School principals call for fairer special needs model

The Irish Primary Principals’ Network has called for a “fairer and more transparent model” of allocating resources for special educational needs.

Its director Sean Cottrell urged the Department of Education and Skills to consider a delivery model that "targeted funds at the child rather than at the school".

He was commenting on analysis by The Irish Times of the allocation of teaching supports for special needs published Tuesday, showing schools in some of the most socially advantaged areas of Dublin are among the highest recipients of resources.

The trend is linked to a practice of middle-class parents getting private diagnosis of special education need to support applications for extra resources.

Mr Cottrell said the network, which represents primary school principals, had recommended that the department consider a model such as that in New Zealand where each child gets a "value weighting" based on a range of factors, including the income level in the child's home, the parental educational level of attainment, whether English is a first language, and the nature of any disability.

The introduction of such a model here would require cooperation between a range of agencies including the Central Statistics Office and the Departments of Social Protection and Children, but “we are not talking about millions of children with special needs,” said Mr Cottrell.

“It should be possible to at least pilot it.”

The department is instead piloting a new model of allocating resources recommended by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) which will see 50 schools test a new formula for receiving extra resource hours.

Minister for Education and Skills Jan O’Sullivan decided against introducing the NCSE reforms across the system this month, citing a need for further consultation.

Mr Cottrell said it was very hard to put in a new system without more resources but an advantage of the New Zealand model was “the money follows the child. We think that’s the fairest way to do it”.

Socialist Party TD for Dublin West Ruth Coppinger attributed the disparity in allocations to cuts in resources, saying "working class communities are being left behind while the wealthy can buy access to education".

"How can it be, with two high-profile Ministers [Joan Burton and Leo Varadkar], Dublin 15 is at the very bottom for educational resources?

“This in an area with the highest number of Under 5s in the country, the most ethnically diverse population and with huge areas of social disadvantage… In this area one resource hour is granted for every 10.9 children yet in leafier parts of the city it is as low as an hour for every 5.3 children.”

While there were major cuts in special needs supports in recent years , the department is appointing an extra 240 resource teachers in 2015/16 and an extra 610 special needs assistants.

The annual funding for special educational needs stands at €1.4 billion or 15 per cent of the entire department budget.

Meanwhile, the INTO primary teachers' union is stepping up its lobbying effort for smaller class sizes in advance of the budget, with the announcement Tuesday of a public information campaign at www.standupprimary.ie.

Ms O’Sullivan has identified reducing class sizes as a priority issue, and her officials have costed lowering the pupil-teacher ratio from 28-1 to 27-1 at €7-8 million in extra salaries for the first school year, and €21 million in subsequent years. It is estimated a further €10 million will be required for extra classrooms.