Quiet revolution in special education needs to be valued

Teaching Matters Valerie MonaghanThis school year, as the teacher unions start to make their claims for a pay rise from the next benchmarking body, no doubt the usual suspects will come out of the woodwork. And no doubt they will trot out the usual old lines about the public service being immune to change.

Change in the world of work, we'll all be told, only happens in the private sector. Don't be surprised when that happens if a lot of primary teachers get very hot under the collar.

Over the summer a quiet revolution took place in our schools in the area of special education. After much consultation and debate, there was a complete reorganisation of the way in which special needs teachers are appointed to schools. New posts were created in some schools, other schools lost posts, while in other schools part-time posts were amalgamated into new posts. Completely new roles were taken on by many teachers in a genuine desire to provide the best support for our most vulnerable children. In many jobs there'd be consternation at such major changes.

At the same time principal teachers gave up a big part of their annual holidays to make arrangements for these changes and, in some cases, to recruit extra teachers. This came in addition to work that hundreds of them were already doing as unpaid clerks of work on necessary school building projects.

The whole special education operation was carried out with great professionalism on the part of primary teachers. There was great support from the INTO, even if many teachers had to endure their calls being returned during Coronation Street or even during the nightly nine o'clock news.

But it wasn't plain sailing. Basic mistakes were made in planning the changes, which resulted in schools facing unnecessary difficulties. Some of the examples have gone down in teacher folklore, such as the teacher who found that she was to work in a shared post where one school was in Dublin City while the other was in Co Clare. Another sharing arrangement between two schools was planned without any reference to the river that divided the schools, with the nearest bridge being 15 miles away!

As the summer wore on, despite the best efforts of staff in the department, teachers were not able to access accurate information, and there's no doubt that frustration levels went sky high. In the days before schools reopened some principals still didn't know how many special education teachers they would have. Others had been told to let teachers go only to find that there were jobs available in the school all the time. When the dust settles on this it is clear that the under- resourcing in the department itself must be tackled. It is hard enough to manage one of the most centralised education departments in Europe, but it must have enough staff.

Will it all be worth it? There are two ways it will be judged. Teachers will expect to be given credit for their flexibility and co-operation with modernisation and change. They will expect their professionalism to be recognised and rewarded, not taken for granted as it was in the past. They will not want a repeat of Noel Dempsey's staff meetings and standardised school year campaign, which sapped so much goodwill from teachers.

The second, and more important, way it will be judged is in terms of how it will benefit the pupils. Most primary schools now have special needs pupils. On paper at least the new scheme is designed to make sure that primary schools have the teachers to meet the special needs of pupils immediately.

Schools will now be able to give extra teaching to special-needs pupils in line with their needs. The school will be free to decide the type of support - one-to-one teaching, group teaching or a mix of both - which will best suit the individual pupil.

Huge overall progress has been made in the area of special education. But the issue is far from dealt with. There are problems in some small, disadvantaged schools, mainly in inner cites, where schools have fewer teaching resources than under the old system. This cannot be fair and just and there is an urgent need for the department to look again at the impact of the new system on those schools.

There is an urgent need to expand the National Educational Psychological Service to its intended strength of 200 psychologists. The need for these psychologists hasn't suddenly evaporated because of the new system. The service must also be extended to special schools as a matter of urgency. Children's educational futures must not be a casualty of a public service jobs embargo.

Another issue that must be tackled is making sure that there is much greater co-ordination and link up between health and education services. Many special-needs children, especially those with attention deficit disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties are unable to get educational help because they and their families cannot get access to psychiatric services. These services at present come under the Department of Health. Again it is about children's futures and making sure that bureaucratic arrangements do not act as a barrier to service provision.

In the main the new school year starts on a positive note with a lot done in special education in mainstream schools. But there's more to do!

Valerie Monaghan is principal of Scoil Chiarán, Glasnevin, Dublin