IPPN

Principals are not convinced by new 'weighting system' for SEN resources

Today's details of the new 'weighted' approach to allocating resources for children with special education needs (SEN) in primary schools, have not raised the hopes of principals. The Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) acknowledges that the new model has potential to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and the unacceptable length of time that it takes the DES to respond to individual requests for children with SEN. However, the new system unveiled by the DES today leaves many key questions unanswered.

Recognising that there is a higher incidence of SEN amongst boys, the DES have now improved the quota of pupils required for each extra Support Teacher from 150 : 1 to 140 : 1 in a boys school. Sadly, in doing so the situation for girls has been dramatically worsened whereby extra SEN teachers will be appointed on a 200: 1 ratio. Before gender differences in SEN were addressed, a common ratio of 150: 1 had been tabled. Principals of all-girls' schools are now asking why their pupils are penalised with a dramatic drop in their resourcing levels.

IPPN welcomes the improved resourcing pupil ratio of 80 : 1 for designated disadvantaged schools, however, this masks a far deeper problem - the designation of schools with disadvantaged status is completely anomalous and lacking in fairness and transparency. There are numerous examples of schools sharing the same catchment areas and even on the same campus, one with and the other without designated disadvantage status! Using this simplistic approach to allocating additional SEN resources to children with social and economic disadvantage may indeed be convenient, but it merely magnifies the existing anomalies.

The heart of the problem lies in the fact that this is not a weighted system at all. It is merely an effort to spread out available resources as evenly as possible using a quota system. A true weighted system was first flagged more than ten years ago by the Special Education Review Committee (SERC) but was never implemented. What is needed now is a genuine weighted system based on a points rating attached to each child with special education needs, supported by a proper national pupil database - still not in existence in this country in 2004.

'Dropping' major system changes just as schools are about to close raises many serious questions about the timing of this announcement. It is unfair that the burden of this system change will be left to fall upon principals yet again with serious additional workload to be undertaken during official holidays. The DES' approach to change management flies in the face of good planning. Principals are also seriously concerned that parents of children who up to now have enjoyed one-to-one SEN resourcing will have to be informed that this ratio will be disimproved by the new quota system. This may give rise to legal challenges.

The hard reality for principals, parents and children with SEN is that there are still 6,000 children whose applications for resources have not been responded to. While acknowledging that the new 'weighted' (quota) system will allow schools to redeploy staff for many of these children, in several cases, up to two years later there is still no indication from the SEN Unit in the DES as to what level of resources will be made available. We take great pride in Ireland that we have a 'child centred' education system, however the resourcing of SEN appears to contradict this philosophy.

Ends

For further information:
Seán Cottrell, National Director, IPPN.
O21 452 4925 (Office)
086 6478717 (Mobile)