As I am sure the Minister is aware, there is chaos in many schools because of the proposed changes to the SET teacher allocations. A school principal in my constituency wrote to me about what he described as the fiasco of the new SET teacher allocations and the removal of the complex needs criteria. The school was confident it would see its hours being increased. However, because of the removal of the complex needs criteria and because the criteria for a new model was introduced, their hours were actually cut significantly, by five hours. This equates to a 20% cut for pupils with very complex needs. This is causing huge issues and uncertainty in many schools and, as we can understand, it is causing frustration, because schools want to meet the needs of all of their pupils, particularly those with special needs.

There are also issues around local arrangements for clusters where hours have to be arranged by the principal. The principal has to do that, but cannot give certainty to SET teachers unless they have the hours arranged and in place. I am asking for the new SET teacher allocation model to be suspended until all issues are addressed.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Whenever any changes are made to how resources are allocated in schools it can cause a lot of worry for students and parents, as Deputy Nolan has just outlined. We want to ensure that every child with special educational needs has access to the most appropriate school place. Schools were notified of their special educational teacher allocation for 2024-2025 on 6 February. Special education teachers provide valuable additional teaching assistance for students with special educational needs in mainstream classes. There were 14,600 SETS in the 2024-2025 school year, which is an increase of 1,000 on the 2021 school year. There are more resources and supports going in, but we clearly need to communicate with principals and parents in a way that reassures them.