Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE IRISH NATIONAL Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has condemned the Minister for Children’s proposed changes to the Assessment of Need process as a “solo run” and a “profound breach of trust”.
The teachers’ union said Norma Foley announced the changes to the process despite never having consulting with or notifying educators about the reforms.
Foley said yesterday that legislation would be needed to introduced the changes to the Assessment of Need (AON) process, which will take time.
Under the Disability Act, an AON aims to identify health and education needs and what services are needed to meet those needs.
Around 30% of children at the end of the AON process are found not to have a disability, but do have a need.
A total of 45% of all of the assessments that have been completed in the first nine months of this year have made an autism diagnosis.
The changes propose amending the Disability Act 2005 to introduce new guidelines for assessment officers to make clear that the AON process should be focused on establishing the health and education needs for a child, rather than lengthy and complex reports on a diagnosis of disability.
Foley said there will also be additional supports and training for them, with the HSE also setting up 11 expert teams with four staff on each, including a psychologist, a speech and language therapist and an occupational therapist, as well as an administrator.
There are around 18,000 people waiting for an assessment, and the list is growing.
Aside and separate to the changes announced to the AON system, there will also be a new autism assessment process launched by the HSE next February, the Children’s Minister Norma Foley announced yesterday. This programme will be staffed by psychologists.
The new Autism Pathway process, which is currently being developed by the Department of Education, is set to be in place for the academic year of September 2027.
In a statement today, the INTO said it is demanding “immediate engagement” with teacher representatives from the Department of Education.
It said teachers “cannot continue to respond to a rolling cycle of ministerial pronouncements and initiatives while the necessary supports for children with special educational are still not where they need to be”.
“Teachers were not consulted, briefed or even informed in advance of these proposals. That is bad faith, pure and simple,” INTO general secretary John Boyle said.
“Our position is clear and unwavering. Meaningful consultation is the absolute minimum that should be expected when any changes are proposed to a system that has been dogged by controversy and concern for years.
It is grossly unfair that government departments are using vulnerable children as political footballs after failing to provide them with timely assessments and therapeutic supports.
The union said the “shocking” announcement by the Minister came after a DCU study found high levels of stress and burnout among teachers in Ireland.
“Teachers already under intense strain cannot be expected to absorb further major system change, particularly when announced through the media rather than formal channels of consultation,” Boyle said.
He said the union has been calling for an independent review of teacher workload similar to the model recently concluded in Northern Ireland, “not for another layer of cosmetic changes”.
“The intent could not be clearer. A Minister in charge of a broken system is attempting to shift responsibility.”
He accused the Department of treating principals, special education teachers and mainstream class teachers “with profound disrespect” and said they would not accept any further erosion of their working conditions “for political expediency by a Minister who has shown such disregard for them.”
The union will raise the matter at the Primary Education Forum tomorrow while its Central Executive Committee will meet in the coming days “to consider the matter fully”, Boyle added.
Labour’s education spokesperson Eoghan Kenny said the proposals “will have profound implications for schools, for teachers and for the children and families who rely on appropriate, timely and specialist treatment”.
“Replacing diagnostic criteria with an educational assessment places an unreasonable and unsafe burden on schools. It seems we will streamline the process of receiving therapies, but leaves an enormous void in how special classes and places will be assigned.”
Kenny said Foley reiterated how children will no longer need an AON to get a place in a social school or class and that it would be “up to education” how places will be assigned.
This level of buck passing is extraordinary, degrading and wrong.
“Who will be carrying out this new special education assessment? Will it be teachers? Will it be SENOs? The Taoiseach could not give me a straight answer on this under questioning in the Dáil today.”
Kenny said parents “will now be forced to chase two parallel pathways – one to get the therapies their child needs, and one to get the diagnosis and the school place their child needs. It is crazy stuff.”
Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane told RTÉ’s News at One programme this afternoon that schools themselves have to have the capacity and the resources to roll out any proposed changes.
“Very often that doesn’t happen and announcements are made, which can create frustration,” he said.
Cullinane said “we will have to wait and see” what is being proposed and “whether or not this is a process that is designed to improve services for children, or actually to shortcut waiting lists and to reduce waiting lists”.
“[Foley] says that she wants a more efficient and effective system, but what does sufficient mean? She says that clinical assessments will only be used when necessary.. Who decides what is necessary? What safeguards will be put in place to prevent under assessment?”
He said there is “real pressure on the government” to reduce the 18,000 waiting list and that they can’t use reform “as a substitute for actually recruiting the staff that is needed to provide vote assessments and, crucially, services for children”.
Yesterday, Foley said the Department of Education is dealing with the issue of special classes and special schools, not her department.
A Department of Education and Youth spokesperson said children and young people in the education system have never required an AON in order to access education supports.
Since 2017, children and young people in mainstream schools have not required a diagnosis to access supports from the 15,000 special education teachers in our school system, they added.
“The department has also removed the need for health-related information for special education teaching allocations, transitions between primary and post-primary special classes, assistive technology supports, and additional SNA requirements.
“A diagnosis is currently still required for access to a special school or class place.
“Looking ahead, the department will develop a process for determining eligibility for specialist education settings that is education-based and needs-led. As announced yesterday, the department intends to work with all concerned, including our unions, to ensure a child centred approach on this matter,” said the spokesperson.
It is expected that the Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton will revert to Cabinet early in the new year with a proposed approach with a view to eliminating unnecessary pressure on Assessment of Need Waiting lists.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say