Written answers

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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638. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the capacity to cater for children with special needs in the education system in Kerry; the number of special needs classes in secondary schools; the proportion of secondary schools that have special needs classes; the number of SNAs currently in employment; the number of children with SENs this caters for; the proportion of primary schools that have special needs classes; the number of SNAs currently in employment; the number of children with SENs this caters for; if she is satisfied that the education needs of children with SENs are being met in a secondary education setting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1746/25]

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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639. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the number of school places for children with special educational needs in County Kerry in each of the years 2020 to 2024, broken down by primary and secondary school places, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1747/25]

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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653. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide a breakdown of the number of SNAs employed in Kerry in each of the years 2019 to date, in tabular form; the number of vacancies in Kerry in each of the years 2019 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1893/25]

Photo of Hildegarde NaughtonHildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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As you are aware enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for government. Thanks to considerable investment in special education in recent years 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.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs. They have recently recruited additional special educational needs organisers (SENOs), advisors and team managers.

Almost 1,700 classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE in the last 5 years, 11 new special schools have been established and many more expanded. For this school year alone over 400 new special classes have been sanctioned bringing the total number of special classes nationwide to 3,336. Budget 2025 provides funding for another 400 special classes and 300 special school places nationwide. The NCSE is currently visiting schools to help determine where new provision is required for the 2025/26 school year. Over 1,000 visits have been concluded nationwide and it is expected that the NCSE will sanction a number of new special classes in the coming weeks.

There are 3,082 primary schools and 722 post-primary schools nationwide, of which 132 primary and 26 post-primary schools are in County Kerry. For the 2024/25 school year there are 98 special classes in County Kerry, 7 of these were newly sanctioned for the 2024/25 school year, 5 at primary level and 2 at post-primary level.

The table below provides a breakdown of special classes in primary and post-primary schools in County Kerry from the 2019/20 school year to present The vast majority of these are autism classes and have a teacher/student ratio of 1:6.

School Type 20219/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25
Primary Level 36 39 50 55 60 65
Post Primary Level 17 22 24 26 30 33
Total 53 61 74 81 90 98
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 have engaged with post-primary stakeholders in relation to the provision of special classes.

In October 2022, my department wrote to all post-primary schools requesting that each school begin planning to provide for up to four special classes to meet the needs of children progressing from primary school. Last year, my department issued a circular to all schools setting out new measures to support the forward planning of special education provision. Included in this circular was a reminder of the need for post primary schools to continue planning for this level of provision.

Special needs assistants (SNAs) allocations are provided to schools on the basis of the school's overall profile of need. As a result, the number of students supported by SNAs varies from school to school.

When the NCSE allocates a SNA post, the board of management as the employer, is responsible for filling the vacancy. The decision on whether to employ a full time SNA to fill a full-time post or to employ an equivalent number of part time SNAs rests with the employer. Therefore data on the number of SNAs employed is held at a local level.

The NCSE publish their allocation of SNA posts annually on their website. For ease of reference these allocations are broken down by county and school type. This data is available on the NCSE website.

We have been steadily building on the number of SNAs in our mainstream education, special classes and special schools. At the end of the 2023 school year there was just over 21,000 SNAs in schools, double the number there were in 2011. Budget 2024 provided for 1,216 new SNA posts and Budget 2025 for a further 1,600.

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