Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
A secondary analysis of wave one data from the GUI programme (Cosgrove et al., 2014) showed
that children with SEN, particularly those identified with learning disabilities, face considerable
barriers to engage fully in school life. They are considerably less likely to enjoy their time spent at
school, a finding that holds when account is taken of their social and cultural background. A study
of the experiences of children in all types of school settings shows that most pupils made academic
progress, though often significantly below that achieved by their peer group. The two largest
categories of special educational need identified in this study were social, emotional or behavioural
difficulties (SEBD) and general learning difficulties (GLD). While there were, of course, considerable
variations in background characteristics and, to a degree, by SEN categories, the analysis of the GUI
data showed that children with special educational needs were disproportionately affected by a
constellation of disadvantages. They were more likely to be from families with higher levels of socioeconomic
disadvantage than children without special educational needs; more likely to be in families
under financial stress; more likely to have parents with poorer educational attainment than others;
more likely to be from one-parent families; more likely to be attending DEIS schools (and thus in
situations where there were higher levels of literacy and numeracy difficulties); and also more likely
to be ‘clustered’ in classrooms – i.e. placed with other children with SEN (Cosgrove et al., 2014).
Policy advice from the NCSE has been that the EPSEN Act (Government of Ireland, 2004) still
represents the most effective blueprint for delivering resources to this cohort through its emphasis
on individualised assessment processes, educational planning and monitoring of student outcomes
(NCSE Working Group, 2014). Thus, pending the full implementation of EPSEN and due to
concerns about possible inequities in the allocation of resources to schools, policy advice from this
Working Group (2014) recommended a new and better model for the allocation of teaching
resources. This is now to be extended from the pilot phase to all schools with 900 additional teaching
posts, with effect from September 2017 (DES, 2017a).
A recent study of the experiences of students with SEN in post-primary schools has found that the
majority of students have very positive experiences (Squires et al., 2016). However, some students
experienced problems. A number of key lessons emerged from this study. Students should be at the
centre of decisions made about them and actively involved in the process. School leaders need to
consider how they can create a culture and climate in their schools that are supportive of all students,
especially those who are vulnerable or have special educational needs. Friendship development and
maintenance is harder for some students with SEN and particularly challenged at times of transition
when existing friendships may change. When different teachers are involved in teaching an individual
student or group of students, there needs to be good communication between the teaching team so
that consistent approaches are used and opportunities for skill generalisation are developed. Schools
should reflect on how they manage bullying in their schools and pay particular attention to students
with special educational needs. Finally, school buildings need to be audited in terms of accessibility
with the aim of improving access for different groups of students (Ibid., pp. 134-136).
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