Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

180. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review Circular 0002/2024 in relation to the distribution of special education teaching hours at primary level, given many schools are concerned that the model used relies heavily on end-of-year test scores for second, fourth and sixth class students, meaning that resources are not being applied with consideration being given to children below second class with additional needs, as they have not yet been tested; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17151/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

Allocations of special education teaching (SET) posts for the next school year have recently been provided to schools and SNA allocations will be confirmed by the NCSE to schools in the coming weeks.

The SET Allocation Model is a standardised allocation model that provides schools with additional teaching hours to support the teaching needs of students in mainstream classes.

When the model was introduced, it replaced a diagnosis led model with one based on need. This ensures the allocation supports all children that require a level of additional teaching support as identified through the Continuum of Support framework. For the 2025/26 school year close to 15,000 special education teachers have been allocated to schools to support these children and young people.

The allocation model uses a variety of statistical data to complete allocations. This data includes, enrolment data, data on educational needs profiles (literacy and numeracy) and data on educational disadvantage. This data is sourced from within the education sector to ensure it is validated and assured. The only external data used is the Pobal HP Deprivation Index which is used by Irish government departments for identification of disadvantage.

It is important to understand that the end-of-year test scores are not utilised in the model as a single year input, but they are applied within the model based on the previous three years tests results and this allows for a more accurate profile of the literacy and numeracy need of all students across the years.

The department, along with stakeholders, are cognisant that the model needs to continue to evolve so that the SET allocations process takes into account new or improved data sources and other changes within the school system. The department is very much aware that additional data is available in individual schools which may not be available consistently across all schools and a key focus of the future roadmap of development is to identify and develop an accurate and verifiable system to capture such data that could support greater sensitivity in the model in the future.

The 2025/26 school year will see almost 86% of schools either increase their allocation of hours or retain their previous allocation. Of schools who will see a reduction this is driven by demographic change in the geographic area and a reduction of enrolments in the school. The vast majority of these schools will see a reduction of under five hours. Any school who has any concerns on their allocation can engage with the NCSE. Where the NCSE identifies the need for additional resources, my department will immediately approve the identified increase so that it is available to the school ahead of the 2025/26 school year.