Inclusive Education

We can be measured as a society by how we look after our most vulnerable and by the way we treat and respect each other. The government is committed to using education and training services to help break the cycle of disadvantage. Those with additional needs should receive the right supports at the right time.

Most children with special educational needs attend their local primary school in a mainstream class with other children of different ability levels and with additional support, as necessary. Some children with more complex special educational needs attend a special class in their local mainstream school. These classes have lower pupil teacher ratios. Students enrolled in these classes may be included in the regular mainstream class for a part of the day or the week, in line with their strengths and abilities.

Special schools are generally for children with very complex special needs who wouldn’t manage in a mainstream school even for part of the week. Special schools have very small class groups.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) aims to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities with particular emphasis on children. Local service is delivered through the NCSE's national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) who interact with parents and schools and liaise with the HSE in providing resources to support children with special educational needs.

Supports for Children with Special Educational Needs.

The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides a school-based, educational psychology service to primary and post-primary schools. NEPS psychologists work in partnership with teachers, parents and children to support the wellbeing, and the academic, social and emotional development of all learners, having particular regard for the inclusion of children with special educational needs and those at risk of marginalisation due to disadvantage. In addition, NEPS psychologists provide support to schools in the event of Critical Incidents (such as bereavement or death by suicide).

Read more at: National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS)

Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools - DEIS

DEIS focuses on addressing and prioritising the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities, from pre-school through second-level education (3 to 18 years).

Primary and post-primary schools participating in DEIS receive additional supports and resources, including additional staffing, to assist them in achieving the aims of the initiative. The level of additional supports and resources allocated to schools participating in DEIS varies according to the level of disadvantage in the school community.

Read more: DEIS Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools.

Education Welfare and School Completion Functions

On Saturday 27 June 2020, An Taoiseach, as part of his speech on formation of new Government, announced that educational welfare functions will be returned the Department of Education. This change took effect on 01 January 2021.

The Minister for Education will be responsible for the relevant areas which includes those functions which are carried out by Tusla Education Support Service (TESS), including the School Completion programme and the Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service. Powers under the Education and Welfare Act that were vested in the Minister for Children have been transferred back to the Minister for Education under S.I. No. 588/2020.

Tusla Education Support Service

Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) has three strands namely the Statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) and the School Completion Programme (SCP). The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, families and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people.

Educational Welfare Service

The Educational Welfare Service operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. Educational Welfare Services (EWS) deal with children and families who have difficulties in relation to school attendance, participation, retention. This is a statutory service and its primary role is to ensure that every child either attends school regularly or otherwise receives a certain minimum education; to ensure and secure every child’s entitlement to education. Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) work with families and children in a child-centred way to overcome barriers to their school attendance, participation and retention; and work closely with schools, educational support services and other agencies to support school attendance and resolve attendance problems for the benefit of children and families.

Home School Community Liaison Scheme

Under DEIS, the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) seeks to promote partnership between parents, teachers and community family support services. A HSCL Coordinator is a teacher from a participating school/s who is released from teaching duties, for a maximum of five years, in order to work intensively with and support parents/guardians. The overarching goal of the HSCL Coordinator is to improve educational outcomes for children through their work with the key adults in the child’s life. Read more

School Completion Programme

The School Completion Programme (SCP) is a central element of the DEIS plan. The SCP was first introduced in 2002 by the Department of Education and the programme was significantly expanded in 2005 with the roll-out of supports under DEIS.

The SCP is a targeted school and community support service. The desired impact of SCP is retention of a young person to completion of the leaving certificate, equivalent qualification or suitable level of educational attainment which enables them to transition into further education, training or employment.

The SCP is a core strand, fully aligned with the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) and the statutory Education Welfare strands of the EWS, which together provide an integrated and comprehensive response to child educational welfare needs to achieve the outcomes of improved attendance participation and retention.

Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS)

Section 14 (1) of the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, requires TUSLA to maintain a register of children being educated in a place other than a recognised school. Parents of such children must complete a registration and assessment process for inclusion on the register. This legal requirement exists to support parents in their constitutional right as the primary educator of their child. To meet its obligations under this legislation, the Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS) in TUSLA carries out an assessment to ensure that when a parent applies to have their child placed on the register that child is in receipt of a certain minimum education. As part of this assessment the AEARS requires that each applicant provide it with information on a standardised form known as an R1 form.

Further information can be found at https://www.tusla.ie/

Intercultural Education Strategy

The Intercultural Education Strategy ("IES") aims to ensure that:

• all students experience an education that "respects the diversity of values, beliefs, languages and traditions in Irish society and is conducted in a spirit of partnership" (Education Act, 1998).
• all education providers are assisted with ensuring that inclusion and integration within an intercultural learning environment become the norm.

The IES was developed in recognition of the recent significant demographic changes in Irish society, which are reflected in the education system. The strategy builds on existing work in this area and seeks to be of relevance for all sectors of education, in line with the high level goal of the Department of Education ("DE") to "support and improve the quality, relevance and inclusiveness of education for every learner in our schools". Read more at Intercultural Education Strategy

North East Inner City Initiative (NEIC)

North East Inner City Initiative (NEIC)

Co-ordination of Traveller Education

The Department of Justice and Equality published the National Traveller Roma Inclusion Strategy in June 2017. The Department of Education participated in the development of the strategy and is a member of the Steering Group which was established to oversee the implementation of the new strategy. Membership of the Steering Group includes all relevant government departments, agencies and NGOs. Read more about the Co-ordination of Traveller education

High Support and Special Care Units

High support care is for children with severe emotional and behavioural problems, whose presenting difficulties cannot be met in mainstream education. The service provides additional support to these young people, with lower pupil teacher ratios and higher levels of therapeutic input. Read more

Youth Encounter Projects (YEPs)

Youth Encounter Projects (YEPs) provide non-residential educational facilities for children who have either become involved in minor delinquency, or are at risk of becoming involved. Read more

Children Detention Schools

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is responsible for the three Children Detention Schools at Oberstown, Lusk, Co. Dublin which provide detention places to the Courts for girls up to the age of 18 years and boys up to the age of 17 years ordered to be remanded or committed on criminal charges. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is also responsible for the child care aspects of the Children Act 2001.

There are two education centres on the Oberstown campus catering for all the children being detained. Responsibility for education provision comes under the remit of the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board. Read more

The protection and welfare of children is of paramount importance for every school. The Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools (revised 2023) give clear direction and guidance to school management and school personnel in relation to meeting the statutory obligations under the Children First Act, 2015 and in the continued implementation within the school setting of the best practice guidance set out in Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children.

Child Protection and Safeguarding inspections are carried out in primary and post-primary schools, schools attached to special care units and youthreach centres. These inspections look at how school boards and school staff are fulfilling their legal responsibilities in relation to the protection and safeguarding of children as required of them under the Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 2017.

Read more: Child Protection in Schools.

Bullying is defined in the Anti Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post Primary Schools as “unwanted negative behaviour, verbal, psychological or physical conducted by an individual or group against another person (or persons) and which is repeated over time”. More information on the definition of bullying, types of bullying and the impact and indicators of bullying is available in Sections 2 and 3 of the procedures for schools. (PDF, from page 8)

Individual schools are responsible for tackling bullying in schools.

Read more: Bullying Information for Parents and Students.

The promotion of wellbeing is central to the Department of Education mission to enable children and young people to achieve their full potential. Promoting the wellbeing of our children and young people is a shared community responsibility and is everybody’s business.

The Department of Education’s approach to supporting wellbeing and mental health is set out in its Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies, experience supportive relationships within the school setting, be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe, in which they feel a sense of belonging and connectedness.

Aligned with this policy, a wide range of wellbeing information and supports for schools, students and parents can be accessed here