Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
440. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth the ongoing training and support that is provided to teachers and SNAs in County Mayo to enable them to support children with complex needs, particularly in cases where therapy services are understaffed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33061/26]
View answerThe National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs.
A range of options are available to teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) in regard to training opportunities in special education. These are provided within initial teacher education (ITE) programmes for student teachers and teacher professional learning (TPL) programmes for established teachers. Other options include short, flexible on-line opportunities and funding for placement on graduate and post-graduate programmes.
The importance of having special education training in ITE programmes was compounded when my colleague Minister McEntee requested that special education placements become mandatory for student teachers and appropriate modules have been added to programmes to support this measure.
Central to TPL is Oide, a Department of Education and Youth funded TPL service. All Oide TPL programmes are designed and underpinned with the fundamental principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework that facilitates the inclusion of all learners to access the school curriculum in a meaningful way.
In addition, the NCSE offer full school support to all staff and provide support for teachers with training needs in special education, through the NCSE support service. This service manages, co-ordinates and develops a range of supports in response to identified training need. Any school who feels it has a training need can contact their local special education needs organiser to arrange training.
This service offers dedicated professional learning opportunities for teachers supporting students with additional needs. The NCSE has also secured the services of Middletown Centre for Autism to deliver support to school staff in special classes for students with autism.
The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) also provides professional learning opportunities that are available to all primary and post-primary school teachers on supporting children and young people.
In addition, my department has published a range of guidance documents for schools educating students with special educational needs, such as https://gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/autism-good-practice-guidance-for-schools-supporting-children-and-young-people/, which are available on gov.ie.
The National Training Programme for SNAs is delivered by the School of Education and the School of Nursing, Health Sciences and Disability Studies at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) St Angela’s College, Sligo. To date, approximately 3,775 SNAs have completed the National Training Programme which is fully funded by my department for all SNAs working in recognised primary, post-primary and special schools.
Separately, as you will be aware my department is currently advancing work on the first SNA Workforce Development Plan which includes the establishment of an SNA Learning and Development Programme. In collaboration with stakeholders this work is now reaching completion and it is expected that the plan will be published shortly.
The NCSE Relate programme launched in February 2025 is a comprehensive resource to support school staff to understand and reframe behaviour. Training with hundreds of schools nationwide has been undertaken and the NCSE has provided a number of resources in which schools can engage which are available on their website: https://ncse.ie/relate. It is also open to schools to contact the NCSE in relation to any training need and arrange training.
Any school who requires guidance or has identified a training need should contact the NCSE who can provide advice. The contact details for local special educational needs organisers (SENOs) are available on the NCSE's website.
My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to achieve their full potential.
