ASTI Slams Lack Of Support For Special Educational Needs

Twenty years after the passing of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004, second-level schools are still in dire need of additional funding and resources, an ASTI conference heard on Saturday.

“While acknowledging the progress made, there is a long way to go both in terms of whole-school and teacher-specific supports,” ASTI President Donal Cremin told the conference Inclusive Education in our Schools: Challenges and Opportunities in Athlone.

“Classroom teachers want to provide the best possible education experience to all of their students. To achieve this, teachers urgently need training in the rapidly evolving understanding of, and development of interventions for, students with special and additional educational needs.

“Lack of adequate training means that many teachers feel ill-equipped to engage in assessing students’ needs and creating education plans.

“It is now estimated that over a quarter of all students in Ireland’s mainstream schools have additional learning needs and/ or disabilities,” the President of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland said.

“Schools need a dedicated leadership post to take on the co-ordination of Special Educational Needs services in the school. The chronic shortage of external therapeutic and assessment services, which compounds the challenges for classroom teachers in particular, must also be addressed.”

Teachers from all over the country, as well as others working in education, attended Saturday’s conference which was addressed by keynote speaker Sheelagh Drudy, Emeritus Professor of Education at UCD.

Ms Drudy charted the development of education for children and young people with special educational needs in Ireland and outlined the challenges facing them and those seeking to protect their interests.

The conference was also addressed by John Kearney, Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), Brendan Doody from the Department of Education, and teachers involved in delivering special educational needs services in their schools (Sinéad Corkery, St Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School, Dublin; Natalie Doyle Bradley, Chanel College, Dublin; Pat Knightly, St Augustine’s College, Waterford; and Maria Markey-Greene, Rosmini Community School, Dublin).

The conference was moderated by former RTE Industry and Employment Correspondent Ingrid Miley.