Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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63. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the lack of autism places in schools for September 2024; and if she will investigate the case of a child (details supplied). [22403/24]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I understand that this is an anxious time for parents who are seeking a school place for their child for September and I would like to assure the Deputy that this government is determined to alleviate the pressures faced by parents when seeking a special educational placement.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has advised that the local special educational needs organiser is working closely with the family regarding options for school placements and other special education supports for the coming academic year.

My department and the NCSE work closely in relation to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places, work which is close to finalisation for the 2024/25 school year.

So far more than 320 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE nationwide for the 2024/25 school year. Of these, 36 are in Dublin of which 23 are at primary level and 13 at post-primary level, bringing the total number in the county to 570.

The NCSE continue to sanction classes for the coming school year and is engaged in ongoing discussions with schools. As new classes are sanctioned, the NCSE will support families to make applications for places.

I have asked the NCSE to ensure classes are established as a matter of urgency and to keep all families seeking class places updated on an ongoing basis to ensure their children can access the provision to which they are entitled.

I referenced earlier that this government is committed to alleviating the pressures faced by parents seeking a special educational placement.

Significant additional resources and funding of €13 million have been allocated to the NCSE to allow for the expansion of its services, which will bolster the level of service and provide effective structures to relieve pressure on parents.

This funding has allowed for, among other things, a significant increase in the number of SENOs which will increase from 73 to 120 by next September. These SENOs will work closely with children, their families and schools on the ground in order to provide the necessary supports.

Additional administrative support staff, team managers and other professionals are also being employed to allow SENOs concentrate on working directly with schools and families.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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64. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will revise the new way of calculating special education resources to ensure that no school has a reduction in resources next year compared to this year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23889/24]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Special Education Teaching Allocation model is in place since 2017 and it is a distribution model.

Its purpose is to ensure that the total number of Special Education Teaching (SET) hours available to the education system are allocated to each school based on its profile of need.

When the model was introduced in 2017 it was clearly outlined that each school’s profile would be reviewed and updated on 2/3 year basis.

Each school’s profile of need was updated in 2019 and 2022 at which time SET allocations were redistributed on the premise of the identified profile of need in each school. This is what has occurred in 2024 for the 2024/25 school.

In each of the previous updating of profiles, schools with an increased profile of need received additional SET hours while schools with a reduced profile of need saw a reduction in their SET hours.

The same process was applied this year for the coming school year and the percentage of schools with a reduction in SET hours for the 2024/25 school year is lower than in 2022.

It is important to note that in the 2024/25 allocation model that changes were primarily driven by the change in demographics in the primary sector.

The model allows resources to be reallocated from schools with reducing enrolments to those school where enrolments are growing. This is a critical function of the model so as to ensure that the totality of SET resources are focused on the areas of greatest need and aligns with changes in demographics etc.

As outlined in the SET Circular for the 2024/25 school year, the current SET allocation model was introduced in 2017 and schools’ educational profiles were updated in 2019 and again in 2022.

Following consultations with our education partners it was identified that the intervals between updates to school profiles historically has meant that the model may not have had the capacity to respond to the needs of schools, particularly new and developing schools, to the extent required.

The decision to move to annual updating of school profiles with effect from 2024/25 school is intended to have a twofold effect, in greater consistency and stability to schools in terms of their allocation from year to year and will make the model more sensitive to changes in an individual school’s enrolment and educational teaching needs profile, and adjustments will be applied in a more timely manner.

It will also allow schools to plan the deployment of their resources more efficiently, with greater stability in allocations as the level of change in allocations compared with a two year cycle is likely to be much reduced. The model will utilise the most up to date information available each year.