I am heading this piece as above - why so?
Some weeks ago, I read the report of the Children’s Ombudsman, Dr Niall Muldoon, in which he spoke at length and with great emphasis and feeling on the many young children, mostly at primary level, who had had their education disrupted during the lockdowns of Covid-19. He called it ‘A Childhood Paused’.
Since that, I have heard from various people their concern about that long gap for children – not just for the loss of their education, but also the social and emotional loss they suffered through not being in the regularity of school, interaction with other pupils, and the whole surrounds of education and teaching that kept them going.
In so many cases, these children were from disadvantaged backgrounds, in DEIS schools, or generally in need of ongoing continuous special education. In truth, it was a childhood paused. I was very worried reading it and then reassured because, from time to time, Norma Foley said that the Department was very conscious of this setback to young children’s lives, and that she was planning to do something definite to offset it and to meet the concerns of the Children’s Ombudsman.
Now, in this Budget, it’s been done.
In Special Education, there is provision for an additional 980 teachers and 1,165 Special Needs Assistants to be taken on, both in special and mainstream schools, to meet the growing need for support for pupils with additional needs. The Minister of State for Special Education, Josepha Madigan, said it was the largest ever budget for special education.
In addition, the DEIS scheme, which gives special support to disadvantaged students by providing extra teaching staff and giving extra teaching in literacy and numeracy, has been added into the Budget. Altogether, there will be €18 million for this scheme, which is going to form part of a wider reform for schools based on deprivation index. There will be more DEIS schools, and there will also be finance provided for many more pupils to avail of the hot school meal.
It seems that Covid brought in its wake some benefits, particularly for education. I think the Department of Education has benefitted by having the two Ministers, the overall Minister Norma Foley and the Minister in charge of Special Education, Josepha Madigan. It appears that the two work well together and the result shows what can happen when the Department of Education, allied to the wishes of the Ministers, is determined to give disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs a particular boost in the Budget.
Rumours abound that the Minister for Education came late to the talks with the Minister for Public Expenditure, particularly over last weekend. If one believes what is carried on the wind, it seems that Norma Foley, backed up by Josepha Madigan, was determined that children who had been further disadvantaged during the long spell of lockdowns were going to get the resources which, for some time, the Minister and the Department had promised.
Now this is important. To my mind it cannot be emphasised enough what young children, particularly those with special educational needs and from disadvantaged areas, have lost – not just being in school but being part of the ambience of school and all of its social implications.
Allied to that, of course, is the momentous headline that, come next September, at the beginning of the academic year, the pupil-teacher ratio will fall to the lowest level yet.
Now we have, at last, some helpful and hopeful news from the Department of Education. Well done to all concerned for bringing around a definite change. There is still a long way to go to sort out education, but a definite start has been made.
Let’s hope these measures will help to fill the ‘pause’ so clearly laid out by the Children’s Ombudsman.
