Jess Casey: People with disabilities still face challenges getting into third level

Special needs assistants tell Fórsa's education conference that students are being excluded at the first rung of the ladder

Despite advances in terms of support, access, and outreach, people with additional care needs are under-represented at third-level education. Stock picture: IStock

Major gaps remain when it comes to getting students with additional care needs to third level, despite advances in support, access, and outreach in recent years.

People with a disability still remain under-represented both in further and higher education and in the workplace.

The figures speak for themselves: In 2021, students with additional care needs made up just 12.4% of new entrants into further and higher education.

The issue was raised at the Fórsa education division annual conference by special needs assistants (SNAs), who work closely in classrooms with students and who witness both their successes and the barriers they face.

Often, SNAs believe, these students are being excluded at the first rung of the ladder because information on crucial transitions, such as the end of post-primary school, isn’t being made available to them.

Following a motion carried unanimously at the conference, Fórsa will now seek support from the Department of Education for these students in their preparation for life beyond secondary school.

Maynooth University director of access Rose Ryan told the Fórsa conference about the experience of students she has talked to. Picture: Maxwells 

The union also launched its position paper on the matter, which sets out its stall quite clearly for a national progression framework.

There is a heavy focus on third-level education supports once students are already enrolled, Fórsa policy research officer Juliette Cooper told the conference.  

"There’s less focus on what we’re doing in primary and secondary schools for these students," she said. 

Ireland’s disability employment gap is still the highest among the OECD countries, despite the policies that have been implemented over the years, she added.

There have been some improvements. The number of students with additional care needs participating in third level stood at 6% in 2012.

The policy is there, and it is striving to improve, she added.

“But we’re not seeing the same acceleration for students in being able to use the supports.”

As part of a panel discussion on the matter, Rose Ryan, director of access at Maynooth University (MU) said there is a big gap in the experiences students have at third level, compared with primary and secondary school.

Maynooth now has more than 1,000 students studying there, from foundation level to PhD.

Students have spoken to her about their experiences in school.

“Some schools are very inclusive, some schools distinctly less so, and it has nothing to do with the resources that are available in the school,” she said.

They also spoke about “the stigma and the labelling and the diagnostic procedures and the paperwork and how segregated that made them feel,” she said. She said: 

They spoke about a culture of low expectations. Not just from schools, from their parents, from their siblings, from their peers, from employers. 

"They also spoke about how themselves and their parents are often in conflict with schools, with support services constantly trying to navigate the system where it sounds like they were trying to break down walls all the time.”

The experience at third level often is very different.

“We’re very proactive and surprisingly well-resourced in the context of providing that support,” she said.

Brendan Doody, principal officer with responsibility for policy development in the Department of Education’s special education section, told the conference the importance of supporting transitions is better understood now, from a policy point of view.

“It’s probably worth noting that, 10 to 15 years ago, we mightn’t really have been speaking about transitions in the same way as we do today,” he said.

The most effective transitions will happen when there is a plan for each individual student.

“A plan which is developed collaboratively with the staff, the teachers who engage with the student, by the student themselves, with parents, and one which has good, achievable targets.”

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