Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing training to student teachers and qualified teachers to complete work placements in special education settings; and the resources already being provided to help qualified teachers upskill and become more knowledgeable of children with extra educational needs or disabilities. [31211/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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A range of options are available to teachers in regard to Special Education Teacher training. These are provided within initial teacher education (ITE) programmes for student teachers and teacher professional learning (TPL) programmes for established teachers. The programmes provided include flexible on-line opportunities right through to funding for post-graduate programmes for special education teachers.

Inclusive education is a mandatory element of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes. Within further updated standards which the Teaching Council adopted in 2020, known as Céim Standards for Initial Teacher Education, inclusive education was further strengthened as one of seven core elements which must underpin all aspects of programmes of ITE.

In March of this year, my Department initiated a process to move towards a mandatory assessed placement period in a special education needs (SEN) setting for all student teachers, supported by appropriate modules.

In seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the current landscape of school placement provision in special education settings, my Department have asked the Teaching Council to conduct a survey across all ITE providers. That survey is now underway and a report on the data gathered will be compiled and presented to the Council’s Education Committee and Council in July 2025. This will, hopefully, support the Council’s interim decision-making in relation a two-week assessed student placement period in a SEN setting.

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

• Post-Graduate 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.

In 2025 approximately €1.2m has been allocated for these programmes to provide for over 300 places to teacher professional learning for teachers working with students with special educational needs.

The NCSE offer full school support to all staff and provide support for teachers with training needs in special education, through the NCSE support service which manages, co-ordinates and develops a range of supports in response to identified teacher training need. The NCSE continually updates TPL courses and designs new courses in response to the needs of teachers. Detailed information on the comprehensive programme of TPL seminars on a variety of special educational needs topics is published on the NCSE