Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 February 2024
73. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Education if she will provide accommodation at a school (details supplied) for use as a special class for autistic students with complex and severe educational needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8186/24]
View answerThe National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs.
Over the last number of years, the Department of Education and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient special class and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit with almost 1,300 new special classes sanctioned and seven new special schools established over the last four years.
The department engage intensely with the NCSE in relation to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. This forward planning work is well underway ahead of the 2024/25 school year. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data in relation to forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level.
My department's focus is on the most critical needs for the next school year and how each individual school’s accommodation can be best utilised. It is very important that capacity in existing schools and across a town or area is maximised to the greatest extent possible . This includes ensuring that all school accommodation is being utilised as efficiently as possible, and that priority is given to the use of accommodation for classroom purposes, either to meet mainstream or special educational needs.
I wish to advise the Deputy, that my Department has no current record of receiving an application for additional accommodation from the school in question.
The purpose of the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.
At primary level, this situation generally arises to cater for a school’s accommodation requirements where an additional teaching post has been sanctioned by Teacher Allocation Section, or a new SEN class has been sanctioned by the NCSE, and all available alternative accommodation within the school is already being used for classroom purposes.
