‘Academic apartheid’ over special needs access

SCHOOLS that have welcomed special needs students are set to be crippled by paperwork because the Department of Education has not penalised schools which exclude them, teachers have warned.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland said that certain schools, which it claims are aided by the department’s inaction, should no longer be allowed to operate a sinister brand of academic apartheid in terms of students they admit.

Union assistant general secretary John MacGabhann said the implementation of laws to support these students must not begin until segregationist policies operated by certain schools are tackled. Education Minister Mary Hanafin set up an audit of school enrolment policies to determine the extent of such exclusion two years ago but the findings have never been published.

“Certain schools continue to discriminate against students with special educational needs by not allowing them the right to be educated with their siblings, friends and neighbours,” Mr MacGabhann said.

“But other schools with open admissions policies continue to act as magnets for pupils with special education needs, despite a chronic lack of resources,” he said.

He said it was unacceptable that the minister has remained silent and failed to act on the situation, as a significant minority of second-level schools do not take any students with special needs and many others take small numbers simply as a cosmetic exercise.

Under the 2004 Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, all schools will have to produce individual education plans for each of these students.

But Mr MacGabhann said that those schools meeting their legal responsibilities are in no position to do this and also provide classes because of the administrative burden of the plans. The issue is to be the subject of a number of motions at the union’s annual congress which opens in Wexford today.

“The exclusionary nature of certain schools, facilitated by the department’s refusal to introduce sanctions against them, means the Special Educational Needs Act will cripple schools which have become a magnet for students with special needs,” Mr MacGabhann said.

“The resources in terms of extra time to do the work and any necessary training must be provided beforehand so teachers can do so in a manner consistent with the law and the expectations of children and their parents,” he said.