Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
479. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Education the reason the special education teaching allocation for students who are blind or vision-impaired has been removed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14550/24]
View answer480. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Education the reason the special education teaching allocation for students who are blind or vision-impaired has been removed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14551/24]
View answer481. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Education if impact studies have been carried out to determine the effect on students of the decision to reduce special education teaching allocation hours for schools by 30% for students who are blind or vision-impaired; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14552/24]
View answer482. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Education if impact studies have been carried out to determine the effect on students of the decision to reduce special education teaching allocation hours for schools by 30% for students who are blind or vision-impaired; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14553/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 479 to 482, inclusive, together.
I want to thank the Deputy for raising this issue.
At the outset I would like to confirm that there is no change in the provision of supports my departments provides to children who are blind or visually impaired.
The Special Education teaching allocation model for 2024/25 distributes the total available number of SET posts in line with each school’s profile of need.
It seeks to distribute teaching resources in the fairest possible manner, taking into account quality, robust evidence in respect of individual schools.
This ensures that resources are in the right place at the right time to meet the needs of children in mainstream.
There will more Special Education Teachers in our schools in September 2024 than ever before – an increase of 1,000 from 2020/21 school year. This is in addition to a significant reduction in class teachers sizes at primary level over three budgets to where our Pupil to Teacher Ratio at primary level is now 23:1.
This means, more than ever, children with SEN in our mainstream schools are best supported to meet their needs.
In addition the model will now be run annually in line with general teacher allocations. This allows schools to better plan their staffing structures and gives them time to arrange clusters in areas where schools share an SET teacher.
There has been a limited change to the method used to allocate SET to mainstream classes. This review involved extensive consultation and visits to schools by the NCSE to look at the strengths and shortcomings of the allocation model. The feedback has been incorporated into the revised model for 2024/25.
The review of the SET model focused on ensuring that we had the best possible data available to inform the distribution of resources to our schools.
Our policy relating to supporting all of our children ( including those who are blind or vision impaired) in our schools based on their level of need remains unchanged.
The policy that individual schools are required to adhere to is the principle that the allocation is utilised to ensure that those pupils with the greatest level of need receive the greatest level of support and this remains unchanged.
In addition, under my Departments Assistive Technology scheme, over 600 children benefitted from specialised equipment for the visually and hearing impaired last year.
Equipment provided under the Assistive Technology scheme to assist children with visual impairment included Braille Equipment/Braille Keyboards/ CCTV Equipment with Distance Camera, computer equipment for enhanced text reading and online library and audio equipment for audio books.
My department provides funding for visiting teachers for children who are blind/visually impaired. The management of visiting teachers is the responsibility of the NCSE.
They offer longitudinal support to children, their families and schools from the time of referral through to the end of post-primary education.
Each VT is responsible for a particular region and is allocated a caseload of students. The VT supports children/young people, parents, guardians, teachers and other professionals involved with the child. The frequency and nature of support takes into account a range of factors based on the individual’s needs. In case of any technical issues with a student's assistive technology, it is recommended that the school contacts their visiting teacher from the NCSE's Visiting Teacher Service. The visiting teacher will collaborate with the provider to offer the necessary training and technical supports to both students and teachers.
My Department also provides annual funding the National Braille Production Centre (NBPC) to provide braille books to to support children who are blind in their education.
