Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 April 2026
555. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the way the criteria for allocating resources teachers and special needs assistants for the support of children with different categories of special education needs have changed since the NCSE was established and differ from those used by her Department before its establishment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30094/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis 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.
Special education teachers provide additional teaching to students attending mainstream classes with special educational needs using a wide variety of teaching approaches.
The Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation model is a standardised allocation model that provides schools with additional teaching hours to support the identified and recorded teaching needs of students in mainstream classes. The mainstream class teacher has primary responsibility for the progress and care of all children in their classrooms, including children with additional learning needs.
The SET allocation model is a distribution model to ensure that the children with the greatest level of need in mainstream can get access to additional teaching support. It provides a transparent means of allocating Special Education Teaching (SET) resources to best meet the needs of children and to ensure consistency and equity in the system.
The SET allocation model distributes the total available number of Special Education Teaching posts in line with each school’s profile of need.
The model makes an allocation based on a number of inputs, including enrolment numbers. It also uses school-level data from standardised tests (in the Primary school model) and Junior Cycle data (in the Post Primary model) to reflect levels of overall additional learning need in the schools. It also incorporates data on students who have been granted exemptions from tests as this indicates additional learning need is required by them. As all children and young people from disadvantaged areas may not attend a DEIS school, the model applies a small value to schools based on individual pupils Eircode and the HP deprivation index and this is to ensure that schools who are not in receipt of the additional DEIS resources are allocated resources to support their potential additional learning need.
Special needs assistants (SNA)s play a central role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools. They help ensure that these students can access an education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.
SNA posts are allocated to schools as a school-based resource. Principals/board of managements deploy SNAs within schools to meet the care support requirements of the students enrolled whom SNA support has been allocated. This provides schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for the allocation of SNAs nationwide.
It is important to note that there have been increases in SNAs in all counties and across all education settings since 2020, including mainstream, special classes and special schools.
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.
