Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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271. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department received an email from this Deputy dated 14 February 2024 (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10028/24]

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. 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).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided.

In 2023, my department spent over €2.6 billion on special education and further progress will be made this year as an additional €113 million will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

This includes funding to support children with special educational needs in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

In 2024, the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 SNAs added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The NCSE has the responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs.

Over the last number of 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 almost 1,300 new special classes sanctioned and seven new special schools established over the last four years.

My department engage intensely with the NCSE in relation to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. This forward planning work is well underway ahead of the 2024/25 school year. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data in relation to forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level.

As a result of this forward planning, two new special schools have been established for this current school year in Cork and Dublin, with further capacity being expanded in 11 other special schools.

In December 2023, I was also very happy to announce with my colleague Minister Foley, the establishment of a further four new special schools for the 2024/25 school year in Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Limerick. This will bring to 11 the number of new special schools established in recent years.

Along with the two new special schools opening this school year, 390 new special classes – 254 at primary and 136 at post-primary level – have been sanctioned by the NCSE for opening this current school year.

Of these 18 are in Donegal, 11 at primary and 7 at post-primary level. This brings to 115 the number of special classes in County Donegal, 68 at primary level and 47 at post-primary level.

Planning for special classes and special school places in Co. Donegal and nationwide is currently underway ahead of the 2024/25 school year.

In relation to the school referred to by the Deputy, the NCSE has advised my department that the school has expressed an interest in opening a special class.

The NCSE actively encourages expressions of interest from schools to open special classes, and I appreciate and commend the efforts taken by boards of management in expressing their interest.

Upon assessing the needs in the local area, the NCSE identified that there are schools in the neighbouring vicinity with available special class vacancies. The NCSE acknowledge that circumstances may change, and they are committed to ensuring that both the parents and the school receive the necessary advice and support.

The local special education needs organisers (SENOs) remain available to provide advice and support to the parents and the school.

Parents seeking special class placements for their children are advised to contact the NCSE locally so that their needs can be taken into account for planning purposes. Parents may contact SENOs directly using the contact details available on the NCSE's website at: www.ncse.ie/regional-services-contact-list

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/special-classes

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.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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272. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to circular 0002/24 issued by the Department on 6 February 2024, which proposes to eliminate the category of “complex educational needs” from consideration when allocating special education teacher (SET) hours, if she will ensure that this proposed change is withdrawn given the negative impact potentially revoking access to the educational setting appropriate to their needs can have on children (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10030/24]

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

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education 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).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers.

In 2023, my department spent over €2.6 billion on special education and further progress will be made this year as an additional €113m will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

As the SET allocation model has been in place since 2017 based on a 2014 NCSE report, my Department believed a review of the model was prudent. The department commenced a review in late 2022 to ensure that the model was meeting the changing needs in special education.

The review of the SET allocation model further identified that a programme of continuous development was required to ensure that the model was delivering effectively, both in supporting the changing needs in the education system, and for individual schools. All schools received their full allocations, including the SET allocations, for the next school year, on 6th February 2024.

A high level roadmap has been discussed and agreed with our education partners during a series of consultations to enhance the inputs and improve the sensitivity of the model.

The journey of enhancement begins with the 2024/25 allocation by ensuring that the model has a strong foundation.

The complex needs input, which was introduced in the 2017 model, was predicated on the provision of data from the HSE Children Disability Network Teams on children entering junior infants with special education needs who were assessed or triaged for a waiting list for assessment.

The review highlighted concerns in relation to the veracity and the consistency of the data provided on a national basis by the CDNT. This resulted in the potential for significant variations from one area of the country to another. In addition, it is not possible to verify whether all data reported relates solely to educational need as distinct from care needs, which are resourced through the Special Needs Assistant allocation process, or medical needs.

To ensure that schools are not negatively impacted by these issues, all existing hours assigned for complex needs are being maintained for each school and future data from the CDNT will not be used as a value in the model. This is being done by reapportioning this value at individual school level across the remaining pillars with an emphasis on the Literacy and Numeracy category which demonstrates where additional teaching supports are required. This exercise strengthens the model to give a sustainable allocation to schools, which recognises where there are significant learning needs.

I would like to assure you that there have been no cuts to mainstream Special Education Teaching posts in the education system. There are now more Special Education Teaching posts than ever before in schools.

For 2024/25 there will be 14,600 SETs – double the figure from 2014 and an increase of 1,000 from the 2020/21 school year.

Furthermore the SET model is an allocation model to provide schools with additional teaching supports to support the learning needs of students. I want to assure you that the guidance to schools on the proper deployment and usage remains unchanged and that schools must deploy their SET resources in line with the Continuum of Support. The guiding principle of the continuum is that SET resources usage and deployment continues to be that the student greatest level of need should receive the greatest level of support.

I would be the first to acknowledge that every school is different, and that schools can experience unique circumstances that may be difficult to reflect in any standardised method. This is always a challenge when we seek to make allocations in respect of 4,000 schools. It is for this reason that the review process has been streamlined for Special Education Teachers and schools who feel that they have received an inappropriate allocation can make this application to the NCSE.