SPECIAL EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND: A SHORT OVERVIEW
J Hunter
Introduction
Currently, some 53,164 or 14% of the school-aged children and young people in
Northern Ireland have special educational needs, which require additional support to
access the curriculum and engage with learning. Of this number, some 10,084 are
identified as requiring statutory statements of special educational needs including
approximately 39.1% who are educated in mainstream schools and a further 17.5% in
units attached to primary and post-primary schools. In this context, there are some
4,710 pupils educated in 49 special schools. In addition, there is a growing number of
suspensions, (5,500) and a worrying level of persistent non-attendance, reaching
9,000 during 2003-4. With a further 1,000 pupils educated in alternative provision, the
issue of inclusion and special educational needs is a significant issue.
Inspection reports and the Chief Inspector’s reports of 1999-2002 and 2002-2004
indicate that standards are rising in the special schools as these schools refine their
systems to ensure more effective management, whole school planning, links with
mainstream, information and communication technology and access to accreditation.
By contrast, there remains a tail of low achievement (5.2%) by pupils leaving postprimary schools with limited or no qualifications. Two key deductions emerge;
special education is an issue for all schools and a recurrent theme for government
attention, more particularly in light of the legislative presumption of inclusion.
Strategically, special education is a major issue and an evident challenge to the
Department of Education and the five Education and library Boards which manage
school provision.
This paper highlights the key issues facing N. Ireland and the actions underway to
inform the development of a costed policy to promote the inclusion of pupils with
special educational needs in mainstream schools, and to ensure the future role of
special schools in an inclusive context.
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Emerging Strategy and Key Activities
In response to growing evidence highlighting special education as an area for
improvement, the Department of Education has endorsed a review of special
education,
“ to include a range of Education and Training Inspectorate reports/surveys, research
projects, information gathering both at local and international levels, and a review of
the use of resources in order to provide evidence to inform policy development and
produce recommendations regarding future policy, strategy and provision to reflect
the concept of inclusion” ( May 2003)
As a consequence, four key strategic and policy objectives have been identified,
which aim to establish;

a costed policy for special education and inclusion;

a broader role for special schools;

a culture of inclusion in all schools;

a sufficiency of resource to match strategic planning and implementation.
A range of activities has taken place since 2003 to inform policy planning and to meet
the objectives identified above. Each activity has, as a core focus, a clear emphasis on
exploring the issue of inclusion and identifying important principles and exemplars of
best practice, which can serve to support policy writing and provide practical
guidance for schools. The key activities of the period1 include:

A Review of Provision for pupils with statements of Special Educational
Needs in Primary and Post-primary schools in N. Ireland;

The Future Role of Special Schools;

A Survey of Minority Groups: Travellers; School Aged Mothers/ A Review of
Counselling support in schools;
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Access to the reports can be found on the Department web-site: WWW.deni.gov.uk
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
A
survey
of
special
school
leavers:
transition
to
further
education/training/employment;

A position paper on special educational needs in initial teacher education;

Improving inclusion in Pre-school Education: A Working Group approach

Research:
-
Parental Satisfaction with the Statementing Process
-
Tracking young people from Alternative Education Provision;

Report of the Task Group on Autism

Report of the Task Group on Dyslexia

Speech and Language Projects Evaluations;

Using technology ie Camera Mouse to encourage communication;

A survey of Challenging Behaviour in special schools;

A survey of Behaviour Support Teams in the five Education and Library
Boards;

A Review of the five stages of the Code of Practice.
While it is not the intention of this presentation to detail the outcomes of all of the
activities undertaken a few core themes emerge to indicate how best special education
and inclusion can be addressed to ensure that the social and educational needs of
pupils are met. These themes prioritise training, collaborative working, improving
quality and matching resources as the key areas for development.
In strategic and business planning, the above themes underpin department thinking
and strongly influence the process of decision-making and support. The various
surveys provide evidence to assist the planning process.
I wish now to focus on two surveys, which strongly indicate how the policy for
inclusion is informed.
Most Promising Practices in Mainstream Schools
The inclusion of pupils with statements of special educational needs in mainstream
primary and post-primary schools was a undertaken to evaluate current practice and to
make recommendations to promote a whole-school culture of including all pupils with
special educational needs in the work and life of the school. The methodology
included visits to 47 schools with some 125 schools surveyed by questionnaire. The
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focus of the visits was to evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes for children
with statements of special educational needs, concentrating mainly on the quality of
the education provided, the effectiveness of the teaching and learning strategies, and
the teachers’ understanding of and response to each child’s particular problems. The
survey also evaluated the physical arrangements to facilitate inclusion and the level of
social\inclusion, including friendships, participation in extra-curricular activities and
pastoral provision. The inspectors also took account of the schools guidelines and
policies which supported inclusion and the range of in-service training which focused
on raising the teachers’ skills and knowledge of particular needs, for example, autism,
sensory impairment or dyslexia. The work of classroom assistants was also
considered.
The findings of the survey indicate that the majority of the schools pay due attention
to the statementing process. The schools plan well for, monitor and evaluate the level
and quality of provision and make use of the curriculum and advisory service to
enhance their knowledge and capacity to address the needs of pupils with learning
difficulties. The evidence also shows that a minority of schools have not developed
significantly their interest in, and commitment to promoting inclusion.
In such
instances, schools provide little guidance to classroom assistants, are worried about
health and safety and accommodation and have not fulfilled their responsibility to
included details of their special education provision within their school development
planning. In the majority of schools the pupils’ education plans take good account of
their individual needs and the pupils make good progress. The educational plans are
best when focused on the assessed needs of the pupils and specific targets set. Both
sectors required the same degree of hard work and team planning but given the
complexities of the post-primary setting, inclusion was more difficult to achieve and
maintain. A common factor to emerge was the important role of the Special Education
Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO): the status and experience of the SENCO were
significant factors affecting the overall experience of the pupils in securing their
greater inclusion in a range of school activities. The evidence also indicated the need
for schools to plan more purposefully to ensure the social inclusion of the pupils. In
the best provision observed physical resources are in place and the key elements
include:

