teaching support for children with special educational needs in mainstream settings.

Since 2017, SET allocations are frontloaded into schools at the commencement of each school year. This removed the need for individual student diagnosis and in that way simplified and streamlined the allocation process. It also facilitates the enrolment of new children during the year. A school is required to deploy the SET allocation so that those students with the greatest needs receive the greatest level of support and guidance has issued to schools in this regard.

SET allocations are determined on the basis of an education profile of each school which takes account of a range of factors including enrolment, number of children with complex needs, student learning achievement and social status of school. The provision of an SET allocation is designed to give a fair allocation to each school.

Where a school’s circumstances change in a material way, a school can request a review of its allocation from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

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.

SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource. The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management of the school. SNAs should be deployed in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school. It should be noted that not every student with a special educational need requires SNA support.

Where a school considers that it requires additional SNA support to meet the needs of its students, it can seek a review from the NCSE.

I understand that the school in question has sought a review of both its SET and SNA allocations. The application for a SET review is currently being considered. The review of the SNA allocation has been concluded and in accordance with the terms of the SNA scheme, no additionality has been granted to the school.