Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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197. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there will be an evaluation of the special needs teaching component of the primary school teaching qualification, as many teachers in special education settings have little training in the area. [27057/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Under Section 38 of the Teaching Council Act, all initial teacher education programmes must be accredited by the Teaching Council for registration purposes. The Council reviewed its policy on standards for programmes of initial teacher education and published updated standards in Céim Standards for Initial Teacher Education in October 2020.

Céim includes seven Core Elements which shall underpin all aspects of programmes of ITE. One of these is inclusive education, which is defined as follows:

The term inclusive education refers to any aspect of teachers’ learning aimed at improving their capacity to address and respond to the diversity of learners’ needs; to enable their participation in learning; and remove barriers to education through the accommodation and provision of appropriate structures and arrangements to enable each learner to achieve the maximum benefit from his/her attendance at school.

The Council’s view of a truly inclusive approach to professional practice recognises that teachers encounter a diverse range of needs in the course of their teaching, regardless of setting. This will include additional learning needs (e.g. autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia) and learning needs associated with diverse linguistic, socioeconomic, cultural and ethnic (including Traveller community, Roma) backgrounds.

By delineating these as Core Elements, the Council has taken a high-level approach to ensuring that they inform every aspect of programme design. All new and existing ITE programmes have been realigned with Céim for first year student teachers as of September 2022. 52 ITE programmes across 14 HEI (higher education institution) providers have recently completed the accreditation process under the new standards through the Teaching Council.

My Department published a Policy Statement for Initial Teacher Education in March 2023 which looks to build on progress made over the past decade and sets out our commitment to ensuring that student teachers at primary and post-primary level have the skills to support all of our children and young people as learners in the years ahead. It has a phased implementation plan which includes actions to progress its vision. There are a number of actions which focus on inclusive education, one of these is to explore how the core element of inclusive education in Céim is helping to prepare student teachers to teach students of all abilities and in all settings (including special-education settings), through their initial teacher education. The Teaching Council will provide a report on standards, quality and good practice in initial teacher education, based on findings from the cycle of accreditation of all initial teacher education programmes, with particular emphasis on the core element of inclusive education, in Summer 2024.

Teachers undertake professional learning in a range of pedagogical, curricular and educational areas. Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) provided for teachers supports the inclusion of students with Special Education Needs (SEN) in mainstream classrooms.

On an annual basis, the Department of Education provides funding for two distinct categories of postgraduate programmes for Special Education Teachers:

- Postgraduate Diploma Programme of Teacher Professional Learning for Special Education Teachers.

- Graduate Certificate in Autism Education for teachers working with Autistic Pupils in Special Schools, Special Classes or as Special Education Teachers in mainstream Primary and Post-Primary Schools.

The aim is to provide substantial theoretical and practical continuing professional development for teachers working with students with special educational needs, contributing to the school’s overall capacity to meet the needs of pupils with special education needs.

Through its everyday work, the NCSE aligns its teacher professional learning (TPL) with the Teaching Council’s national framework for teacher professional learning. One of the main aims of the NCSE is to support teachers and schools in a way that builds capacity, supports the inclusion of all children, including students with special educational needs, at a whole school level. NCSE employs a number of specialist roles to support schools and build teacher capacity in areas of concern. These roles include autism advisors and behaviour advisors, who are assigned across regional support teams to provide advice, support and resources to schools.

The NCSE offers bespoke in-school support for either whole school staff, small groups, or individual teachers. The support can be tailored to specific TPL needs within a school, such as, in the areas of differentiation, planning, autism and behaviour.

The Department is committed to the training and support of teachers and school leaders to provide quality, inclusive teaching. The department will continue to work with partners in education to provide a comprehensive range of in-service TPL opportunities that allows those working at all levels of education, to access supports which will benefit all learners.