Special Education Needs Provision within Mainstream Education  

11.1 Special Education Needs Provision within Mainstream Education 

Provision in Mainstream Education

The Department of Education and Youth provides for the education of children with special education needs through a number of support mechanisms depending on the child’s assessed disability.

Section 2 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 requires that ... a child with special educational needs shall be educated in an inclusive environment with children who do not have such needs unless the nature or degree of those needs of the child is such that to do so would be inconsistent with the:

• Best interests of the child as determined in accordance with any assessment carried out under this Act,
• Effective provision of education for children with whom the child is to be educated.

In general, educational provision for children with special needs is made in:

• Special schools;
• Special classes attached to ordinary schools;
• Integrated settings in mainstream classes.

The nature and level of the educational response is based on the child’s professionally-assessed disability.  The department’s policy is to achieve as much integration as possible, as envisaged in Section 2 of the EPSEN Act. Where placement in an integrated setting is considered to be the appropriate response, provision will normally take the form of resource teaching or special needs assistant support, or both, depending on the pupil’s assessed level of need.

While the department’s policy is to ensure the maximum possible integration of children with special needs into ordinary mainstream schools, students who have been assessed as having special educational needs have access to a range of special support services.  The services range from special schools dedicated to particular disability groups, through special classes/units attached to ordinary schools, to placement on an integrated basis in ordinary schools with supports.

Children with more severe levels of disability may require placement in a special school or special class attached to a mainstream primary school.  Each such facility is dedicated to a particular disability group and each operates at a specially reduced pupil teacher ratio. Pupils attending these facilities attract special rates of capitation funding and are entitled to avail of the special school transport service and the school bus escort service.Early Childhood

The guiding principle of mainstreaming public services for people with disabilities was adopted by the Government in 2000. The inclusion of young children with disabilities in pre-school settings is an integral part of the mainstreaming agenda.

Recent data from an Annual Beneficiary Questionnaire published by POBAL is based on respondents from early years services funded under the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP) 2006-2010 capital funding, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) scheme and all services participating in the Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) and Childcare Education & Training Supports (CETS) programmes. 3,401 questionnaires were completed representing an overall response rate of 78.1%.

Services were asked to provide details of the number of children with special needs (as diagnosed by the HSE) currently attending their services. In response to this question, 47% (1,587) of all services were found to have at least one child with a disability in attendance. A total of 4,679 children with disabilities of varying types were accessing services. The attendance is higher within the community sector, where 58% of all services report having at least one child with a disability attending, as compared with 41% of all private providers. The largest single category is that of “autism spectrum” disabilities; respondents reported a total of 1,302 children with this type of disability attending their service.

Within the school sector, special needs assistants (SNAs) are allocated by the Department of Education and Youth to special and mainstream schools to support pupils with  significant care needs. The current provision does not extend to children in Early Start Pre-school Programme. The Department of Education and Youth also supports pre-school provision for children with disabilities in a number of areas, namely, hearing impairment and autism early intervention classes, home tuition grants and visiting teacher services.

Outside of the school sector, support services for pre-school children are provided by the HSE. The Office of Disability and Mental Health in the Department of Health has overall responsibility for these services. The HSE provides grant aid support for children with disabilities in pre-school through two different arrangements; service level arrangements (SLAs) where the total grant to the agency (for all services) is in excess of €250k and grant aid agreements where the total grant to agencies is less than €250k.

The HSE funds pre-school provision for children with disabilities through the provision of:

• Day Special Pre Schools which are pre-schools run by statutory or voluntary agencies specifically for children with disabilities and through;
• Pre-school supports which refers to supports given to children with disabilities who are attending mainstream pre-school services.

The HSE also supports pre-school aged children (0-5 years) through the provision of multi-disciplinary early intervention services, which includes speech and language therapy, psychology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, early intervention specialists, and elements of nursing and social work. A proportion of the costs in the Multi-Disciplinary Early Intervention Services category also relates to supporting children in pre-schools. However, it is not possible to apportion these costs with any accuracy as the organisation of HSE multi-disciplinary services focuses on all young children in a catchment area and does not distinguish between children attending pre-schools and  younger children (up to the age of three) and older children who do not attend pre-schools.

The provision of two year's free pre-school to all children has the potential to promote equality of opportunity at the most important developmental stage of children’s lives. Special flexibility is allowed for children with special needs regarding the scheme’s age criterion and such children are allowed spread the provision over more than one year. Furthermore, all services participating in the scheme are required to make reasonable accommodation for children with special needs.

The Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 2006 set out recommended adult/child ratios and maximum group sizes that should apply in full- and part-time day care, sessional and child minding services. Settings with children with special needs are not required to apply lower ratios.

Central to Síolta is the principle that pedagogy in early childhood must be supported within a flexible and dynamic framework that addresses the learning potential of the whole child and should be expressed by curricula or programmes of activities which take a holistic approach to the development and learning of the child and reflect the inseparable nature of care and education.

Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, was developed by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth. It was published in 2006, following a three-year developmental process. Since December 2008, the Early Years Education Policy Unit in the department has been responsible for the implementation of Síolta with three distinct but interrelated elements: Principles, Standards and Components of Quality. The 12 Principles provide the overall vision of the Framework, while the 16 Standards and 75 Components allow for the practical application of this vision across all aspects of ECCE practice. The Components of Quality are further explained by a set of ‘Signposts for Reflection’ and ‘Think-abouts’ which are intended to support practitioners in early education settings to become aware of and critical of their practice. These core elements of Síolta are set out in detail in the Síolta user manual. 

A visiting teacher service is in place to provide specialist teaching, information and guidance for learners who are visually impaired, deaf/hard of hearing in pre-school, primary and post-primary sectors. The service supports families and children of pre-school age.

Special Classes

The vast majority of students with special educational needs are supported in mainstream education settings through additional resources such as access to special education teachers, SNAs and additional supports. Children and young people with more complex needs may require a placement in a special class or a special school. A professional report is required recommending a special class or special school placement to access these places. 

In the 2024/25 school year almost 2.9% of the overall student population were enrolled in a special class in a mainstream school or special school. This is up from 1.4% in 2014 and 1.8% in 2019.

In total there were over 28,000 children and young people enrolled in 3,335 special classes in mainstream schools and 134 special schools in the Republic of Ireland in the 2024/25 school year. 

The vast majority of special classes support children who are diagnosed with autism and have additional needs that require a special class placement.

Home Tuition

The purpose of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme (Special Education Component) is to provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for::

• Pre-School Children with autism who meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria;
• Children seeking a Special School or Special Class placement;
• Students, enrolled in schools, with a significant medical condition, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school
• Students, enrolled in schools, with school phobia and/or associated depression/anxiety, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school. With a significant medical condition likely to cause major continuing disruption to school attendance;

As home tuition takes place outside the usual school structure,  it is important that home tutors are qualified to provide an educational programme. Accordingly, it is a condition of the scheme that parents/legal guardians recruit a tutor who is qualified in the sector in which tuition is being provided and is registered teacher who is registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland for the duration of the approved tuition. Where all efforts have failed to secure the services of a teacher qualified to teach in the sector concerned, the Department may consider the engage of a person is registered with the Teaching Council and has a primary degree (minimum level 7 on the National Framework of Qualifications) in a relevant area (e.g. Psychology).  

The State aims over time to support a single early intervention setting structure for all children, including children with special educational needs.

Primary Schools

In 2025 over €2.9 billion will be spent supporting children with special educational needs. This figure builds on previous years and represents over a quarter of the education budget.

Children from age four may attend primary mainstream schools for eight years. In 2024-25, there were 3,246 aided primary schools and 552,116 pupils attending these schools – this includes mainstream and special schools. The pupil-teacher ratio for that academic year was 15.3. There are also 38 private primary schools.

Learners with special educational needs may be included in mainstream classes and receive additional teaching support and/or support from a special needs assistant (SNA). Additional teaching is provided through a withdrawal or in-class model of support. The class teacher is expected to maintain responsibility for the learner’s education programme and to liaise with the support teacher regarding the individualised learning and teaching programme that is in place for the learner. Special needs assistants are allocated to  support the care needs of students and to assist classroom teachers to ensure that the student is able to access education, The average class size in mainstream primary schools is approximately twenty-four pupils, however classes can range from less than twenty-four up to twenty-nine pupils.

In September 2017, a new assessment was introduced to determine how special education teachers are allocated to mainstream schools. Under the new system, each school gets a single allocation of special education teachers. The number of special education teachers allocated to a school is determined by the size of the school and its educational profile. A school’s educational profile is broadly based on the number of students with complex special educational needs, the results of standardised tests and the social context of the school taking account of disadvantage and gender. 

It is designed to give a fairer allocation of special education teachers to each school. It recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the actual level of need in each school. Schools are now provided with the necessary resources in advance so that children with special educational needs can be enrolled into schools and access the additional teaching supports they need (Circular 0013/2017).

