Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2026
317. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Education and Youth the position regarding the way in which SET allocations are assigned to primary schools; the mechanism in place behind that calculation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53189/26]
View answerThis government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.
The primary responsibility for the education of all pupils in primary schools, including those with special education learning needs, is the class teacher.
Special education teachers provide additional teaching support to students in mainstream classes with an identified and recorded special educational learning needs in the student support plan aligned with the Continuum of Support framework.
The Special Education Teaching (SET) Allocation Model is a standardised allocation model that provides schools with additional teaching hours to support the teaching needs of students in mainstream classes based on the schools profile of need.
The SET Allocation model inputs for the primary model are all sourced from data provided by schools to the department.
On the 6th February 2024, the department published Circular 0002/2024 which outlines the calculation of the SET Allocation for all primary schools from 2024 and subsequent years.
The circular can be accessed at the following link: assets.gov.ie/static/documents/circular-00022024.pdf
