Many children with the greatest needs in schools are losing out due to the redeployment of special education teachers to teach mainstream classes, Department of Education inspectors have found.
The findings are based on a department inspectorate report on the provision of education for children with special educational needs in 17 mainstream primary schools and 12 second-level schools.
Overall, inspections focused on the quality of teaching, learning and the use of resources to support pupils with additional needs by school management.
Inspectors found some special education teachers in primary schools were being deployed to teach maths and English curricula to mainstream classes, rather than supporting children with the greatest needs.
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There was significant erosion of teaching time for children with special educational needs at particular times of the year in other schools, such as administering assessment tests for all students.
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At second level, eight schools inspected used their special education teaching resources to form smaller mainstream class groups and smaller subject groups, or to provide additional subject option blocks at senior cycle.
While this approach led to reduced student-teacher ratios and the provision of additional subject options, it had a negative impact on the quality of teaching for young people with greater needs.
In one school, some young people with special needs received educational support from their special needs assistants (SNAs) rather than their teachers. The report found this was inappropriate, as the role of the SNA is to support the care needs of students, assist classroom teachers and special education teachers and to ensure that children and young people identified for SNA support are able to access education.
“All teaching, including additional teaching support, should be provided by teachers,” the report states.
Overall, inspectors found scope for improvement in assessment practices in almost two-thirds of the primary schools and across post-primary. A common weakness in those schools was that assessment data was not used to inform learning targets for the children. As a result, the targets set were “too general and too broad, or not appropriately challenging”.
In addition, the way in which many second-level schools timetabled support for young people with special educational needs was found to run the risk of disjointed delivery of supports.
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The report said there was a need for schools to manage the resources they receive to support children and young people with special educational needs more effectively. It includes recommendations to improve assessment practices across schools, to enhance the use of student support files and to support all post-primary schools to timetable their additional teaching resources more effectively.
Chief inspector Yvonne Keating said the report also acknowledged the good practice in supporting children and young people with special educational needs in many primary and post-primary schools. “It also highlights important areas that require improvement to ensure that all children and young people experience high-quality learning experiences,” she said.
Minister of State for Special Education Hildegarde Naughton said the allocation of additional teaching resources to schools is extremely important to provide high-quality learning experiences for children and young people with special educational needs.
“There are now over 40,000 teaching and special needs assistant posts ring-fenced in the system specifically to support children with special educational needs,” she said. “It is incumbent on schools to ensure these additional resources are used to optimal effect to support children and young people with special educational needs.”
Ms Naughton said the Department of Education will issue updated guidance to schools in coming weeks which will give direction on areas including the deployment of special education teachers and use of student support files.
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