Many countries around the world are considering moving to educating all children together, where all really does mean all including students with complex physical, communication and learning needs.

The National Council for Special Education will shortly be engaging in a consultation to get the public perspective on whether Ireland should move in this direction.  Teresa Griffin, NCSE CEO explained that:

“We want Irish children with additional complex needs to have the best education outcomes from our schools.  Children with additional needs can attend mainstream schools or special classes or special schools.  But is this the best structure or are there other better ways? As well as considering international and national research, we have been looking at the Canadian province of New Brunswick and Portugal, both of which have developed fully inclusive schools”.

The NCSE will on Tuesday publish a progress report on its work to date around this important question.  It has found evidence of substantial investment in special education – almost 18% of the total education budget now goes to support students with special needs.

Many in the education sector who have been consulted to date have advised that the current dual special/mainstream school system works well generally.

Others consulted felt that special schools should be on the same campus as mainstream schools but could not envisage a system in Ireland whereby all students – including those with the most complex learning, medical and/or behavioural needs – could learn together within the one school. They expressed concerns over the potential impact on the education of other students without such needs.

Others again believed that all children should be educated together in the same school. They considered that there were broader benefits to society from all children learning and growing up together. The experience of New Brunswick would support this view as a fully inclusive system is seen as a human right.

There was consensus that aspects of the current system would have to change e.g. teacher professional learning, school buildings, class size, and therapy supports.

The NCSE has not, to date, found any substantial evidence that students with additional needs have better outcomes in special schools/classes.

The report outlines the risk that Ireland might be in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which requires that children with disabilities can access inclusive, quality and free primary and secondary education.  Other countries have been criticised by the UN committee for not educating all children together in mainstream classes within their local school.

The NCSE will finish its work in June 2020.   In finalising the report, the best interests of children and their needs is the fundamental and first consideration of the NCSE.

 

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Note for the editor:

The NCSE is the national agency charged with providing independent, expert policy advice to the Minister on the education of students with special educational needs.

 

The Minister requested that the NCSE examine whether there is local, or international, evidence that placement in specialist settings brings about improved educational outcomes and experiences for students with special educational needs.

 

Approach of the NCSE

The NCSE’s policy advice is always informed by international best practice.  The NCSE commissions and/or carries out its own research; undertakes a broad process of consultation with education stakeholders including students, parents, teachers, principals, advocacy groups, school management bodies and considers all the available evidence before finalising policy advice.

 

To date the NCSE has:

 

  • Reviewed the current educational provision for students with additional needs in Ireland
  • Undertaken seven separate research strands including a detailed literature review
  • Met over 30 different stakeholder groups
  • Visited 19 Irish schools
  • Looked at fully inclusive schools in the Canadian province of New Brunswick Canada and Lisbon, Portugal.

 

Research Conference

The NCSE’s annual research conference is being held on Tuesday 19 November and attracts over 200 educational stakeholders.  The theme is “Inclusion” and the afternoon session will look at two parts of the world where a fully inclusive education system is already in place – New Brunswick Canada, and on the journey towards full inclusion – Portugal.

 

In 2013, the then Minister for Education in New Brunswick, Canada, Jody Carr, introduced a policy of full inclusion, where all students are educated in their local mainstream school: there are no special schools and no special classes. Jody will outline the changes in New Brunswick and the key lessons learned for all those involved in making inclusion happen at a systems level. His former colleague in this work, Kim Korotkov, from the Ministry of Education, will outline the role played by different groups in making a fully inclusive education system happen in practice.

 

The final presentation will be from João Costa, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Education. João will take us through developments underway in Portugal, which is moving towards a fully inclusive education system. In particular, he will look at how teachers can be supported to educate all students in a changing system.

 

Seán Ó Foghlú, Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, will bring the session to a close with his conference address.

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