A lot done, more to do for special needs children

Teaching Matters Valerie MonaghanLast week, and for the first time in the many years since I left college, I heard a trade union publicly pay tribute to the Minister for Education and Science and to the Minister for Finance - on the same day and about the same issue.

What prompted this extraordinary outbreak of detente was the announcement by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin of 660 new teachers for children with special needs. This was the outcome of a serious campaign by the INTO for more special education teachers.

In February 2004, the INTO told the department that 1,000 extra teachers were needed to provide a proper service for special needs children in mainstream primary schools. A year ago, 350 extra posts were announced by the then minister for education, Noel Dempsey.

It was a step in the right direction but because there weren't enough teachers large numbers of schools lost teachers while others gained.

Soon after coming into office, Hanafin clearly stated her concerns about children losing resources. She then established a review. The collective groan from every school in the country was almost audible. If teachers were referees they would have flashed the yellow card for time-wasting.

But this was a review with a difference. The Minister was serious about solving the problem once and for all. Huge credit must go to the public servants in the Department of Education who turned the thing around in six months. Nor was it a backroom exercise but the INTO was consulted along the way.

The outcome was an extra 660 teachers for special needs children in mainstream primary schools. This is a major statement by Government - long overdue, some would argue - about the sort of country we are living in. It is a clear signal that not only do we want to talk about having an inclusive society but are prepared to pay for it.

No one ever said special needs children could be included in mainstream schools on the cheap. The inclusive school, like the inclusive society, costs. Maybe Inchydoney wasn't just about the optics!

However, before Minister Hanafin and her Government colleagues get carried away on unfamiliar trade union approbation I would remind them that while there's a lot done there's more to do. The Minister said at the recent INTO congress that she wanted to "recognise in particular the 108 special schools and 654 special classes and units located throughout the country" and that she would consider how to "optimise the role and potential of special schools".

This is essential. While no one can argue that the extra jobs in mainstream schools will make them more inclusive, mainstream education is not for everyone.

In education, Ireland has followed many British and US trends. There is a real danger that if we do not support our special schools we could follow Britain where, in the past seven years, 93 special schools have been closed. This was mainly as a result of parental determination to pursue a mainstream placement for their child without considering the alternatives.

Earlier this year, Charlotte Moore, the mother of two autistic children wrote: "Politicians often talk about allowing for parental choice, but one should take parental ignorance into account. Being told your four-year-old has autism doesn't make you an instant expert on the subject. At that stage, how can you know what the best education is?"

Moore admitted that when her children were assessed as suitable for mainstream inclusion she thought it meant they would eventually become mainstream children.

However, she soon realised that inclusion policy is based on the false assumption that normality will rub off on the special-needs child through contact with mainstream classmates. Inclusion didn't work for her children and she concluded that the only thing her sons had in common with the rest of the class was that they were all sheltered under the same roof.

There are other warning signs that all is not well with the dominant policy of integration and mainstreaming. Claire Sainsbury, in her book Martian in the Playground, details the experiences of able autistic people who, like herself, suffered through insensitive mainstreaming. Luke Jackson, the teenage author of Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome, vividly recounts the horrors of being misunderstood in school.

Teachers accept that mainstream education works well for some children. There are many success stories but there are also many failures.

The Government must give parents of special needs children a real choice. In the short term, that means openly and honestly putting the positives and the negatives of all school placements before parents. A real choice cannot be made without the full facts.

The task of providing all this information must not be left to individual principals or teachers who can then be accused of being against inclusion, by some parents intent on considering only one option.

It also means ensuring special schools are supported and resourced properly.

Valerie Monaghan is principal of Scoil Chiarán, Glasnevin, Dublin