Rose Conway-Walsh: Inclusion Without Resources Is Neglect
Rose Conway-Walsh addresses Ministers about failures in school placements for autistic pupils, arguing that a school place is not the same as an appropriate placement. She reads a teacher's testimony on how unsuitable placements cause anxiety, regression and school refusal and challenges the Government over resource allocation.
Rose Conway-Walsh sets out that for autistic pupils placement decisions must be driven by assessment needs, sensory profile, communication supports and the receiving setting's capacity to provide a structured, autism-informed environment. She warns that placing a child in an unsuitable setting can lead to severe anxiety, regression in learning and school refusal.
She reads a teacher-principal-parent account saying inclusive education has slid backwards: fixed resource teacher hours, S&A hours and supports have been replaced by a general allocation model and a scramble to create clusters. The testimony describes exhausted teachers, unchanged S&A allocations, and the frustration of begging for extra hours.
Conway-Walsh highlights the impact of a new, wider curriculum and multi-level classrooms on teachers' capacity to meet diverse needs single-handedly. She asks Ministers directly whether parents and teachers will still be begging for increased hours next year and urges them to listen to the frontline evidence.
Placement concerns and harms
Rose Conway-Walsh sets out that for autistic pupils placement decisions must be driven by assessment needs, sensory profile, communication supports and the receiving setting's capacity to provide a structured, autism-informed environment. She warns that placing a child in an unsuitable setting can lead to severe anxiety, regression in learning and school refusal.
Teacher testimony and allocation model
She reads a teacher-principal-parent account saying inclusive education has slid backwards: fixed resource teacher hours, S&A hours and supports have been replaced by a general allocation model and a scramble to create clusters. The testimony describes exhausted teachers, unchanged S&A allocations, and the frustration of begging for extra hours.
Curriculum pressures and questions for Ministers
Conway-Walsh highlights the impact of a new, wider curriculum and multi-level classrooms on teachers' capacity to meet diverse needs single-handedly. She asks Ministers directly whether parents and teachers will still be begging for increased hours next year and urges them to listen to the frontline evidence.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Other speeches
Tego samego dnia All speeches from this day →
Martin Daly
Martin Daly: Planet Youth data reveals early risks for youth
Carol Nolan
Carol Nolan: SNAs Vital, Calls for Special Schools Task Force
Danny Healy-Rae
Danny Healy-Rae: Parents are worn out from fighting for a school places
George Lawlor
George Lawlor: MGLD Cuts Threaten Our Lady of Fatima Pupils
Richard Boyd Barrett
Richard Boyd Barrett Demands Irish Support for Daniel Tatlow-Davali
Pearse Doherty
Pearse Doherty: Cut Fuel Prices at the Pump Now
Transcript
Go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle. Ministers, the existence of any school place is not the same as the existence of an appropriate placement. For autistic pupils, placement must be based on assessment needs, sensory profile, communication supports and the capacity of the receiving setting to provide a structured, autism-informed environment. So, placing a child in an unsuitable setting can lead, as you will know, to severe anxiety, regression in learning and school refusal. But I want to, Ministers, read out what I have received from just one teacher, and I have had many, many pieces of correspondence over the last week or so, when people knew that this PMB was putting forward. Indeed, I want to thank my own colleague, Dianna Rourke and Seanan E Ratherley for bringing this motion forward. She says, as a teacher, a principal and a parent of a child with additional learning needs, Ireland has gone backwards when it comes to inclusive education in schools. The Government brandishes the words around what inclusion without resources is only neglect. Who usually receives the brunt of the disillusionment from parents of these students, us teachers? 20 years ago, a child with additional needs was allocated resource teacher hours, they were allocated S&A hours, given ICT, etc. Now everything is given under a general allocation model. But hours before Easter holidays, set hours were allocated. The scramble to create a cluster takes away the energy we have to condemn the miserable few hours we are presented with. S&A allocations have not changed for the next year. However, if, like us, you are screaming and begging for an increase in hours, you are told, no can do. Will we still be begging this time next year? So I want you to answer that question. I absolutely love teaching. I love the fun interactions with students in my class. I love watching children in my care progress, even if that is slowly. I love the lightbulb moments. I love the enthusiasm, the creativity. I love teaching, but teaching has become more and more frustrating lately. We are implementing a brand new curriculum starting next September. The curriculum has become more vast and diverse. Trying to share so much knowledge is not going to work, especially when you add a varied class of students in the mix. It is nigh impossible to cater for everyone single-handedly, especially in multi-level classrooms. We try our best. Can you please listen to that teacher and that parent?