Resourcing Schools for Inclusion

Author(s):

William Kinsella(presenting / submitting)Joyce Senior(presenting)Lelia Murtagh

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 04 B, Inclusive Schools

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-24

09:00-10:30

Room:

OB-H0.12

Chair:

Gunilla Lindqvist

Contribution

This study aimed to review the system of resource allocation and deployment for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) that operates within the Irish education system. It aimed to explore if the system of provision for these pupils was operating in an equitable, timely, efficient and effective manner and how the additional resources were being deployed in schools in the context of an inclusive education system for pupils with SEN. It also aimed to investigate stakeholders’ perspectives on the perceived effectiveness of the system, with a focus on three key aspects of the system, namely; the application process, the allocation procedures and the methods of deployment of resources in schools. Finally the study sought to identify issues and challenges in the allocation and deployment systems and to identify models of best practice in additional resource provision. The specific research objectives were:

How effective and efficient is the process of allocating resources?How are schools deploying additional allocated resources?
What other resources are available in the provision of special education, and how are these being deployed?
How do schools and parents perceive the effectiveness of resource allocation and deployment in general?
What major issues arise with regards to resource allocation and deployment?
What best practices/strategies in relation to resource allocation and deployment exist?

The study was informed by the bio-psycho-social model of disability and SEN, thus locating disabilities and SEN in the context of the interactions between learners and their learning environments. It thus questioned the traditional approach to additional resource allocation, based on diagnostic assessment and categorisation labels. While the study was conducted within an Irish context, it was informed by an analsisi of legislation , policy and practice in other jurisdictions, including site visits to some other countries. The main aim of the study was to conduct a thorough examination of the existing system of resouce application, allocation and deployment in Ireland and to formulate a comprehensive set of recommendations that would inform the future direction of such systems not only in Ireland but also in other jurisddictions.

Method

The starting point of the study was a review of relevant literature pertaining to the themes of the research. In addition to this, a legislative and policy overview was conducted for Ireland, England and Finland. For the two latter countries, the legislative and policy review was complemented by information gleaned from informative site visits to both of these countries. England was selected because of its geographical convenience, linguistic similarities and obvious historical and cultural links with Ireland. Finland was selected because of similarities in scale of population and urban-rural demographics. It was also selected because the Finnish education is frequently regarded as a model of good practice and it consistently performs very well in international comparisons of pupil attainment, such as those conducted by the Organisation for Economic and Cultural Development (OECD). According to the OECD (2010), Finland’s performance levels have led it to be studied by educationalists in order to learn the secrets of its success. There were three stages involved in the empirical data gathering and analysis. The first stage involved analysis of data from national databases and statistics relating to the allocation of additional resources to schools to provide for pupils with special educational needs. The second involved case studies of twelve randomly selected schools; five primary, five post-primary and two special schools, across various school characteristics such as size, pupil gender, geographical location and equality status (DEIS/Non-DEIS). This aspect of the study was qualitative in nature, involving interviews with principals, with teachers responsible for co-ordinating special educational needs provision in the schools, and with class teachers, special educational needs (SEN) teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs). Interviews were also conducted with pupils in each of the schools who were in receipt of additional support and their parents. The psychologists and special educational needs organisers involved with the schools were also interviewed. The third empirical aspect of the study involved a questionnaire survey that was distributed electronically to all schools in the country, primary, post primary and special. This was with a view to obtaining a stratified representative sample of 300 primary schools (including special schools) and 100 post primary schools. The target respondent in each school was the person with responsibility for co-ordinating special educational needs provision in the schools. The field work (interviews, analysis of national databases, site visits and national surveys) was conducted between October 2009 and April 2011.

Expected Outcomes

Participants in this study acknowledged the considerable additional resources, human, technological and educational, that had been made available for pupils with special educational needs in Irish schools over the preceding decade. They regarded the existing resource application system as being efficient in terms of speed of response and decision-making in processing applications. They acknowledged the enhanced efficiency of the resource application and allocation systems since the establishment of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and the appointment of regional Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs). However, the application process was regarded as being overly time-consuming and in need of review. School personnel reported a perceived sense of exclusion from the decision–making processes in relation to resource allocation. Participants were also critical of the inflexibility of the policy for resource allocation, especially the insistence on, and narrow interpretation of, psychometric scores. The resource allocation process was largely dependent upon diagnosis of a disability by a professional for pupils with Low Incidence disabilities. . Access to such assessments was sometimes dependent on the ability of the parent or the school to fund private assessments. This challenged the equity of the resource provision system. A separation of diagnostic assessment from the resource allocation system was advocated. Challenges were reported in relation to the deployment of resources especially in post-primary schools. There was a reported lack of review procedures to establish if the additional support was proving effective. Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) were regarded as being central to the inclusion of the most challenged and most challenging pupils in mainstream education. However, they were regarded as an under-utilised resource in Irish schools. The study yielded a comprehensive set of recommendations for the future direction of the resource allocation and deployment systems within Irish schools and such recommendations would be equally applicable in other jurisdictions.

References

Allan, J. (2008). Rethinking inclusive education. Dordrecht: Springer. European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (2010). Special Needs Education Country Data. Denmark & Belgium. Frederickson, N. & Cline, T. (2009). Special educational needs, inclusion and diversity: A textbook. (2nd ed). Maidenhead: Open University Press. Hautamaki, A., Hautamaki,J., & Kupiainen, S., (2010). Assessment in schools – Learning to learn. International Encyclopedia of Education, 3, 268- 272. Kivirauma, J. (2004). Scientific revolutions in special education in Finland. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 19, 2. Ofsted (2004). Special Educational Needs and Disability: Towards Inclusive Schools. Ref. HMI 2276. London: Ofsted Skrtic, T.M. (1991). Students with special educational needs: Artifacts of the traditional curriculum. In M. Ainscow (ed.), Effective schools for all. London: Fulton. Tomlinson, S. (2000) Ethnic minority and education: new disadvantages. In T. Cox (ed.) Combating educational disadvantage: Meeting the needs of vulnerable children. London: Falmer Press.

Author Information

William Kinsella (presenting / submitting)

University College Dublin, Ireland

Joyce Senior (presenting)

University College Dublin, Ireland

Lelia Murtagh

University College Dublin, Ireland

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