Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 May 2021
66. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education her plans to increase the number of educational psychological assessments allocated to primary schools through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24786/21]
View answerThe National Principals Forum has reported that 84% of schools have seen an increase in pupils with additional educational needs in the past four years. Over the same period, only an additional 31 front-line educational psychologists have been appointed to our primary schools, which leaves a dramatic deficiency in capacity within the system.
The Department of Education's NEPS provides a school-based, consultative psychological service in two ways: through the provision of an individual casework service for students and through a support and development service for school staff. Educational psychological assessments are not assigned to schools; rather, educational psychologists are assigned to schools.
The NEPS casework service involves the provision of a psychological service for a student, with the psychologist working with the student, teachers and parents, and other professionals, if appropriate, to identify need and plan for intervention and review to support the student in school. This service can take place over an extended period of time with NEPS psychologists. This model does not operate on a waiting list basis. It extends to approximately 8,000 students per annum. The NEPS support and development service, reaching an estimated 25,000 teachers annually, is an applied psychological service for school staff to help them build their capability to respond to the well-being, academic, social and emotional needs of all students, particularly those who are experiencing barriers to their well-being, learning, inclusion and participation. This model of service allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.
The capacity of NEPS has increased significantly from its 2016 allocation of 173 whole-time equivalent psychologists. The capacity of NEPS was increased recently as part of a package of measures to support the reopening of our schools with the provision of an additional 17 psychologist posts to NEPS, bringing overall sanctioned numbers to 221 whole-time equivalent psychologist posts. This represents by far the highest number of psychologists sanctioned for NEPS since its inception in 2000. The capacity of NEPS will be kept under review and I hope to be in a position to increase this capacity in future years.
I do not disagree with the model that is being used. The difficulty is that, in tandem with that model of supporting schools, in order for students to access additional support, they require a psychological assessment. To have just 31 additional front-line psychologists over the last four years, when 84% of primary school are stating there has been an increase in the number of pupils presenting with additional educational needs, is insufficient. It is the case that psychologists are appointed to schools but they are allocated specific hours in those schools. Medium size schools, in particular, which are not in the small school category or the large school category, are squeezed.
To give an example of that, in one school where one educational assessment has been carried out, six pupils have had to go privately to get that assessment.
It is important to point out that the provision of support in schools is not dependent on a NEPS assessment or diagnosis. A new model was introduced in 2016. I appreciate the Deputy acknowledging the various strands of work in which the NEPS psychologists are involved but it is very important to note that. The special education teaching, SET, model of resourcing, introduced in 2016, is a needs-based resourcing model.
Schools are provided with additional resources to support pupils with additional learning needs, care needs or who have special educational needs from a set allocation of resources based on the school's profile. Schools then have discretion to provide additional supports for pupils based on their actual identified learning needs, as opposed to allocating set quantums of time to pupils who have been assessed as having a particular disability with certain pupils who may not have had an assessment excluded from the provision. Children who need support can have that support provided immediately, rather than having to wait for a diagnosis.
To correct the record, if a child is in need of assistive technology in order to access the curriculum fully, this would not be granted without being strongly recommended in a report. Therefore, that report is essential in that scenario. I accept the principle of what the Minister is telling me here but the practical reality on the ground is very different. I know of schools where there are proactive teams of staff, where they use all the mechanisms available and all the resources, they engage directly with the educational psychologist and exploit the model that the Minister very well articulated here this morning, but the situation in that particular school with less than 150 pupils is that in the past 12 months, six families have had to get private psychological assessments at a cost of between €500 and €600. Some have recommended further occupational therapy assessments, which is a further cost on those families. It should be based on need, not on the financial resources of a particular family.
I acknowledge, as the Deputy has, the excellent work on the ground by our schools and special education teachers. The model as introduced in 2016 is working more effectively, in that it does allow a child without a specific diagnosis to be catered for within the school environment by virtue of the hours that have been made available through the special education teacher. Since becoming Minister I have been very conscious of the value of this work in our schools and the emphasis on well-being and inclusion in our schools. For that reason, I very specifically made a determination about schools reopening as we returned, that additional psychologists would be made available for the benefit of schools and of children in particular. I have committed to keeping that under review and will continue to do so.
