Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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327. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount of funding that will be provided for SNAs and autism training for teachers. [29644/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise the following:

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government.It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

For 2023, the spend by my Department on special education will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education.

This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department’s total allocation for 2023.

This includes additional teaching and care supports. It also includes funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) for an additional 54 psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes.

In 2023 the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 special needs assistants in our schools next year.

For the first time ever we will have over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and over 20,000 Special needs assistants. Together we have almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide.

In 2023, there will be a significant investment in the expansion of the National Council for Special Education, with a total full-year investment of €13 million, in over 160 additional staff. This investment is being undertaken so that the NSCE can respond effectively, compassionately and quickly to the increased need in our education system so that children and their families are fully supported and achieve the best possible education outcomes.

In relation to training for teachers of pupils with autism the NCSE provides support for teachers with additional training needs in the area of special educational through the NCSE Support Service.

The aim of the NCSE Support Service is to develop schools’ capacity to include students with special educational needs and to promote a continuum of educational provision which is inclusive and responsive.

The NCSE Support Service provides Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) support for teachers of pupils with ASD through an Inclusive Learning Resource Teachers course as well as an online resource facility and an online book borrowing facility.

The Support Service continues to update current Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) courses for teachers and design new TPL courses in response to the needs of teachers.

Detailed information on the comprehensive programme of Teacher Professional Learning seminars on a variety of special educational needs topics is published on the NCSE website. ncse.ie/tpl

Last year, my Department published new ‘Autism Good Practice Guidance for Schools’ for schools and training on the new guidance has been provided to schools this year. The guidance is designed to help support the well-being, learning and participation of children and young people with autism in education. It aims to assist school staff to understand the varied nature of students' strengths and needs, as well as to identify whole-school and individualised approaches to supports for students.

It can be used by staff supporting autistic students across a range of educational environments including mainstream, special-class and special-school settings.