NORTHERN IRELAND’S MOST VULNERABLE PUPILS ‘SHORT CHANGED’

Some of Northern Ireland’s most vulnerable children are being “let down” and “short changed” by a proposed policy meant to protect them, it was claimed today.

Avril Hall Callaghan, General Secretary of the UTU – Northern Ireland’s only locally-based teaching union – said the Special Needs and Inclusion Review could adversely affect the working practices of teachers and schools and fail to address the needs of the children it was supposed to support.

The review will see an increasing number of children with special needs educated in so-called mainstream schools. However, UTU members fear the support mechanisms are not yet in place to allow this.
"There is a danger that the needs of these pupils will not be adequately met by their inclusion in mainstream schools. We are not confident that the proposed expansion of inclusion policies is being matched by the provision of qualified, experienced SEN teachers,” said Ms Hall Callaghan.
“Children could end up being pushed to keep up with a completely inappropriate curriculum, which means they end up learning very little.
"Without adequate funding special needs children in mainstream schools risk being let down by the system and missing out on vital support which could enable them to fulfil their potential. They are being short-changed.

“By the same token the experience of more able children may also be affected as teachers find themselves increasingly challenged to deliver the revised curriculum to an ever wider spectrum of abilities.”

Members at today’s UTU annual conference this year (March 18 and 19) in Newcastle’s Slieve Donard Hotel were being asked to vote on a resolutuion concerning the proposed SEN inclusion policy.

One of the key elements of the resolution is the funding implication.

“We know that while special schools receive extra funding once a child with special needs is statemented – that is once its special educational needs are formally recognised by its local Education Board – mainstream schools do not receive the same financial help to deliver the extra support necessary,” said Ms Hall Callaghan.

“These schools are forced to stretch their existing budgets in an effort to give every child – of whatever ability – the best possible chance.”