Early intervention strategies;
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
Less bureaucracy;

SEN friendly ethos;

Parent involvement;

Improved access;

Inclusion policy and development programme;

Committed leadership;

Agreed standards to promote achievement.
Within the above settings, the role of the SENCO was well established and of a high
status, good links were made with the Education and Library Boards’ advisory
officers, and leadership at all levels actively encourages and supports teachers and
classroom assistants to value inclusion as a challenge which has positive outcomes for
all pupils.
The survey reveals the need for further development of:

partnerships among schools curriculum and advisory services and health
professionals, between mainstream and special schools;

training to focus on inclusion at a whole school level;

the role of the SENCO;

the capacity of schools to monitor and evaluate their inclusion practices;

the use of information and communication technology to support learning,
record and reporting systems.
The Future Role of the Special School
Following the completion of a questionnaire seeking the views of the special schools
and the opportunities provided at the annual principals and vice principals
conferences extensive information was available to the reporting inspector to enable a
position paper to be written and prepared for consultation. The findings found:
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
a strategic shortfall: special education is a progressively major issues for both
special and mainstream schools yet little strategic attention has been given to
exploring the potential of special and mainstream schools;

an imbalance of resources and expertise across special and mainstream
sectors;

variation in the criteria to access special educational provision;

limited transdisciplinary planning within and among education and library
boards and health authorities and trusts;

a range of untapped skills: special schools have expertise, skills and
knowledge which can assist mainstream schools to meet more effectively the
needs of pupils with learning difficulties.
The evidence identified three distinct patterns:

a changing pattern in the profile of the special school pupil population;

areas of expertise and knowledge within the special schools;

a trend toward increased connectivity between special and mainstream
schools.
A number of conclusions arise from the evidence to suggest that the department
should introduce a strategic framework and policy directive for special education,
which includes a mainstream support role for special schools. In this framework,
special schools will provide for a range of needs based on a range of interventions
which address, low support needs, commonly, and rarely occurring needs, and high
support needs. In this model, special schools have a role in the assessment of pupils’
needs and the preparation of individual intervention plans, which of necessity contain
an inclusion statement identifying the experiences and resources to support special
education. In summary, the key challenges are:

the creation of a greater strategic and corporate view for special education and
inclusion which defines the future role of special schools;

the development of a framework and mechanism within which special schools
can improve their practices and develop their expertise tomeet the needs of
pupils in mainstream schools;
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
the provision of commonality of funding to facilitate the fair distribution of
resources;

the establishment of collaborative working arrangements with health and
social services to enable the development of multi-disciplinary integrated
service provision.
The development of the capacity of special schools to support mainstream schools
within a continuum of provision is one step in the promotion of an effective system
inclusive of all and committed to social and educational inclusion.
The Emerging Outcomes and Way Ahead
Four main areas are identified as key outcomes and important elements of policy
planning for the future within an overall review of public administration. These
relate to training, collaborative working, improving quality and matching resources. It
is evident that much work is ahead. However, much has been achieved and the
department is confident that policy will be developed to promote and secure a firm
and robust system of provision as reflected in a commitment to maintaining a
continuum of provision for a diversity of need. The way ahead for schools is to
commit towards a guiding set of principles:

all children matter;

barriers to learning are identified;

positive action is taken to remove them;

a sense of community prevails.
In planning ahead the concept of the inclusion friendly school is actively promoted
and the ingredients highlighted encompass the following aspects of best practice:
In the best inclusion practice the critical success factors include
Early intervention
Less bureaucracy
SEN friendly: partnership networks
Parent friendly
Improved access
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Inclusion policy /development programme
Leadership
standards
In essence, it is the Department of Education’s intention to secure entitlement and
support learning for all pupils,
“ there should be a continuum of support and services to match the continuum of
special needs encountered in every school” UNESCO Salamanca Statement 1994.
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