07-05-2025
Minister instructs school patrons to review enrolment policies for special classes
School patrons have been directed to review their enrolment policies for special classes following a review that highlighted 'concerning' clauses and criteria that could limit autistic students' access to education.
Minister for education Helen McEntee has instructed the school patrons, who are responsible for enrolment policies, to initiate the review after the Department of Education's Inspectorate published its findings.
Carried out between last September and December, the review looked at the admission policies of 30 schools, including 15 post primary schools, and 15 primary schools. The review identified issues in 14 out of 15 post primary schools, and 12 out of the 15 primary policies, "raising significant concerns", said chief inspector Yvonne Keating.
Some admissions policies required children to be able to participate in mainstream lessons as a condition for admission, while other clauses 'reserved the right to withdraw the offer of a place based on a perception of the student's behaviour.'
The review of policies also indicated that many schools use the possibility of a child displaying behaviours that may pose a risk to the health and safety of others as a basis for exclusion from a special class.
The report noted that "clauses that use perceived behaviour as a criterion for admission to a special class may imply that children with the greatest level of need cannot be supported to regulate their behaviour".
"In addition, it is not possible to predict how children will respond to the structure of the school, the special class environment and to the school's support and provision."
The inspectorate also noted that the way in which some schools interpret their responsibilities under the Education Act 1998 is 'leading them to discriminate against those children with the greatest level of need'.
'This approach, which unduly qualifies the right of some children to an inclusive education, does not acknowledge the impact and influence of interconnected environmental systems on their development.'
'It does not recognise how the culture and systems in place in a school can positively impact on children and their experience of and interaction with school.'
This qualified approach to inclusion may also not align with Ireland's commitments to inclusive education under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), it added.
Multi-denominational schools
Meanwhile, school patron body Educate Together has called on Government to act on increasing the number of multi-denominational schools to improve choice for parents.
Educate Together is the largest multi-denominational school patron in Ireland, having opened 50 schools since 2013. However, as no new schools are planned to open, it is calling for action on the schools reconfiguration for diversity initiative.
Representatives from Educate Together met with TDs at Leinster House on Wednesday. Demand for Educate Together schools continues to grow, but 90% of primary schools remain under Catholic patronage, said Emer Nowlan, chief executive.
"The successful transition of the first Catholic school to Educate Together opens up a pathway for others to follow, and there is broad support now for reconfiguration. We are calling on the new Government to proceed with the promised national survey of parents, and to support school communities that decide to transfer, so that more families can access this popular option."
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