Department of Education figures on special needs provision in schools, published in this newspaper today, raise serious issues about enrolment policies. The figures show how almost 30 per cent of pupils in some schools are in receipt of special needs provision while the level of provision is very low in other second-level schools. Broadly, special needs provision tends to be concentrated in poorer areas and non-fee-paying schools.
Overall, the figures relating to Dublin second-level schools help to explain the concerns, recently voiced by Education Minister Mary Hanafin. She said some schools were avoiding their responsibilities in relation to special needs pupils, be they students with mild learning difficulties or those with serious physical and mental challenges.
The capacity of individual schools to assist special needs pupils varies. In fairness, some lack the physical infrastructure to provide for some students. Others say they have no tradition of assisting special needs pupils or claim they lack the teaching resources which the child may need. But, in broad terms, the new figures highlight how some schools continue to evade their responsibilities in relation to these students.
Ms Hanafin had pointed out how prospective parents with a special needs pupil are often referred on to another school in a town or district. In some areas, she said, it is "being left to other schools to be the one to include the child with a learning difficulty. Parents will be told 'that the other school can meet the needs of your child better than we can'."
The Minister said she had received complaints from some schools that they were being asked to carry an undue burden in relation to special needs. The general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI), John White, says he has also received complaints about the so-called "cherry-picking" of students by some schools who make it clear that they do not cater for special needs pupils.
The practice of excluding pupils on the basis of their academic ability or their requirement for special needs provision is, of course, unlawful under equality legislation. But it is clear that a minority of schools are using other means to exclude pupils. Although many schools administer various verbal and numerical tests, the manner in which this information is used tends to vary. Most schools use these tests to assess the level of support which a student with learning difficulties might need; but a minority, it would seem, use them to exclude students with real needs.
The Minister deserves credit for highlighting the discrimination against special needs students. The challenge now is to address the problem. In practical terms, the Minister and her officials must work to ensure that all schools have open, equitable and transparent enrolment procedures, as the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and others have demanded. The Department should also be ready to impose sanctions - including financial penalties - on those schools which are evading their responsibilities.