My Department's policy is to provide for the inclusive education of children with special educational needs in mainstream school settings, unless such a placement would not be in the best interests of the child concerned, or the children with whom they will be educated.
The greater proportion of children with special educational needs (SEN) attend mainstream class, where they may access additional supports if required.
Some students with SEN, although academically able to access the curriculum in mainstream, may find it too difficult to manage full-time placement there and placement in a special class should be considered.
Special school placements are provided for other students with SEN and very complex special needs who wouldn’t manage in a mainstream school even for part of the week. Enrolment of a child in a special school is based on a professional assessment in consultation with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).
There is therefore not one preferred educational environment for children with SEN, rather there is a model which takes into account the assessed educational needs of individual pupils.
The range of supports and services which are made available to schools include additional special educational support teaching, Special Needs Assistants support, funding for the purchase of specialised equipment, services of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), enhanced levels of capitation in Special schools and Special Classes and additional teacher training.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for the establishment of special class and special school placements in various geographical areas where there is an identified need, in consultation with the relevant education partners and the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Since 2011, the NCSE has increased the number of special classes by over 150% from 548 in 2011 to 1,459 across the country now.
While most schools fully embrace an open and inclusive policy, some students with Special Educational Needs continue to experience difficulties in securing enrolment. My Department has acknowledged that in recent years the establishment of special class provision in some schools and communities has been challenging.
The Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 when fully commenced will assist in addressing these issues.
The Deputy will be aware that, on the 3rd October 2018, my predecessor Minister Bruton, commenced a number of sections of the Act. On that date the Minister also announced the commencement of Section 8 of the Act, from Monday 3rd December 2018, which will provide the Minister with a power, after a process of consultation with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), the board of management and the patron of the school, to compel a school to make additional provision for the education of children with special educational needs.
This power will come into effect on Monday 3rd December 2018. The NCSE will engage with the education partners and finalise procedures in advance of this date. This new power will build on the work which has been done in recent years to facilitate schools to open special classes.
Section 67 of the Act will provide certain powers to the NCSE to designate a school placement for a child in circumstances where a child is experiencing difficulties in securing enrolment.
A number of the remaining sections of the Act which have not yet been commenced including Section 67, require regulations and procedures to be drafted, and will require consultation with the Education Partners prior to commencement.
I intend to have the other remaining sections of the Act commenced in time for admissions to the 2020/21 school year.
DES Circular 0010/2018 for primary schools set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools to support students with SEN enrolled in mainstream classes.
The new Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile.
No school, has lost supports as a result of the implementation of the new model. In addition, no school received 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.
Where a school profile significantly changes following the allocation process e.g. a developing school where the net enrolment numbers significantly increase year on year, additional allocations may be made.
The criteria for qualification for mainstream school developing school posts for the 2018/19 school year were set out in DES Circular 10/2018 (Primary School Staffing Schedule) and DES 7,8,9/2018 (Post Primary School Staffing Schedule).
The National Council for Special Education will be available to support schools where schools have developed and implemented appropriate plans for the deployment of their special education needs teaching resources, but the school considers that further support may be required.
The NCSE has published details of how schools can seek a review of their allocations, including the utilisation of their allocations, in circumstances where a school considers that very exceptional circumstances have arisen subsequent to the development of the profile.
Should schools consider that they fulfil the criteria for a review on the grounds of exceptional circumstances, details of this review process are available at:
http://ncse.ie/review-of-special-education-teacher-supports-where-there-are-exceptional-circumstances-or-needs-arising-in-a-school .
I can also advise that profiles for all schools are currently being reviewed, based on updated data, with a view to making revised profiled allocations for all schools effective from September 2019.
