Ireland

Announcement of special needs cuts felt like early April fools, TUI conference told

Department of Education previously announced removal of complex needs as criteria for allocation of teaching hours

The problem was officially put down to doubts at the department regarding data being provided to it by local HSE services.

Emmet Malone
Thu Apr 4 2024 - 17:07

When the Department of Education announced it was removing complex needs as a criteria for the allocation of special education teaching hours a couple of months back it felt like April Fools had arrived early, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) conference in Killarney was told on Thursday morning.

The problem was officially put down to doubts at the department regarding data being provided to it by local HSE services.

“The solution,” said Niamh Allen from Marino College in Fairview, addressing the conference on an emergency motion that called for the move to be reversed, “should have been to work towards making the data more accurate in partnership with the HSE and ensuring consistency rather than completely removing the criteria”.

Instead, she said, 33 per cent of schools would lose support hours, something that “poses a significant challenge to inclusion and undermines the potential of our students”.

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Those teachers from schools that might not be immediately hit should not be complacent, she said, for the issue could strike them down the road or impact more immediately on people they know.

“Among us today are undoubtedly individuals who either have children with additional needs or know someone who does.”

Up soon after was Kate, to propose another emergency motion, this one calling for greater supports and training for teachers required to carry out Assessments of Needs (AONs), a key step in securing the educational supports required by so many children with additional needs.

The High Court recently found that what was described as something of a box ticking exercise in one particular case did not meet the requirements of the Disability Act 2005 and the department is set to respond shortly with many teachers expecting to be handed more responsibility in the area.

Kate spoke with great emotion about the challenges her family had faced as they sought to have their two daughters, both of whom have developmental language disorder assessed so they could obtain much needed supports.

The motion sought to lay out the conditions in which teachers might be expected to carry out AONs, something she said she believed they will be asked to do on a formal basis in the very near future so as to address the terrible delays currently being experienced.

In her speech, during which she fought back the tears, not always successfully, she said she accepted what she was proposing wasn’t really good enough but it sought to address the reality of the situation for teachers being put in a position not of their making.

She was given a warm and prolonged standing ovation by the conference but the motion was defeated after a colleague argued that the legislation required the people carrying out AONs to be suitably qualified and expressed scepticism that the training teachers might receive would get them anywhere that point.

Kate accepted the defeat graciously, readily admitting she believed her opponents had a point.

The Government and system, though, were failing children like her daughters, she said however, and seem set to continue doing so.

“[The Minister] talks repeatedly about this inclusive education system,” she said, “but our education system isn’t inclusive. We put children with needs into mainstream school, but then we let them flounder. We don’t support them and we let them feel like they’re always failing.”

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times

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