Written answer
School Management
The Minister said Irish remains central to the curriculum and exemptions for pupils with special educational needs should be granted only in exceptional circumstances under existing criteria. Subject teachers remain responsible for teaching, while special education teachers may advise; SNAs have no pedagogical role, and school leadership makes exemption decisions.
247. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Education and Youth the position regarding the mechanisms in place to support schools that are experiencing rapid growth due to significant population increases in their locality; and the way they can be supported to manage this growth in terms of resources. [66358/26]
Comment on this
I can confirm to the Deputy that it is open to all schools to apply for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area.
I can assure the Deputy that my department has a robust forward planning process which considers population and enrolment data in order to plan for school provision and respond to population changes.
My department uses a geographic information system which facilitates the analysis of data from a range of sources, including CSO census data, child benefit, school enrolment data, residential development activity and information about existing school capacity to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise and where additional school accommodation is needed.
My department conducts demographic analysis at both school planning area and settlement level. More granular analysis is carried out in areas encompassing both high growth urban settlement areas and a more rural hinterland.
Major new residential developments have the potential to alter the demand for school places at a local level. In that regard, as part of the demographic demand analysis, my department monitors planning and construction activity in the residential sector.
The process involves ongoing analysis of enrolment trends, demographic data and projected intake at school planning area level, as well as direct engagement with schools, patrons and management bodies. Each school planning area is kept under review on an ongoing basis, with particular regard to projected pupil intake, existing school capacity and emerging enrolment pressures.