Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 June 2018
81. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the allocation for the low incidence proportion of the special needs budget to schools in 2018; the number of posts delivered using this allocation; and the additional services and resources provided from it. [25818/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2018, in the region of €1.75 billion will be invested in Special Education, nearly one fifth of the overall Education budget, and up 43% since 2011.
This funding includes provision for up to 13,400 Special Education Teaching posts in mainstream primary and post primary schools.
From September 2017, the model of allocating resources teachers to support pupils with low incidence special education, combined with general allocations, was replaced by a new combined model for allocating special education teachers to schools, based on the profiled needs of schools, as set out in DES Circulars 0013 and 0014 2017.
An additional 900 teaching posts have been provided in the 2017/2018 school year to support the introduction of this new allocation model. The provision of an additional 900 teaching posts is a very significant investment in the provision of additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs in our schools.
For the 2017/18 school year to date, 13,306 additional special education teaching posts have been allocated, of which 13,281 have been allocated to schools, with 25 posts having been allocated to the NCSE to develop support services for schools.
Allocations continue to be made to schools, where exceptional circumstances arise, in accordance with the review criteria set at www.ncse.ie .
This provision ensures that all mainstream schools are provided with special education teachers to provide additional teaching support to pupils who require such support in their schools.
