Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 February 2024
83. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education the reason for the removal of complex needs from the criteria for the allocation of special education teaching hours; the details of any consultation undertaken by her Department with teacher and parent representative groups with regard to the decision to remove complex needs from the criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8287/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI want to thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for giving me the opportunity to clarify some of the concerns that have been raised regarding the Special Education Teacher Allocations for mainstream schools which issued on the 6th February.
At the outset, I would like to clarify Complex needs have not been removed – the data which was used since 2017 from the CDNT and which is no longer routinely available is being replaced by high quality, verifiable education data.
To ensure that schools are not negatively impacted all existing hours assigned for complex needs are being maintained for each school.
The 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 PTR 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.
It is important to note, that the review involved extensive consultation with our education partners 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 change to the SET model does not mean a change in policy as it only relates to replacing data, which the review identified was not accurately representing the children with the greatest level of need, with data that is provided to the Department directly from schools. This means that all children in schools, regardless of whether they have been seen by CDNTs are supported in schools.
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.
The complex needs input, which was introduced in the 2017 model, was predicated on the provision of data from the HSE Children Disability Network Teams on children with special education needs who were assessed or triaged for a waiting list for assessment.
The review highlighted significant concerns in relation to the availability and consistency of the data provided on a national basis by CDNT. This meant that schools for whom no data was returned, even where there was significant need, might lose out. It also meant, where the CDNT’s own data is showing more 16,500 children awaiting a first appointment with a CDNT that these children, who may be of school going age, would also not be supported through the SET allocation.
Therefore the profiles are directly correlated to, and focused on, pupils with the greatest level of need in the areas of literacy and numeracy.
