Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Question:310. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Education the reason a cut was made to staffing in a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22739/24]
View answerTuesday, 21 May 2024
Questions (310)
Written answers
Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this government. The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers.
In the case of the school in question, the reduction in SET Hours is a result of the change in the profile of need identified by the model based on the three components of the model.
The school in question submitted a review application of their SET allocation to the NCSE, the NCSE has advised the department that the application did not demonstrate grounds for a review of their allotted allocation.
The NCSE has confirmed as part of their communications on the appeal outcome that they have advised the school that NCSE Advisor support is available to the school to support them in the deployment of their SET resource to support their pupils.
The Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation model for 2024/25 is based on information from all 4,000 schools in the country. The model distributes the total available number of SET posts in line with each school’s profile of need.
The model seeks to distribute teaching resources in the fairest possible manner, taking into account as much evidence as possible in respect of individual schools and evidence in respect of the best possible use of resources. Schools must adhere to the guidance on the use of SET hours and support all children with additional teaching needs using the continuum of support framework.
It is important to note that SET hours are only one component of support for children in mainstream but the most important support is the mainstream class teacher. The pupil teacher ratio at primary level is now 23:1 which means there are more mainstream teachers than ever before in our educational system.