Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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451. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the main policy achievements of her Department since 23 January 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38752/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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In June this year, the Department of Education and Youth published the Education Plan. This is the department’s annual plan, which sets out high­ level priorities and associated actions for the coming year. These priorities are derived from the department’s Statement of Strategy, which sets out the vision, mission and strategic goals that guides the Department of Education and Youth’s work programme. The Department of Education and Youth’s goal has been to deliver high quality and inclusive education for all children and young people that addresses their needs, interests and ambitions. The delivery of actions under the Education Plan will be monitored and the department will issue biannual progress reports.

Significant achievements to date this year include:

Junior Cycle

• In April 2025, I announced changes to the Junior Cycle grade bands with the top four grade descriptors (Distinction, Higher Merit, Merit, and Achieved) now evenly distributed in bands of fifteen percentage points. It is expected this change will see higher numbers achieving Distinction and Higher Merit, while keeping the bands sufficiently broad as to ensure that students focus on learning and engaging with school, rather than focusing on achieving marginal examination gains.

• In February 2025, as part of the Shared Island initiative on tackling educational disadvantage, together with Northern Ireland Education Minister Paul Givan I launched Creative Connections. A pilot creative partnership programme, Creative Connections aims to promote collaboration, encourage creativity and enhance educational outcomes for children impacted by social disadvantage in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It will provide creative and collaborative learning opportunities for 20 schools in Ireland and 20 schools in Northern Ireland to work together in clusters, enabling students to weave creativity into their lives and learning.
• In July 2025, I announced details of initiatives which will support pupils and students to have more opportunities to be creative, including announcing schools who will take part in BLAST Arts in Education Residencies and Creative Clusters programmes. I also launched a new data mapping tool to empower greater engagement with creativity which will chart the engagement of schools and Youthreach centres across the country with Creative Youth initiatives and highlight areas where additional focus may be beneficial.

• In January, my Department issued a circular advising post-primary schools of changes to the Social Education Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) Module Descriptor following the introduction of the new Senior Cycle Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) specification. As set out in Circular 12/2025, the Senior Cycle SPHE specification replaces the LCA Social Education module 1 (Social and Health Education 1) and module 4 (Social and Health Education 2). These changes will take effect for all LCA students entering 5th year/year one of the LCA Programme in the 2025/2026 academic year.

• In March 2025, I initiated a process to move towards a mandatory assessed placement period in a special education needs setting for all student teachers, supported by appropriate modules. In April, the Teaching Council, on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth, issued a survey across all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers in April.
• The purpose of this survey is to capture evidence to help inform this understanding and support the development of a Guidance Note for Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Work on the Guidance Note around an assessed student placement period in a SEN setting is well underway and due to be issued in Q3 2025, with a view to supporting initial change in September 2026.
  
  Additionally, the Teaching Council and my Department will host an event for HEI this Autumn which will highlight the very best practice in this area.

• In April 2025, a new measure to address ongoing challenges and boost teacher supply was announced. Teachers taking up their first contract in a viable teaching post in September 2025, will become eligible for a permanent contract in September 2026.
• In June, measures to reduce restrictions on jobsharers and those on a career break from working as substitutes in primary and post-primary schools have been extended to the next school year. In addition, the measure allowing post-primary teachers to provide up to 35 additional hours of substitute cover per term under the Teaching Hours Extension Scheme was also extended to the next school year in June.
• In May I announced a range of new measures to tackle school absenteeism. These measures will be both targeted and universal to improve school attendance. With this suite of measures, I am taking decisive action to address the serious issue of school absenteeism. These measures are rooted in evidence and collaboration and are designed to ensure that every child is supported to attend, engage and succeed in school, to enhance their lifelong opportunities.

• a revision of the Education (Welfare) Act to strengthen statutory supports for children, including bringing children under six attending primary school within its scope to ensure earlier intervention.
• the roll-out of a new initiative, Anseo, a Multi-Dimensional Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MD-MTSS) approach to addressing School Attendance Problems, to be rolled out initially in 60 schools. This is an evidence-based model that enables TESS staff to support schools to analyse their data in a tiered and systematic way which allows schools to shape their response to their absence trends.
• Continued investment in the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and in the School Completion Programme so that the range of young people’s needs during school days, school holidays and weekends can be best planned for and met.
• A new project, supported by UNESCO and the EU Commission, will create a strategic plan for managing Ireland’s teaching workforce. This two-year project will involve consultations with key stakeholders to develop recommendations. A review of factors affecting teacher supply in Ireland commenced this year and included a meeting of the working group, which includes a range of education stakeholders, held in May.

• With effect from September 2025 a 12 per cent increase has been secured for capitation grant rates. This will result in the standard rates increasing from €200 to €224 for primary schools and from €345 to €386 per student for post-primary schools. Over the last two Budgets there has been a circa 22% increase in the level of capitation rates paid to schools. The Government is committed to further increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation grant funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs.

• Earlier this year I announced a major programme of work to tackle educational disadvantage, delivering on the Programme for Government commitment on introducing a DEIS plus scheme, as well as prioritising new initiatives and developing a new DEIS Plan in 2025.

