Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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1021. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in need of an ASD place in Dublin 5, 13 and 17 respectively, who have been unable to secure an appropriate school place for the 2022-2023 academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30198/22]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government.

This year, my Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing a wide range of schemes and supports for children with special educational needs.

This includes additional teaching and care supports.

As a result, the number of special education teachers, special needs assistants and special class and school places are at unprecedented levels.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, my Department and the NCSE have worked closely on a more streamlined and joined up planning process which has ensured a targeted approach to meet demand for special needs placements ahead of each new school-year.

I am satisfied that this more joined up approach is delivering. Through this intensive intervention, we have seen over 300 special classes, providing over 1,800 new places, opened nationwide for the 2021/22 school-year.

I also acknowledge that notwithstanding the extent of this investment, there are some parts of the country where increases in population and other issues have led to concerns regarding a shortage of school places.

NCSE has well established structures in place for engaging with schools and parents and seeks to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all children who have been identified as needing special class placements.

In terms of the area specifically referenced by the Deputy, I can confirm that the NCSE is aware of an identified need for additional special classes for students with autism in primary and post-primary schools in these areas. This is also the case in the broader North Dublin region where work has been underway with stakeholders for a number of years to meet the demand for places.

We are always grateful to those schools that have responded, and continue to respond positively to meet the educational needs of children in their communities.

Currently, there is a network of 33 primary special classes, including 4 Early Intervention classes, and 10 post primary special classes provide specialist placements for students with autism in Dublin 5, 13 and 17. 4 of these classes were newly established for the current school year.

It is of course open to any school to engage with the NCSE to establish a special class.

I want to reassure the Deputy that my Department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of the necessary funding and capital investment to ensure all children are successful in accessing an education.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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1022. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of special educational needs provision for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30204/22]

Josepha 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.

Special Education Teachers provide additional teaching support for students with special educational needs enrolled in mainstream classes in primary and post primary schools.

The SET model is a fairer and more transparent way of allocating teaching resources to schools.

The SET Model represented a significant shift in the way that students with SEN are supported in mainstream classes. Previously, students needing additional teaching support required a diagnosis in order to access support which caused delays in providing the support and also imposed a burden on both schools and parents. The change in policy was welcomed by both schools and parents. The Model is based on the principle that those students with the greatest need receive the most support.

The model encourages schools to support students with SEN in mainstream classes alongside their peers. In fact most students with SEN are enrolled these classes. This approach is also consistent with the EPSEN Act. When the SET model was introduced it was designed to be updated on a regular basis so as to distribute the total available resources across the school system based on profiled need. Because the level of student need may change in a school over time, some schools will gain under this distribution, with these gains balanced by equivalent reductions in schools where the model indicates reduced need. Re-profiling is the means of ensuring that new or increasing need in schools is met by transfer/redistribution of teaching resources from other schools whose need has reduced as shown by the model.

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.

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.

In April 2022, the Department issued updated staffing allocations for the 2022/23 school year to include SET allocations. This ensured that schools were aware of their teaching resources and this allowed them to make the necessary arrangements to ensure that the teaching and learning needs for pupils with SEN can be properly supported. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has also provided guidance and support to schools to assist them in ensuring that the resources being provided are best managed to meet the needs of pupils with SEN. The support includes training and advice from special education professionals within the NCSE as part of the NCSE regional support teams.

The availability of SNAs is critical to the inclusion of students with significant care needs in education and in school life.

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 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.

Schools were notified of the arrangements for the allocation of SNA support in respect of students in mainstream classes for the 2022/2023 school year at the end of May. The arrangements include the following provisions:

- SNA allocations for the 2022/23 school year are being maintained at existing levels to give schools clarity and certainty, a process is now available to schools where their change needs have reduced to contact the NCSE so as to ensure that resources are focused on schools with the greater care needs.

- The exceptional review process can result in an increase or decrease in SNA resources depending on changing care needs in a school. It is also intended to work on a rolling exceptional review pilot with the NCSE over the summer in consultation with our education partners.

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

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.

Schools may apply to the NCSE for additionality where they can demonstrate that the current 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.

The Special Educational Needs provision for 22/23 for the school mentioned above is as follows:

Special Education Teacher Hours 22/23: 125 (increased from 87.5 in 2021/22) increased by 43%

Special Class Teaching Posts 22/23: 2.0

Mainstream SNA Allocation 22/23: 4.33

Special Class SNAs 22/23: 4.50

Total SNA Allocation: 8.83