Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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375. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the main initiatives that she has taken to improve the quality of special needs education since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; her plans for 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62205/22]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise the following.

Since the formation of this government, there has been significant achievements and developments from a policy and resource perspective in improving the provision of special education. This has been achieved during the period of Covid-19 and the associated difficulties as well as a rapidly developing need for specialist places in our special classes and schools. Enabling children with special educational needs (SEN) to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for this Government and the department continue developing proactive measures to ensure every child can access a placement appropriate to their needs.

In 2020 the Department provided €1.87 Billion or over 18% of the Department’s budget and in 2022, the Department provided in excess of €2.3 Billion, which was almost 26% of the Department’s budget.

For 2023, this spend will be substantially increased, by over 10%, meaning that the Department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education. This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department’s total allocation for 2023. This includes funding to support children and young people with SEN in mainstream classes, funding for new special classes, funding for new special school places, and of course all of this requires additional special educational teachers and special needs assistants.

Over the last number of years, the Department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) have sanctioned over 600 new special classes at primary level, almost 300 new special classes sanctioned at post-primary level and five new special schools have been established. Since June 2020, this department has funded 2,069 new teachers and 3,349 new SNAs who are dedicated to the education of children with special needs. Following the provisions in Budget 2023, for the first time, there will be over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and over 20,000 special needs assistants. There will be a significant investment in the expansion of the NCSE by over 50% to ensure it can respond effectively, compassionately and quickly to the increased need in our education system. There has been an expanded summer programme, which has allowed for every school to run a programme to help those children with special needs and from disadvantaged background, and a supplementary programme has been introduced which helped 14,000 children to get additional tuition when schools where closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Funding for the Assistive Technology scheme increased by almost 60% to allow for those with special educational needs to gain the maximum benefit from a modern technologically focused education system.

In December of last year the Department announced a review of the EPSEN Act 2004 in order to ensure that legislation on education for students with special needs is up-to-date, fully operational, and reflective of the lived experiences of students and families.

Also in March of this year the department introduced new Autism guidance for schools designed to help support the wellbeing, learning and participation of children and young people with autism in education. It aims to assist school staff to understand the varied nature of students’ strengths and needs, as well as to identify whole-school and individualised approaches to supports for students.

To enable more special classes to be opened where they are needed and to provide for a truncated and more streamlined Section 37A process the new Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022 was brought in this summer over a period of 6 weeks.

Accreditation has just been announced for the new National Training Programme for SNAs. This is the first dedicated national training programme for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). It is being delivered by UCD and funded by the Department of Education at no cost to the SNA.

Budget 2023 also provided further investment in special education which will include: additional funding for the National Council for Special Education to enable it to provide additional support to students with special educational needs and their families. This commitment will be €13 million investment in a full year. And an additional investment of €2 million will made in the assistive technology in education scheme, to meet the needs of students availing of this scheme. The National Educational Psychological Service will receive funding for an additional 54 psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes.