I thank the Chairman and other members of the joint committee for the invitation to attend the meeting. I am pleased with this opportunity to address the committee in my capacity as chairperson designate of the National Council for Special Education. As I only became aware of this appointment about a week ago, I have only begun to put together some initial thoughts on how I will give leadership and manage this role. Now that I am retired, I am very willing to put some of my time and expertise into some active role in Irish education at a national level. As members of the committee will be aware, this is a non-remunerated post.
I will briefly cover three main points, as follows: my experience in education, my vision for the NCSE in the years ahead, and my role as chairperson of the council. As regards my experience in education, I was the chief inspector in the Department of Education and Science - now known as the Department of Education and Skills - from 1997 to 2009, having joined the inspectorate there in 1992. Prior to my time in the Department of Education and Skills, I was the founding principal of a large co-educational post-primary school in Limerick, from 1978 to 1992. Enrolment in that school increased from 90 students in its first year to more than 1,000 students within ten years.
Between 1971 and 1978 I was a post-primary teacher of business studies subjects in a number of schools. I was also the author of many books and articles on business and economics. If some members are young enough, they might have studied some of them for the leaving certificate.
Some of my key achievements as chief inspector can be found on many pages of the History of Ireland's School Inspectorate, 1931-2008, written by Professor John Coolahan. I have a copy for anyone who wishes to read it over Christmas. Such initiatives included from 1978 the return of marked leaving certificate scripts to candidates; major structural change, reform and expansion of the inspectorate; the introduction of whole school evaluation, WSE, subject inspections and incidental inspections to all schools in Ireland; and the publication of inspection reports. I also played a lead role as chairman of the planning group in the establishment of the National Educational Psychological Service in 1998, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the State Examinations Commission, SEC, in 2003. All of these happened in developing the inspectorate.
While I do not have a qualification and have not had direct involvement in any area of special education to date, I chaired the planning group within the then Department of Education and Science that in 2000 produced a report entitled, A National Support Service for Special Education for Students with Disabilities, which made ten recommendations. It is now known as the Stack report. Two of the recommendations were that the then Minister for Education and Science establish a national council for special education and that the proposed council have two key functions - a research and policy function and an operations function. That was the starting point for the establishment of the NCSE.
Since my retirement, I have done some work as a facilitator, mediator and adviser to schools and organisations. I also make presentations at conferences and mini-conferences and conduct half-day and full day sessions with educational leaders and entire teaching staffs in schools.
I refer to my vision for the NCSE. My initial thoughts are about ensuring the five strategic objectives spelled out in the recent council statement of strategy 2012-16 are delivered in the next few years. These objectives are based on the functions set out in section 20 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act 2004. The first relates to operational issues. The strategic objective in this regard is to plan and co-ordinate the provision of education and support services for children with special educational needs. It might be described as core business. To achieve this, the NCSE has nine senior SENOs and 73 SENOs deployed nationally who allocate supports to approximately 4,000 schools to assist them in meeting the special educational needs of children arising from a disability.
The second strategic objective relates to policy advice and is to provide evidence-informed policy advice for the Minister for Education and Skills on the education of children with special educational needs. The development of NCSE policy advice is informed by evidence both from national and international research, consultation with the NCSE consultative forum and other educational stakeholders, the experience of NCSE council members and staff and visits to mainstream and special schools.
The third strategic objective, based on research, is to conduct and deliver a research programme to underpin the dissemination of information relating to best practice in special education to schools, parents and the education sector. I understand a number of consistent messages have arisen in the findings across the research to date such as the need for teachers to be upskilled in educating children with special needs, for example, differentiation-pedagogical approaches, disability specific information, etc.; the importance of early identification and early intervention; long waiting lists for assessments, particularly educational assessments, resulting in a delay in accessing resources and some parents seeking a private assessment; the role of SNAs in often working outside their care role but which is considered to be valuable support for schools; and closer inter-agency interdisciplinary working, particularly between health and education providers. I intend to read all of this research in the coming weeks.
Strategic objective No. 4 identifies the review of further and higher educational provision for adults with special educational needs and the development of best practice. Under section 20 of the EPSEN Act 2004, one of the functions of the NCSE is to review and provide advice on education-training services for adults with special educational needs. Under Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005, the NCSE, together with the HSE, will have certain functions regarding the assessment of needs and preparation of service statements for adults with disabilities. Up to 2011 the focus of the NCSE was on providing supports for pupils with special educational needs rather than considering adult educational issues. I need to examine this issue in greater detail with the new council in the next few months.
Strategic objective No. 5 is to ensure the NCSE continues to develop as an effective organisation which is compliant with all statutory, regulatory and corporate governance requirements, as well as having effective information dissemination, communication and media strategies in place.
These five strategic objectives have to be achieved in a way that ensures the NCSE mission statement and its vision statement are fulfilled in the context of the policy, legal, economic and social environments. As chairperson, I see my role as a person who provides the necessary leadership, in accordance with the code of good governance, to ensure the council is clear about its mandate and effectively functions to provide strategic guidance while also monitoring the activities and effectiveness of the work of the NCSE to ensure the highest standards of service provision are achieved. I will work closely with the chief executive officer, Ms Teresa Griffin, and her senior staff team. I also intend to cultivate and rely on the co-operation, expertise and good judgement of the council members to assist me in my role. I look forward to working with the new council after my appointment on 1 January 2013.
At the outset of the presentation I indicated that my thought processes had only begun to focus on this new role. I need to read further into the role in the next few weeks and listen to what people have to say on special education issues such as committee members, senior staff in the NCSE, personnel in the Department of Education and Skills, relevant parents' associations, school management bodies, school principals, teacher associations and children. I thank members for their attention and look forward to the challenge in the year ahead.
