Written answers

Thursday, 9 March 2023

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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263. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will centralise the school place application model for students with additional needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12168/23]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha 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:

Enabling children with special educational needs (SEN) to receive an education appropriate to meet their needs is a priority for this Government.

It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, for my Department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

For 2023, the spend by my Department on special education will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6 billion providing supports to children and young people with special educational needs and their schools.

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 with SEN in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers and special needs assistants.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs nationwide. Decisions on the admission of children to school, including children with additional needs, is a matter for each school in accordance with their published Admission Policy.

Last summer, a new piece of legislation, the Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022 was enacted. The new legislation places additional duties on schools, patrons and boards of management to co-operate with the NCSE in relation to making additional provision for children with special educational needs. This is aimed at ensuring that all schools take a child centred approach and are open to accommodating children with special educational needed.

The new legislation also provides for a potential additional function for the NCSE to manage and co-ordinate admission to school for children with special educational needs in co-operation with parents and schools where necessary.

This new function could be used to support parents and schools in a specific location where there is a high demand for special class places. The NCSE could engage with schools and parents to agree a process for managing the admission process.

The new function could potentially reduce the need for schools to have to consider a large number of applications for a small number of available special class places and it could assist parents who presently may apply to a large number of schools seeking a special class place for a child with special educational needs.

However, the implementation of this new function will take time and could involve the NCSE establishing an advisory committee to review applications and support a number of schools to work together through the admission process for their special class or classes. The matter remains under review at present.

Additionally, in December 2021, I announced a review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act, 2004, which provides for the education of children aged under 18 years with SEN.

A number of steps have been taken by my Department in relation to this important review of legislation. Establishment of a Steering Group, Working Group and Advisory Group have been completed and all the groups have had multiple engagements.

An online public consultation phase was launched by my Department on the 30th November 2022. As of 7thMarch, over 18,000 replies have been received. The survey remains open until the 24thof March 2023. Focus groups will be organised at the conclusion of the public survey to explore key themes that arise as a result of the survey analysis. The review is due to be completed by Q3 2023.

The purpose of the review is to provide assurance that the law that governs the provision of education for children with special educational needs is adequate. This is important, in order to protect the interests of the children concerned and their families, and to ensure that the State can make plans to provide appropriate education for children with special educational needs.

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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264. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she plans to expand the summer school programme for students with additional needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12169/23]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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My Department announced the 2023 Summer Programme on the 9th February 2023. This follows the previous announcement on 17th October 2022 that additional funding was secured in Budget 2023 to run the programme to match the investment in 2021 and 2022, bringing the total funding available to €40m.

The terms for the 2023 programme are being implemented following a comprehensive review and engagement with education partners and stakeholders since last summer, including the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism.

Once again, all schools will have an opportunity to run a programme for those children that need it the most. This year’s programme will build on the progress that has been made over the last number of years, which has seen participation of children grow from 13,000 in 2019 to over 42,000 in 2022.

The central theme for this year’s programme is, ‘Building Confidence and Connections’. The primary aim of this theme is to help our children and young people to realise their potential, to be resilient in dealing with the normal stresses of their lives, to take care of their physical wellbeing and to have a sense of purpose, connection and belonging to their school community.

The main priority in 2023 is that those children with the most complex special educational needs, especially in special schools, should have access to a school-based summer programme. The Department has engaged with management bodies, schools and parents with a view to encouraging more schools to participate in the 2023 programme.

Schools are given flexibility to engage staff that are not currently employed in their schools to support their summer programme. A portal is also available for teachers and SNAs to register their interest in working on a school based programme in a special school. This portal went live on the 1st March 2023 on www.educationposts.ie. Student teachers and students in relevant disciplines such as therapy, social care and nursing and others, including early childcare workers and carers, will also be able to register their interest in working on this year’s Programme.

This year, the Primary School Scheme combines the Inclusion Programme and Special Class elements from last year into one cohesive scheme for mainstream primary school bring a more targeted approach for children with special educational needs.

This year also introduces a new adjustment to the scheme for special schools. This programme has been designed and developed to ensure supports and funding are targeted to enhance the availability of a school-based programme for pupils in special schools. A National Coordinator has been appointed to liaise with special schools to help facilitate them in running a programme.

In addition, there are two in-school schemes at mainstream primary level and one at post primary:-

- The Primary School Scheme for pupils in all primary mainstream schools.

- The DEIS expanded literacy and numeracy summer camp/campaí samhraidh for pupils in DEIS primary schools.

- The Post-Primary Scheme for students with complex special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage.