There is also a range of special class provision in mainstream primary schools that provides for learners with a diversity of special educational needs. Depending on the particular special educational needs of the learners, class size can range from six to eleven pupils in the special classes depending on the category of need of the special class. SNAs are also allocated to special classes to support students with significant care needs. For the 2025/26 school year 3,741 special classes have been provided in mainstream schools which will accommodate an estimated 21,000+ students. 

The Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022 included amendments in respect of section 8 and section 9 of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018) of the Education Act of 1998, specifically amendments to Sections 37A, 61, 67, 68 and 69 of the Education Act 1998. This legislation provides for the option of using Section 37A of the Education Act, 1998 whereby the Minister can compel a school to make provision. Also the option of Section 67 of the Education Act 1998 which provides for the NCSE to direct schools to admit a student with special educational needs. Post-Primary Schools

Mainstream post-primary schools educate students aged from twelve to eighteen years. In 2016-17, there were 711 aided post-primary schools catering for over 352,000 learners in total. This includes 52 fee-paying secondary schools with 25,282 pupils, which are also aided by the DES. Of the total, approximately 63,000 learners had special educational needs.

Classes at post-primary level are organised around particular subject areas or programmes that learners are engaging with. Learners with special educational needs may be included in mainstream classes and receive additional teaching support from a special education teacher and/or additional care support from a SNA. Additional teaching is provided through a withdrawal or in-class model of support. The subject teacher is expected to maintain responsibility for the learner’s progress in a particular subject area, in and to liaise with the support teacher regarding the learner’s individualised learning and teaching programme learner. Special needs assistants are allocated to assist teachers by meeting the care needs of learners and are assigned duties of a non-teaching nature.

There is also a range of special class provision in mainstream post-primary schools that provides for learners with a diversity of special educational needs. Depending on the particular special educational needs of the learners, class size can range from six to eleven pupils in the special classes. Special needs assistants are also allocated to special classes in post-primary schools, to support students with special educational need who have significant care needs. There were approximately 997 special classes attached to mainstream post-primary schools in the 2024/2025 school year.

Definition of the Target Group(s)

Special educational needs are defined in Section 1 (1) of the EPSEN Act, 2004 which states that ‘special educational needs means in relation to a person, a restriction in the capacity of the person to participate in and benefit from education on account of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or learning disability, or any other condition which results in a person learning differently from a person without that condition and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.’ Section 52 of the EPSEN Act, amended Section 2 (1) of the Education Act, 1998 by substituting the above definition for the definition of disability detailed in the Education Act, 1998. One of the recommendations of the EPSEN Act 2004 Review, detailed above, is to review the language used in relation to children with additional needs and this will be acted upon in the implementation plan. 

Inclusive education is at the core of the department’s policy which requires differentiated teaching approaches to cater for the varying levels of ability in the classroom, from providing additional supports to those experiencing difficulty to ensuring appropriate levels of challenge and enrichment for exceptionally able students.

Resources are allocated to learners with special educational needs with reference to designated categories. This categorical system focuses the allocation of additional resources to learners within defined categories of special educational needs. A distinction is made between the allocation of resources for learners with high-incidence and low-incidence disabilities. Learners with high-incidence disabilities are provided with additional resources through a general allocation model, which provides for additional teaching resources to be allocated to schools without the requirement for an external assessment and places the focus on school-based inclusive interventions. High-incidence disabilities include specific learning difficulty and borderline/mild and mild general learning disability. Low-incidence disabilities include physical disability, deaf/hard of hearing, visual impairment, emotional disturbance, moderate general learning disability, severe or profound general learning disability, autistic spectrum disorders, special educational needs arising from an assessed syndrome such as Down syndrome, Tourette’s syndrome, specific speech and language disorder and multiple disabilities.

Special educational needs are also defined in Section 2 (1) Education Act, 1998 as ‘the educational needs of students who have a disability and the educational needs of exceptionally able students’. While learners with exceptional learning ability are not allocated additional teaching resources, it is expected that curriculum differentiation by the class teacher at both primary and post-primary levels is a key feature of educational provision for these learners and that attention is directed to ensuring that these learners are provided with learning and teaching opportunities that optimise their full potential.

Specific Support Measures

Considerable resources have been allocated to support the inclusion of learners with special educational needs in mainstream primary and post-primary education. 14,800 Special Education Teaching posts were allocated to schools  for the 2024/25 school year to support students with additional learning needs identified via the Continuum of Support framework .

Where special classes are a feature of provision in mainstream schools, it is expected that the maximum inclusion of learners with their mainstream peers is facilitated.  Special classes provide for learners with both high-incidence and low-incidence disabilities, and are established in schools based on an identified local need.

