Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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286. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an outline of special education teacher allocation for schools and how it is determined; to provide a breakdown of the average number of hours per capita in each county in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16033/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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287. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will report on the special education teacher allocation for schools; the breakdown of the average number of hours allocated per capita in each school in Meath in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and in 2024 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16034/24]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 286 and 287 together.

I want to thank the Deputy for raising this issue.

The current model of allocation was introduced in 2017 on foot of the 2014 NCSE report on Delivery for Pupils with Special Educational Needs. The model moved away from a diagnosis led system of allocation to an identified need driven system.

The Special Education teaching allocation model for 2024/25 distributes the total available number of SET posts in line with each school’s profile of need.

It seeks to distribute teaching resources in the fairest possible manner, taking into account quality, robust evidence in respect of individual schools.

This ensures that resources are in the right place at the right time to meet the needs of children in mainstream.

As outlined in circular 02 and 03/2024, a unique educational profile is created for each school and is underpinned by three pillars.

Pillar 1: Enrolment Allocation - The total enrolment in the school which is sourced from POD.

Pillar 2: Educational Teaching Needs Profile – This is derived from the literacy and numeracy profile of the school as demonstrated by the STen scores for English/Irish and Maths reported by the school.

Pillar 3: Educational Disadvantage –The key data source is the Pobal HP Index for Small Areas, which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area, combined with pupil data from POD.

The allocation of the SET hours to each school is based on a school profile rather than on an individual pupil basis.

Each school is responsible for the deployment of their SET allocation in line with the continuum of support and they are required to adhere to the principle that the allocation is utilised to ensure that those pupils with the greatest level of need receive the greatest level of support and this remains unchanged.

The data in relation to individual pupils supported through the SET hours allocated to schools is not available to the department but is maintained in each school where support is provided based on the continuum of support.

It is important to note that SET hours are only one component of support for children in mainstream but the most important support is the mainstream class teacher. The pupil teacher ratio at primary level is now 23:1 which means there are more mainstream teachers than ever before in our educational system. There will be 14,600 Special Education Teachers (SETs) supporting mainstream classes in the 2024/25 school year, which is an increase of 1,000 since the end of the 2021 school year. This is the highest number of SET teachers ever in our schools.