The Education Minister has taken his first major step towards a complete reform of the provision of support for children with special educational needs which he has said will give schools more flexibility to meet local needs.
But already there have been calls to make the finance available, as no money has been earmarked by the NI Executive to bring the plans to fruition.
Paul Givan outlined his Special Educational Needs Reform Agenda and five-year delivery plan to the NI Assembly today, with full details to be published ‘in the coming weeks’.
“Children with special educational needs, their families and schools have, for too long, felt frustrated by a system that doesn’t fully meet their needs,” he told MLAs.
“The proposals include systemic reforms that will support greater inclusion, identification of need, early intervention, in-school and specialist support, and workforce development to ensure every child gets the help they need.
“We know that early intervention works and it is vital that health and education are working together from the earliest stages in a child’s life to identify and respond to emerging needs. That is why I am establishing a bespoke regional programme for two to three-year-olds that will also include support for parents and families.”
Emphasising the need for a change to the model of support for children with special educational needs, with a move away from one-to-one adult support for every child, and towards a more flexible model giving schools greater autonomy to meet the needs of the children in their schools, the Minister added: “Within the existing model, parents and indeed many schools see a statement of special educational needs as being the best way of securing support for a child. Aligned with this, we also know that many view one-to-one classroom assistant support as the ‘gold standard’ intervention.
“However, evidence from emerging practice both here and elsewhere points to the effectiveness of a more nuanced approach where schools have greater flexibility to deploy a range of professional support models in the classroom. Some of our schools are already seeing the benefits of these approaches to children and we must make these opportunities more widely available as we continue to be guided by best practice and evidence on what works.
“The need for change is clear and the scale of the challenge is significant.
“This programme of reform will require significant and sustained investment. I will continue to make the case to the Executive for appropriate investment in our Education system to deliver on these important reforms.”
Though welcoming the announcement, SDLP Education Spokesperson Cara Hunter said any plans must now be fully funded to ensure the maximum benefit for parents and children.
“Unless these proposals are backed up with a firm financial commitment from the Executive they will never be delivered and the hopes of parents that the support they have been crying out for may finally come to fruition should not be raised unduly,“ she said.
“The Executive has earmarked no money in their latest budget for this plan which casts serious doubts over when it is likely to be implemented.
“I particularly welcome a commitment to introduce a child development passport which would detail a child’s needs and progress throughout their time in education and if successful I believe we should look at rolling this out on a wider basis,” she added.
“I have spoken at length with SEN parents who are burned out, exhausted, feel like they’re running in circles and desperately want to see these changes implemented. We can’t allow this plan to become another wishlist that is welcomed and quickly forgotten.
“If the Executive really wants to improve education for those with SEN and to support their families, then they need to back this plan up with funding.”
Chair of Stormont’s Education Committee, Nick Mathison said everyone will want the Minister to succeed in his plans but warned: “The system is broken, and we have long been in a crisis situation.
“However, all we have right now is more empty words and no finalised action plan or costings.
“Parents and schools are rightly impatient for change to be delivered, and we can only judge the Minister on his actions, so we are yet again left waiting to see change take place.”
Alliance Education Spokesperson, Michelle Guy added: “Parents, carers, children and schools rightly have a lack of confidence in the Education Department when it comes to delivery, after years of seeing the SEN system in a state of crisis.
“But the Minister still can’t show us a finalised action plan or even how he will measure success.
“Sentiment alone won’t improve things for our children. A clear plan, with a clear outcome framework, is what is needed.”
More than 11,000 children are in special education provision, an increase of 70% in the last 10 years, while 8% of pupils have a statement of special educational needs, an increase of 113% since 2004/05.