Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 November 2021
122. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his strategy to improve access to further and higher education and training learners with disabilities including the measures announced as part of Budget 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58631/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraInclusion is one of the core strategic goals for my Department. My ambition is to ensure that we provide supports and opportunities for learning to all. This means recognising the needs of vulnerable learners, the most marginalised and those with special and additional needs. A range of supports and measures are in place for learners with disabilities; some of these supports are targeted while others are available to the general student populace.
The Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD) supports participation by students with a disability in further and higher education. 14,000 students are supported annually under the fund. Supports in the FET sector for learners with a disability include access to the Fund for Students with a Disability (FSD), a wide range of reasonable accommodations depending on the learner’s needs, the Adult Education Guidance Service (AEGS), as well as provision of specific programmes for learners with a disability who may require more intensive supports through Specialist Training Provision (STP).
We want to develop a better understanding of what works best within the different models, and to look at how we can assist people to access and progress through higher and further education and training. We are currently preparing a new National Access Plan, which will look at specific measures for people with intellectual disabilities. While there is significant provision for students with intellectual disabilities in the further education and training sector where there were 2,821 learners with intellectual disabilities in 2019 and some provision in the higher education sector involving a comparatively small number of learners I have asked my officials to engage with the HEA and SOLAS to see where we can play a stronger role, in meeting the educational needs of this group as part of a coherent whole of Government response. We are at an early stage of work in this area, but it is an area I am strongly committed to pursuing.
Fostering Inclusion is one of the three core pillars around which the Further Education and Training (FET) Strategy 2020-2024 is built. SOLAS, Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), and the 16 ETBs across the country have progressed a series of actions to support the goal of Fostering Inclusion through the development and roll-out of a series of good practice guidelines to promote inclusion throughout FET, including for learners with a disability. This includes the development of a conceptual framework for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for the FET Sector, which aims to reduce obstacles to learning by taking into account the needs of learners of diverse backgrounds and abilities.
My Department will continue to keep existing provision and initiatives under review.