Under the section in the Programme for Government to support students with additional educational needs there is a commitment to introduce a specific programme to support students with exceptional abilities.

Continuing Professional Development

The Department of Education and Youth provides for a range of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes to develop teachers’ knowledge and understanding in relation to special education. These programmes range from post-graduate programmes in third-level institutions to programmes provided by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The NCSE has responsibility for providing CPD and support for teachers in the area of special educational needs to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in relation to special education provision  and to develop capacity to meet the needs of students with special educational needs. A range of material is also available on the NCSE website to assist teachers in meeting the learning and teaching needs of learners with special educational needs.

The NCSE provides supports to teachers and schools in a way that builds capacity, supports the inclusion of all children, including students with special educational needs, at a whole school level. The NCSE Support Service manages, co-ordinates and develops a range of supports in response to identified teacher training needs. The NCSE offers bespoke in-school support for either whole school staff, small groups, or individual teachers. The support can be tailored to specific teacher professional learning (TPL) needs within a school, such as, in the areas of differentiation, planning, autism and behaviour.

Providing inclusive education to children with special educational needs is a fundamental principle of the education system. This principle is observed through Department policies, Teaching Council requirements for initial teacher education, curriculum provision and the range of supports provided to schools by the NCSE and Oide. 

Teachers undertake professional learning in a range of pedagogical, curricular and educational areas. TPL provided for teachers supports the inclusion of students with special education needs in mainstream classrooms.

Inclusive education is a mandatory element of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes. Within further updated standards which the Teaching Council adopted in 2020, known as Céim Standards for ITE, inclusive education was further strengthened as one of seven core elements which must underpin all aspects of ITE programmes.

Launched in March 2023, the Policy Statement on Initial Teacher Education looks to build on the work carried out to enhance inclusive education under Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education.  The Teaching Council provided a report to the department in October 2024 on how the core element of inclusive education has been included in initial teacher education.  This will help foster progress on other actions agreed as part of the Policy Statement on Initial Teacher Education. 

The department has initiated a process to move towards a mandatory assessed placement period in a special education needs setting for all student teachers. As part of this, it is envisaged the Teaching Council, on behalf of the department, will conduct a survey across all ITE providers to gain a deeper understanding of the current landscape of school placement provision in special education settings. This will support the consideration of the Teaching Council in the development and approval of a guidance note for higher education institutions, to be issued in Q3 2025 around an assessed student placement period in a special education setting, working with a view to supporting initial change in September 2026.

Funded by the department, Oide works with teachers and school leaders to provide ongoing support and professional development, which promotes inclusive practices. Oide’s Leadership team are facilitating the Caidrimh Programme. This provides professional learning and support to guide special schools in effectively collaborating, sharing, and distributing their roles and responsibilities to create a school environment that is responsive and inclusive to diverse needs.

The department provides funding for two distinct categories of post-graduate programmes for special education teachers: 

• Post-Graduate Diploma Programme of Teacher Professional Learning for Special Education Teachers.
• Graduate Certificate in Autism Education for teachers working with Autistic Pupils in Special Schools, Special Classes or as Special Education Teachers in Mainstream Primary and Post-Primary Schools.   

In 2024 approximately €852,000 was provided for these programmes to provide for over 300 places.

The Department of Education and Youth funds the Teacher Fee Refund Scheme which provides funding towards the cost of course participation and examination fees on successful completion of teacher professional learning courses, including inclusion programmes.

Recognising the need to provide specific supports to teachers in the area of autism, the department developed a guidance document for schools to support the needs of students with autism – “Autism Good Practice Guidance for Schools”. The content is relevant to supporting students across a range of educational environments including mainstream, special class and special school settings. This guidance document has been developed as a resource for schools to support the needs of students with autism. It aims to assist teachers, SNAs and others working with children and young people with autism in an education setting to understand their needs so there can be effective engagement. The department provided a number of workshops for schools on the autism guidance across the country and which were very well attended by school staff. An online learning programme is currently in development for the Autism Good Practice Guidance.     

In addition to and separate from Department funded Inclusion/SEN courses, some Higher Education Institutes offer privately funded courses on these topics at post-graduate/master’s level, which participants fund themselves.

The Visiting Teacher Service for Children who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Children who are Blind/Visually Impaired (VTHVI) also transferred to the NCSE in 2017.

Psychological assessment of children and young people and professional support for teachers and schools is provided by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). This body was established in September 1999 and provides a service to primary, post-primary and some special schools.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) was established under the Education Act, 1998 to advise the Minister in relation to the education of all learners. The NCCA has developed suites of curriculum Guidelines for Teachers of Students with mild and general learning disabilities, which are designed to assist special school, primary and post-primary teachers in mediating the curriculum for learners with special educational needs.

