Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2017
210. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address concerns that under the new NCSE allocation model for resource teaching hours, allocations will be based on socioeconomic background, which is not directly related to assessed conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, ASD or speech and language difficulties. [8502/17]
View answerOn 18th January last, I announced that a new model for allocating Special Education Teaching Resources to mainstream primary and post primary schools will be introduced from September 2017.
The basic aim of this new model is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Large amounts of research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and piloting have gone in to the development of this model and all the evidence points to the fact that this new system will deliver better outcomes for children.
No school will lose supports as a result of the implementation of the new model. In addition, no school will receive an allocation, for the support of pupils with complex needs, less than the allocation they received to support such pupils during the 2016/17 school year. No allocation made for such pupils by the NCSE will be removed from schools as long as that pupil remains in the school.
I also announced that an additional 900 teaching posts will be provided to support the introduction of this new allocation model. The provision of an additional 900 teaching posts is a very significant investment in the provision of additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs in our schools. This is additional to an increase of 41% in the number of resource teachers allocated to schools annually by the NCSE since 2011, when 5265 teachers were allocated, as opposed to provision for 7452 posts in the current school year.
The additional funding will provide additional supports to over 1000 schools who are identified as needing additional supports as a result of the new model. Supports for children with special educational needs is a huge priority for this Government. We currently spend €1.5billion, or one fifth of the total education budget, on supports for children with special educational needs.
The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has a statutory role under Section 20 of the Education of Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 to advise me, as Minister for Education and Skills, in relation to matters relating to the education of children and others with disabilities.
In 2014 the NCSE published a Working Group Report “Delivery for Students with Special Educational Needs – a better and more equitable way” which recommended a new model for allocating resource teaching support to schools, based on the profiled needs of each school, rather than being primarily based on the diagnosed disability of individual children.
It proposed that the allocation of additional teaching supports to schools be in future based on two components:
School educational profile component; and
Baseline component provided to every mainstream school to support inclusion, prevention of learning difficulties and early intervention.
The working group selected three elements on which to establish a school’s educational profile, based on what each element contributes to building this profile:
1. Students with complex special educational needs.
2. Percentages of students performing below a certain threshold on standardised test results
3. Social context of school which includes gender, primary school location and educational disadvantage.
The NCSE Working Group advised that a school's social context can contribute strongly to the level of learning needs that students have in a school.
The Working Group noted that drawing on 'Growing Up in Ireland' data, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) analysed how the prevalence of special educational needs varies across social class and income groups. They found that the percentage of students reported by teachers to have special educational needs was significantly greater for those in schools serving disadvantaged areas.
On the basis of available research, the Working Group concluded that the use of a school’s social context is valid in the development of a school’s educational profile, as the socioeconomic status of students is linked to the incidence of certain types of special educational needs.
While some areas of special educational needs may be reflected in low test scores, some students with relatively high levels of educational achievement may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.
The profiled allocation for schools therefore contains provision to take account of social context, however, this only forms one portion of the overall allocation.
A new Circular and Guidance will be issued to schools in the coming weeks which will provide details of how the scheme will operate, while details of the allocations for each school will also be provided to schools.
