Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 November 2016
27. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he remains satisfied regarding the ability of his Department to meet the full requirements in respect of special needs teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs, at primary and second levels throughout the country, the steps being taken to address emerging needs in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35183/16]
View answerI have tabled this question to assess the number of special needs teachers and assistants who are required and to try to ensure adequate provision is made in sufficient time to meet the projected requirements as well.
I share the Deputy's belief that this is an important area. I am glad to say it is a growing area because the Department has been paying increasing attention to it in recent years. Funding for special education provision in 2016 will amount to €1.5 billion, which is equivalent to over 17% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training. There has been an increase of 10% in spending in the past two years. This funding provides for a range of supports and services, including additional learning and resource teaching support, access to the support of SNAs, special transport arrangements, building adaptations, enhanced capitation in special schools and special classes, specialised equipment, additional teacher training and the services of the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. Some 12,900 SNAs are available for allocation to the end of 2016. This represents an increase of 23% on the number in 2011. There are more than 12,400 learning support and resource teacher posts in mainstream primary and post-primary schools at present.
The National Council for Special Education has allocated 7,430 resource teacher posts to schools for the 2016-17 school year. This represents an increase of 41% in the number of resource teachers who have been allocated since the 2011-12 school year. In excess of 5,000 learning support posts are allocated to schools under what is called the general allocation model and the learning support allocations for post-primary schools. Approximately 150 new special classes will be opened for the 2016-17 school year. This means there will be more than 1,150 special classes in place compared with 548 special classes in 2011. The rapid growth in this area is reflected in our budget provision. It was announced as part of last month's budget that I am providing for well in excess of 1,000 additional staff, between SNAs and resource teachers, for next year. I also announced that following development and piloting over recent years, a new model for the allocation of teaching resources for children with special educational needs will be implemented from September 2017.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. To what extent has he addressed the full requirement for SNAs and special needs teachers, as deemed by the various school authorities and parents' representative bodies? To what extent does he envisage that there will be a marriage between special schools and mainstream schools to ensure adequate provision is made in respect of each?
This is quite a controversial and complicated area. As the Deputy probably knows, the National Council for Special Education criticised the heavy reliance on expensive assessments in the previous model for allocating resource teachers. It argued that children from disadvantaged backgrounds or disadvantaged schools were less likely to be able to afford to access such assessments and that this was denying access to children. The new model seeks to move away from the heavy reliance on assessments and to make more allocations on the basis of the education profile and need of the school in question. The move we are making is designed to better meet the needs of students and to ensure the whole school has a responsibility for accommodating children with special needs. Obviously, we leave it to the parents of such children to choose between mainstream and special education. As I said in my initial reply, the number of special classes within mainstream schools has increased significantly to accommodate parents who want a foot in both approaches.
The provision of school transport for children with special needs is inadequate as a result of cutbacks that were imposed over the years for various reasons. I will not go into that now. Does the Minister envisage that school transport services for children who attend special needs classes in mainstream schools or attend special schools, depending on their educational requirements, can be augmented?
We provide €175 million in support of school transport services each year. The Department makes a genuine effort to prioritise children with special educational needs. Their needs are treated as a priority within that pot of money. We are trying to make sure children with special needs can access the schools that most meet their needs. I think the school transport service is designed to meet that policy objective. If the Deputy knows of cases in which he feels there are shortcomings, the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, might be of assistance in dealing with them.
I will be glad to mention them.
I am sure the Deputy will.
