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1. Forthcoming policy developments

2. Ongoing debates

Forthcoming policy developments 

Education plans

Under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 (the EPSEN Act) each child assessed with a special educational need should have a personal education plan. This is being coordinated by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) which has published Guidelines for the Individual Education Plan process (pdf). The NCSE has also published Implementation Report: Plan for the Phased Implementation of the EPSEN Act 2004. This sets out how the Act can be implemented. 

In 2017, a new assessment was introduced to determine how special education teachers are allocated to mainstream schools. Under the new system, each school gets a single allocation of special education teachers. The number of special education teachers allocation to a school is determined by the size of the school and its educational profile.

Schools are provided with the necessary resources in advance so that students with special educational needs can be enrolled into schools and access additional supports. The enables a school to be inclusive and put in place additional teaching support for students who need it. The Department of Education and Skills provides information for parents and guardians on how your child can get additional teaching support in school (pdf).

The introduction of the frontloaded Allocation Model for Special Needs Assistants for students in mainstream classes in primary and post-primary schools was deferred to the 2022-2023 school year. This was extended into the 2023-2024 school year. 

Redevelopment of the senior cycle

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) began a major review of the senior cycle and the leaving certificate examination, in 2016. In 2019 NCCA engaged in a public consultation. A Senior Cycle Review Advisory Report was published in 2022 by National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The review looked at all aspects of the current senior cycle. It sets out a clear purpose and vision for a redeveloped senior cycle and provides a roadmap to the creation of a Framework for Senior Cycle. Three stages of implementation are recommended. It states that 'Due to the scale, scope and importance of this work, ascribing set time parameters is challenging. However, it is envisaged that each stage will take between 12 and 18 months to complete, with some overlap between stages'. 

Traveller culture and history

Ongoing Debates

School patronage

While the State provides for free primary education, schools are established by patron bodies. Under the Education Act, 1998 (Government of Ireland, 1998), patrons define the ethos of the school and appoint the board of management to run the school on a day to day basis. Most schools in Ireland are owned and under the patronage of religious denominations. Although they are increasing in number, there are still a very limited number of non-Catholic schools. Their limited number of student places available and their absences in certain areas, has come under criticism in recent years in public discourse and in the media.

School admission policies

Many schools in Ireland are oversubscribed for available pupils/student places. Each school must publish an admissions policy. These admissions policies typically include several contributing factors.

Often a waiting list is formed for admission and children are often prioritized if they have a sibling, parent or grandparent who attended, or is attending, the school. There has been debate that waiting lists and ‘siblings first’ policies can disadvantage immigrants and Travellers from being offered places at their preferred schools. Under the Education (Admission to Schools) Act, 2018, schools must accept applicants where they have places and a limit of 25% of available places can be prioritised for children or grandchildren of past pupils. Some debate on this topic remains.