Ministers publish document outlining education plans
The Minister for Education and Youth and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion have published a document outlining their plans this year for education.
Helen McEntee said 'Education Plan 2025' outlined a significant body of work "to deliver for everyone in our school and youth services' communities".
The plan includes the establishment of a promised new education therapy service which will see therapists return to working in special schools in the next school year.
Children attending special schools used to have access to supports such as occupational and speech and language therapies in their school but this service was removed in recent years, and now work is being done to reinstate access.
The two ministers said they intend that the National Council for Special Education will commence work with an aim to provide 90 therapists to work in 45 special schools in the next school year, starting initially with occupational and speech and language therapists.
Minister McEntee said supporting children with additional needs and tackling educational disadvantage were "key priorities" of hers.
The minister said she would work with schools to reduce the costs they are facing, and also work to reduce costs faced by parents, such as the cost of uniforms. She said consultation with parents would be a key feature.
Minister Michael Moynihan said work to finalise the SNA workforce development plan was ongoing and would help pave the way for how best to support SNAs in the future, while also ensuring appropriate supports are in place to facilitate attendance and participation by all children in school.
The plan sets out the actions which will be implemented each quarter by the Department. Half-year progress reports will be published, with a new plan published each year.
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RTÉ News
8 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Ministers publish document outlining education plans
The Minister for Education and Youth and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion have published a document outlining their plans this year for education. Helen McEntee said 'Education Plan 2025' outlined a significant body of work "to deliver for everyone in our school and youth services' communities". The plan includes the establishment of a promised new education therapy service which will see therapists return to working in special schools in the next school year. Children attending special schools used to have access to supports such as occupational and speech and language therapies in their school but this service was removed in recent years, and now work is being done to reinstate access. The two ministers said they intend that the National Council for Special Education will commence work with an aim to provide 90 therapists to work in 45 special schools in the next school year, starting initially with occupational and speech and language therapists. Minister McEntee said supporting children with additional needs and tackling educational disadvantage were "key priorities" of hers. The minister said she would work with schools to reduce the costs they are facing, and also work to reduce costs faced by parents, such as the cost of uniforms. She said consultation with parents would be a key feature. Minister Michael Moynihan said work to finalise the SNA workforce development plan was ongoing and would help pave the way for how best to support SNAs in the future, while also ensuring appropriate supports are in place to facilitate attendance and participation by all children in school. The plan sets out the actions which will be implemented each quarter by the Department. Half-year progress reports will be published, with a new plan published each year.
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
New education therapy service could be ‘transformational' for special needs pupils, says McEntee
A new education therapy service staffed with 90 therapists will start in 45 special schools from September. The new posts will be initially for occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. The service will provide individualised therapeutic interventions for children who need them. The service will be provided in special schools first, but will then be rolled out to mainstream schools, according to Minister for Education Helen McEntee . READ MORE The proposal is included in the Government's Actions in Education Plan 2025 , which will be announced on Thursday. The National Education Therapy Service will start recruiting to begin the full service from the start of the 2026-27 school year. Ms McEntee said the new service could be 'transformational for children attending our special schools, ensuring they have early and timely access to the services that they need. 'For children attending special classes in mainstream schools, the earlier sanctioning of these classes is central to providing clarity for them and their families.' She also wants a national survey of all parents of school-going and preschool children to determine what type of education they want to see for their children. This will look at the issue of patronage and what kind of schools parents want for their children. Ms McEntee said she will also be publishing a new Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) plan to tackle educational disadvantage and take steps to address absenteeism. 'I will work with schools to reduce the costs they are facing and also work to reduce costs faced by parents, such as the cost of uniforms,' she said. 'Consultation with parents will be a key feature as I commence work to develop a new circular to tackle back-to-school costs.' The plan also includes 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and the roll-out of free schoolbooks to all schools. The shortage of teachers in schools is to be tackled by earlier access to permanent contracts, while allowing newly qualified teachers trained outside the State to apply for registration and complete their induction in the Republic. There are also plans for a new common applications system for school admissions to be in place in several pilot schools in 2026, which will end the need for parents to make multiple applications to schools. Absenteeism is to be tackled by monitoring children under the age of six who regularly miss school. The State does not monitor school attendance in those under the age of six. The Government will provide €9 million in funding to schools to support new measures to tackle mobile phone use. This is the same amount of money allocated for the controversial pouches, which were supposed to be provided for schools nationwide to keep phones during school hours. A new plan for Deis will be developed for those schools which have the highest level of disadvantage.
Irish Independent
19 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ireland referred to EU court over failure to comply with online terrorism content law
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