Special needs assistants (SNAs) carry out a vital support role in schools. The new redeployment scheme, which will allow SNAs to transfer to another school rather than face redundancy, is very welcome. There are now 23,000 SNAs, reflecting the increase in diagnosis of children with autism and other additional educational needs. Most students with additional needs are not in special classes but in mainstream classrooms.
That is why it was so depressing to read that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform had warned the Department of Education that class sizes could not be reduced until spending was curbed in other areas. Special classes were mentioned as a particular area where expenditure was greater than the allocated budget.
This will be little comfort to the parents who staged a sleep-out protest recently out of desperation. New special classes are being opened all the time, with 400 in the pipeline, but there still are not enough. One parent, Holly Walsh, reported last February that she applied without success to 47 schools for her son, Kristian, who has autism.
She could see him regressing, losing the few words he had. She said he has “no help with his physical health, his emotional health, psychological health. He has no skills.”
While the plight of parents with a child without a suitable school placement is heart-rending, all is far from well for those who do have a place. There are more than 50,000 primary pupils in classes with 30 children or more and more than 250,000 in classes with 25 or more. It is a rare class that does not have children with additional needs such as dyslexia or developmental co-ordination disorder, commonly known as dyspraxia, or myriad other additional needs.
It is impossible to adequately meet these needs in overcrowded classrooms, or indeed, without specialised training, even with smaller numbers. That is why it is unacceptable to pit one kind of additional need against another when it comes to funding and reduction of class sizes. Nor is it fair to have different standards of provision.
A primary school principal in one of the most deprived areas in Dublin recently experienced severe pressure to accommodate another six pupils with autism on top of the 12 the school already welcomes. The problem is that the existing 12 are housed in a state-of-the-art, purpose-built extension, jokingly referred to as the presidential suite. The new students will be accommodated in a refurbished classroom, a vastly different scenario.
The school is running a large deficit, and while the department would pay for the refurbishment, and the students with autism would be entitled to an extra capitation grant, there would be no additional help with any of the ongoing bills. The principal is resigned to having a two-tier situation for students with autism in her already beleaguered school.
There are other systemic issues affecting provision.
Students with additional needs in mainstream classes are often withdrawn for periods by special-education teachers. Principals have been forced into using these specialist teachers as subs for sick teachers because of the recruitment and retention crisis.
[ Tension between teachers and special-needs assistants flagged in official reportOpens in new window ]
Minister for Education Helen McEntee recently made a good-faith attempt to tackle this crisis by allowing newly qualified teachers to get a permanent contract after one year instead of two. She also announced the commencement of a scheme created by Norma Foley to give Professional Master’s in Education graduates a refund of €2,000 after working for a period in an Irish school.
One principal friend of mine suggested that the refund gives new teachers a head start on the price of a ticket to Australia, and now they can go a year earlier. This may seem cynical, but it reflects the polycrisis that Irish schools face.
Irish teachers in Australia are astonished to find that they have non-contact time, a contractual timetabled period of several hours every week for corrections, preparation and collaboration with colleagues. Irish teachers can only dream.
The announcement by McEntee that trainee teachers will have to complete a special-education placement from September is a step in the right direction but leaves untouched the lack of training for teachers currently in classrooms. It is mind-boggling that teachers get only four days of training after a special class for autistic students commences. Aside from being completely inadequate, the fact that this happens after students arrive in the classroom is crazy.
Oide and the National Council on Special Education do have a number of online seminars and other workshops. However, given that every student with autism will have different needs, with some, for example, being non-verbal and others experiencing particular difficulties with emotional regulation, it is nowhere near enough.
Teachers involved in special education can apply for a State-funded postgraduate diploma in special needs, but there are only 338 places a year for more than 20,000 teachers in specialist roles.
Being Minister for Education is not an enviable job. The brief is vast, and the needs are even more extensive. However, calling a National Convention on Education seems far from a priority when sitting down any day with any group of teachers, school leaders, or stressed parents would tell us all we need to know.