• A TRES (Traveller and Roma Education Strategy) Oversight Group was established in January 2025 and has met twice to date. The group is responsible for monitoring progress and overseeing the implementation of actions contained within the TRES over the six-year period. It also oversees the implementation of education-related actions from the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2024–2030 (NTRIS II). Membership includes representatives from Traveller and Roma organisations. The first progress report was published in March 2025.
• The recruitment process for the appointment of 15 community link workers to support Traveller and Roma children and young people and those most at risk of educational disadvantage is well underway. Once appointed, the community link worker will work in DEIS and non-DEIS schools with high Traveller and Roma enrolments.

• In February 2025, I announced the details of the final phase of the Post-Primary Schoolbooks Scheme. Free schoolbooks and core classroom resources will be provided to all students in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme from the 2025/26 school year. Some 400,000 students, enrolled in approximately 672 post-primary schools and over 80 special schools, will benefit from the extension of the scheme.
• In total, €170 million has been allocated to provide free schoolbooks for some 940,000 children and young people enrolled primary, post-primary and special schools in the Free Education Scheme, from the start of the 2025/26 school year. This means, for the first time ever, all children and young people enrolled in primary, special and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme will be provided with schoolbooks and core classroom resources.

• A programme of work to develop and implement a new shared service employment framework for the School Completion Programme (SCP) is currently underway, ensuring that the future employment and governance framework for the SCP is robust, sustainable and supports the further development of this programme.

• In June 2025, my department issued a circular about the requirement to implement a policy to ban (in the case of primary schools) and restrict (in the case of post-primary schools) the use of, and access to, personal mobile phones for the duration of the school day. This policy aims to improving the learning environment in schools by reducing distraction, reducing the risk of cyberbullying and access to inappropriate content during school hours, and increasing traditional social interactions between pupils and students at school break times. A funding allocation has been made available to schools that choose to provide a practical solution, e.g. lockable pouches or storage boxes.

• In April 2025 I launched Neart, the new national programme of mental health and well-being resources and training for post-primary schools. Neart is being delivered in a partnership between the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and Jigsaw - The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Neart – the Irish word for strength, provides learning opportunities that promote student mental health and well-being as well as mental health webinars and e-Learning courses for parents and school staff.

• The National Council for Special Education sanctioned over 400 special classes for the 2025/26 school year. Over 300 new special school places have been created.
• In March 2025, my department published a new circular, “Review of Enrolment in a Special Class” was published to support schools with the review process for children and young people enrolled in a special class. Alongside this development, the criteria for enrolment in special classes for children with Developmental Language Disorder or Speech Sound Disorder was updated.
• In April 2025, along with Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion, Michael Moynihan, I announced the Special Needs Assistant (SNA) Redeployment Scheme will be operated by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and for the first time, will allow SNAs in posts which may no longer be required for reasons such as falling enrolments, reduced care needs or changing demographics, to be redeployed to a school which has a vacant post.
• In May 2025, my department announced new measures to support forward planning for special education provision for the 2026/2027 school year and beyond.
• In May 2025, my department published the Report on Focus Groups with Teachers on the role of the Special Needs Assistant (SNA).
• In June 2025, my department published the review of the Education of Person with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2024 . The review comprised of over 28,000 responses to online surveys, including 900 responses from children and young people to an innovative easy access survey, and participation in focus groups by 91 adults and 94 students and young people from mainstream, special and Irish medium schools, as well as adults who had left school. The process of reviewing the EPSEN Act brought to light a areas where participants considered that changes or developments in existing legislation, policy or practice were required and a total of 51 recommendations are presented in the report.
• In June 2025, along with Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion, Michael Moynihan, I announced government approval to establish the Education Therapy Service. This new service is currently being developed for roll out in some special schools at a later stage in the 2025/26 school year.

• Updated Child Protection Procedures for Schools 2025 were published in May 2025. The updated procedures were developed in collaboration with the education partners. These procedures give direction regarding identifying and responding to child protection concerns, and the process for continued support of the child.

• In May 2025, the National Policy Group for Lifelong Guidance, which is chaired by my Department, launched the National Map of Lifelong Guidance Services. The map is interactive and increases the visibility and awareness of lifelong guidance, employment and career advisory services across Ireland.
• In May it was also announced that DCU will provide a new outreach course for post-primary teachers to train as guidance counsellors in Munster beginning in January 2026, and my department is supporting this initiative.

• My Department is currently developing a suitable approach of policy and practice for students who are exceptionally able or gifted. Actions undertaken include commissioning bespoke research on international best practice, consulting with relevant stakeholders, and running new initiatives in a number of schools and education centres.
• These initiatives include the Saibhriú pilot, which is led by an academic expert. This programme fosters local collaboration between primary and post-primary schools to establish how they can most effectively work together to support the needs of exceptionally able students. A launch event for the programme took place in March of this year, involving stakeholders from a number of schools and educational organisations. Work is ongoing to develop and embed a suitable approach. Another initiative is the Summer Course for Teachers, hosted by Mayo Education Centre, supports educators in appropriate pedagogy for this cohort. This is currently active.
• A further initiative is the Summer Programme for Students pilot, which is currently running in two schools. It is funded through the existing Summer Programme scheme and will be in addition to the current programmes running in the schools.

• Lastly, earlier this week, I announced almost €500,000 in funding for ten youth-led climate justice projects happening across Ireland in 2025. The Youth Climate Justice Fund helps young people aged 8 to 25 take part in projects that raise awareness and take action on climate issues. The programme includes climate education, community events, awareness campaigns, and hands-on environmental activities.