Further supports that will facilitate schools run a school based programme 2023:

- School Organiser Role - In 2023, instead of preparation hours, there will be a dedicated role of School Organiser in each school offering the summer programme. The School Organiser will receive additional remuneration for their role. This is envisaged to be a key leadership role that will offer development opportunities for staff in schools.Summer Programme Manager

- In all schools (mainstream and special), the role that was previously called the Overseer will now be called the Summer Programme Manager.

- Staff training – This year there will be information and training session provided to all schools, including special schools, which will provided guidance and training.

- Length of school day for special schools - the length of the day for children’s activities is being reduced from the full school day to 10am – 2pm or alternate hours which best fits the school’s need. Four hours of activities for children must be provided each day, this again recognises the challenges associated with running the programme in a special school.

- Flexibility in Weeks - The weeks schools run a programme do not have to be consecutive, the scheme is flexible to allow schools choose weeks which best suit their needs and staff availability.

- Continuation of 2022 supports - Other enhanced measures from last year will continue to encourage schools’ participation, including a Centralised Application Process to reduce admin burden on schools, earlier payment of school staff and an additional capitation to cover the running costs of the scheme, as well as enhanced capitation for special schools.

Helpline support has been available to schools since the launch of the programme. The online registration portals for Primary, Post-Primary and Special Schools opened on 01 March 2023. Participating schools can request additional resources from the Department to run their programme.

A Home-based programme will be available once again for pupils with complex special education needs where their school is not running a Summer Programme or a place on a school-based programme is unavailable.

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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265. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools in which she has implemented section 37A of Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12170/23]

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise that my Department is committed, in conjunction with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), to continue to work with parents, schools, patrons and all stakeholders to ensure that there are sufficient appropriate places for students with additional needs and to support all students to achieve their potential.

Over the last two to three years, my Department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient special class and special school places.

These initiatives are bearing fruit with over 600 new special classes sanctioned at primary level, almost 300 new special classes sanctioned at post-primary level and five new special schools established over the last three years.

There are a total of 2,537 special classes opened nationwide. Of the 2,537 special classes, there are 1798 at primary level and 739 at post primary level.

This includes the 386 new special classes that have been sanctioned by the NCSE for 2022/2023. The 386 new special classes for 2022/23 is broken down by 256 at primary level and 130 at post primary level.

My Department has engaged intensely with the NCSE in relation to the forward planning for new special classes for the next school year 2023/2024. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data in relation to forecasting demand for special class places, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements, and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level. As demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, due to increasing demographics and increasing prevalence rates, my Department and the NCSE are engaging with post-primary stakeholders in relation to the provision of special classes. My Department has also recently written to all post-primary schools to advise them of the need to begin planning to provide additional special classes.

If the recent growth in the need for special classes continues, it is expected that a similar level of special classes will be needed at primary level over the next three years as have been provided over the last three years. At post-primary level however, it is expected that we will need to double the number of new special classes being provided over the next three years. In addition, it is estimated that an additional 300 special school places may be needed over each of the next 3 years.

At local level, the NCSE is continuing to engage with schools regarding the establishment of additional special classes for the next school year 2023/2024. Every support will be made available to schools to progress the opening of special classes in the shortest possible timeframe.

The Minister has powers under Section 37A of the Education Act to direct a school to provide additional places but this power is only used as a last resort and where all reasonable efforts have failed.

This legal power to compel schools to open new special classes is only used where the following criteria apply:

- there is established need for additional places in an area

- it is considered that the schools involved in the Section 37A process have capacity to open the additional classes and - all reasonable efforts have been made to support these schools in making the required provision.

I can confirm that Section 37A, as amended and streamlined in the Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022 has not been used to date since this legislation was enacted in July 2022.

Prior to this amendment, Section 37A as provided for originally in the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 has previously been used twice to date; initially in the Dublin 15 area in 2019 and more recently in the South Dublin area in 2020 in respect of primary school provision only.

The published documents relating to the two occasions where the Section 37A process was used are available at the following links: gov.ie - Section 37A Notices 2019 - Dublin North (www.gov.ie) and gov.ie - Section 37A Notices 2020 – Dublin South - Notices issued on 26 June 2020 (www.gov.ie).

It is important to note that where possible, children with special educational needs should be accommodated in mainstream education, but where the needs of the children are greater, special classes and indeed special schools are provided. Every effort must be made where special classes exist within a mainstream school to integrate the children and young people in this class with their peers in mainstream classes.

I want to reassure you also 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 appropriate education.

Information on the list of schools with special classes, the types and locations of these classes is published on the NCSE website and is available at www.ncse.ie.

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