These documents are designed to enable students with mild general learning disabilities to access all subjects as presented in the Primary School Curriculum. In presenting these guidelines, recognition is given to the fact that the aims and objectives of the guidelines are the same as those outlined in the Primary School Curriculum. Given the breadth of the subject matter, differentiation may be necessary at many levels. The primary school SESE curriculum, however, remains the curriculum statement for this group of students and these guidelines are intended as a supplement to it rather than a replacement for it. These guidelines therefore should be read in conjunction with the primary school SESE curriculum.

While there is not, as yet cross-sectoral nationwide standardised testing in place to evaluate the progress of learners with special educational needs through education, individual schools engage in their own assessment processes, which may include the use of teacher-devised tests and tasks, teacher-observation, norm-referenced tests, criterion-referenced tests and portfolio assessments. In addition, as part of the new National Literacy and Numeracy strategy primary schools are required to implement standardised testing in English reading and Mathematics during the period May/June for all students in 2nd, 4th and 6th classes with effect from 2012 onwards (DES, Circular 0018/2012).  Primary schools are required to report aggregate standardised test results to the DES once annually. An online system to enable schools to upload their standardised test data is available via Easinet. Data on student achievement are essential to inform national education policy and to identify ways of improving the performance of the education system.

At post-primary level, students with special educational needs may engage with a range of certified programmes in accordance with their needs and abilities. These programmes include the Junior Certificate and the Junior Certificate School Programme following three years at post-primary. Learners with special educational needs may engage with the Leaving Certificate, the LCA, the LCVP and the Further Education and Training Awards in their final two-three years at post-primary level. None of these certified programmes are specifically designed for learners with special educational needs. However reasonable accommodation measures are available if appropriate for learners through the provision of a scribe or increased time-allocation to complete a state examination. From 2014, the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy   provides for standardised testing for students in second year in post-primary schools in English reading and mathematics in all schools and, in addition, in Irish reading in Irish-medium schools.

The Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Youth also has a role in evaluating the quality of provision for all learners, including learners with special educational needs. The functions of the Inspectorate are detailed in Section XIII of the Education Act, 1998. These functions include providing support and advice to schools, evaluating the organisation and operation of schools and the quality and effectiveness of the education provided, including the quality of teaching and learning, the effectiveness of individual teachers, assessing the implementation of regulations made by the Minister and reporting to the Minister, board of management, patron, parents and teachers as appropriate.

The Department of Education and Youth invests considerably in school buildings through providing funding for alterations to existing facilities or through building new structures. The specific needs of learners with special educational needs are considered and alterations/new structures are designed to accommodate the particular needs of the learners that are enrolled in the school.

School transport is provided for by the Department of Education and Youth to allow learners with special educational needs to attend the nearest appropriate placement that can be resourced. The purpose of the Department of Education and Youth’s school transport scheme for children with special educational needs is, having regard to the available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children with special educational needs arising from a diagnosed disability. In general, these children are eligible for school transport if they are attending the nearest recognised mainstream school or unit that is or can be resourced to meet their special educational needs under the Department’s criteria. Eligibility is determined following consultation with the National Council for Special Education through its network of special educational needs organisers (SENOs).

Bus Éireann (the State public transport operator) operates the school transport service on behalf of the department. The school transport service may not be available in all areas. Where the transport cannot be provided, students may be eligible for a Special Transport Grant to help with the cost of making private transport arrangements. Applications can be made to the department by the Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) to employ an escort to accompany a child, if the child’s care and safety needs require that support. Additionally, where necessary, adjustments are made to vehicles to accommodate the needs of learners with physical disabilities.

Spending on special needs transport – which often includes bus escorts or taxis for students – has jumped from €64 million to €92 million between 2013/2014 and 2017/2018. The costs have been rising due mainly to an increase in the number of eligible children with special needs who require transport.

The cost for the provision of school transport services in 2017 was approximately €190 million. This included the cost of direct transport services, grant payments, funding to schools for the employment of escorts to accompany children with special educational needs whose care and safety needs were such as to require the support of an escort.

In 2017-18, 117,000 children including 12,700 children with special educational needs were transported in approximately 4,500 vehicles covering over 100 million kilometres over the course of the year.

The number of children availing of the special educational needs scheme has increased by 3,512, from more than 9,000 in 2013-2014 to almost 13,000 in 2017-1208, and the overall costs of the scheme, including grants, payments to contractors and funding for school transport escorts, has risen by over €27 million, from €64 million to almost €91 million over the same period.