6.2.2 Special education teacher allocation model

6.2.2 Special education teacher allocation model

In January 2017, the then Minister for Education and Skills announced the introduction of a new model for allocating special education teaching resources to mainstream primary and post-primary schools. The special education teacher (SET) allocation model, which was introduced in schools from September 2017, was designed to provide a single unified allocation of teaching resources to each school that could be deployed flexibly in teaching pupils/students with SEN.

The new allocation model differs substantially from the previous model. Under this new model, the Department provides resources directly to primary and post-primary schools based on their educational profiles,101 and enables schools to allocate those resources flexibly to pupils/students according to their priority learning needs, without the requirement for a diagnosis, a professional report or disability labelling.

A key principle underpinning this revised model is that all children and young people, irrespective of SEN, are welcomed and enabled to enrol in their local schools. Meaningful inclusion implies that all pupils/ students are taught in stimulating and supportive classroom environments where they are respected and valued, and where their individual needs are addressed. In addition to principles underpinning the deployment of resources, the Department’s Guidelines for Supporting Pupils/Students with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools provide additional guidance on identifying, responding to and monitoring outcomes for children and young people with SEN.

There were difficulties in the early stages of implementing the special education teacher allocation model

Whole-school evaluation (WSE) inspection findings at primary and post-primary level during the period between September 2017 and November 2018 are reflective of schools’ earliest experiences of deploying their resources in line with the special education teacher (SET) model. These indicate that school leaders, on the whole, made good decisions that were informed by the principles of the model, and that they were working to make their schools as inclusive as possible. The findings also indicate that the quality of teaching of pupils with SEN was good and that there was greater emphasis on the provision of in-class support.

101 Further details as to how schools’ educational profiles are constructed are available in primary circular 0013/2017 and postprimary circular 0014/2017. The circulars are available at https://www.gov.ie/en circular/2b623033fe52468fb03d250e3cd12a04/ and https://www.gov.ie/en/circular/b1ee7005c95747cea9e6406b8a5b3c67/ respectively.

However, inspectors identified scope for development in some aspects of leadership, and teachers’ collaborative practice. These included the need to ensure that strategies implemented in schools were aligned fully with addressing the pupils’/students’ identified priority learning needs. One aspect of provision required particular attention; in a minority of primary and post-primary schools, additional teaching resources provided for the purposes of assisting the school in meeting the special educational needs of some children were not being fully deployed for these purposes in accordance with the terms of Circular 0013/2017 (Primary) or Circular 0014/2017 (Post-primary). There were 283 WSE inspections conducted to the end of November 2018, following the issuing of these circulars. Arising from these inspections, thirty-three memorandums relating to the inappropriate deployment of the additional SEN teaching resources were submitted by inspectors to the Special Education Section of the Department. Following engagement between officials in Special Education Section and the schools regarding the substantive issues raised in the memorandums, most of the issues relating to non-compliance were resolved.