Debate contribution: Transforming Education for Children with Special Educational Needs

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 13 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

13 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

Transforming Education for Children with Special Educational Needs

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4737883

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Today I set out my vision for the most ambitious programme of special educational needs (SEN) reform in a generation, which will see our children and young people with special educational needs truly thriving in education. The challenges around special educational needs provision are well documented and have rightly been the focus of many debates in the Assembly and across society. Today is about moving beyond the commentary to focus on the actions that are needed to ensure that our children and young people with SEN benefit from greater inclusion and receive the right support from the right people at the right time and in the right place. The context in which I bring forward the programme of reform is vastly different from the one in which our existing system was developed. One in five pupils in our education system currently has a special educational need. Some 8% of pupils across the school population have a statement of SEN, in contrast to other parts of the United Kingdom, which average around 5%. Some 11,000 of our children are now in specialist education provision, an increase of 45% in the last seven years. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) projects that those figures will increase to over 16,000 by 2031-32. That picture is not unique to Northern Ireland. The challenge is how we respond and ensure that our system meets the needs of an increasing proportion of children in our school population. The need for reform is clear. Since taking up the role of Education Minister, I have spoken to many parents, families and teachers who are frustrated by the current system. Delays in securing school placements; inadequate, insufficient and late support; an outdated schools estate; and school leaders struggling to meet the needs of their pupils are just some of the issues that need to be addressed. We need to rebuild the confidence of children, parents, families and our education workforce. Today is an important milestone in doing that. I want to be clear that the key driver of reform is my unstinting commitment to better meeting the needs of children with SEN. The reality is that our current approach does not work. The limited outcome measures that we have show that we are not doing well for our children with SEN, and that needs to change. In 2022-23, 10% of young people with SEN had no GCSEs or formal qualifications, compared with 1·6% of students without SEN, and only 14% of school-leavers with SEN went on to higher education, compared with 41·5% of their peers without SEN. That is despite expenditure in SEN increasing by 145% since 2017-18, forecast to rise to an estimated £622 million in this financial year. We are spending money on an approach that is simply not working. Imagine the impact that we might achieve for our children if that money were spent differently and on approaches that are highly effective and evidence-based. The need for change is clear, and the scale of the challenge is significant. We have a job of work to do that requires commitment, investment and collaboration. SEN transformation is a key priority for the Executive. My personal commitment to the reform agenda is without question, but I must have support from my ministerial colleagues to successfully deliver the scale of ambition that is required. The need for true collaboration has never been greater. Many of our children's needs require support from beyond Education, so we must harness the expertise and resources that reside across Departments, local government and the voluntary and community sector to ensure that needs are picked up and addressed early; that young people leaving school have access to meaningful, well-supported pathways; and that our children with the most complex needs are supported to learn. The reform agenda represents the Department's response to more than 200 recommendations that were made across a range of scrutiny reports and signals my intent in leading the transformation that is required. The five-year plan accompanying the reform agenda sets out the actions that will be taken to provide our children and young people with the right support from the right people at the right time and in the right place. Those four pillars, drawn from the SEN end-to-end review analysis, focus on identifying and responding to needs early; providing the highest quality in school support; building the confidence and capability of the workforce; and ensuring that children thrive in high-quality learning environments. All of that is set in the context of my Department's ongoing work to develop a longer-term vision and plan for inclusive education that meets our Northern Ireland context. In October 2024, I set out my vision for a high-quality, efficient and sustainable system of education that provides choice, is inclusive and encourages collaboration. Children with SEN deserve to benefit from a world-leading education system that is delivered on the basis of evidence on what works. The reform agenda will, for the first time, articulate clear, measurable outcomes for our children with SEN, their parents or carers and our education workforce and set expectations for the services that are delivered to support them. As an early action, I will bring forward an outcomes framework that will include clear and positive ambitions for our children with SEN and set out how we will measure our progress towards meeting those. Building a strong and confident workforce is central to my reform agenda, recognising that it is our workforce who can often be the first to identify a need and are in the best position to respond early. To do all of those things, our workforce must be supported and valued. I will do that by investing in teachers, early years practitioners and non-teaching staff through the development of a continuous professional development framework for SEN; by working with our initial teacher education providers to develop a strategic framework for SEN in initial teacher education informed by evidence on what works; and by improving career pathways for practitioners and support staff. We know that early intervention works. The early identification of need and timely intervention in response must be in place throughout a child's educational journey from the early years and on an ongoing basis through primary and post-primary education. In the early years, I will do that by establishing a bespoke regional programme for two- to three-year-olds that will include support for parents and families; providing resource and trialling the introduction of SEN classroom assistants in preschool education settings; and piloting an early education and intervention centre approach for children who are aged between three and six. For school-age children, I will do that by piloting the introduction of a professional support programme in schools; expanding nurture and other evidence-based therapeutic preventative approaches; and developing understanding of inclusive learning environments and approaches, including supporting learners with SEN in accessing the curriculum. Of course, in some instances, schools may need access to specialist support services where a child needs support beyond what the school can offer. The Education Authority (EA) has commenced its phased implementation towards a new delivery model this year. That will see support services move towards a model through which holistic support will be provided on the basis of the needs of the child through local impact teams. The educational psychology gateway has already been removed, and a Tell Us Once approach is being implemented. The sensory service will remain as a stand-alone service due to its very specialist nature. In addition, my reform agenda will seek to expand that multidisciplinary approach to include health professionals; ensure that support services are high-quality, evidence-based and delivered by those with expertise and experience; introduce performance measures to ensure that we measure how all services deliver better outcomes for children; develop, where appropriate, bespoke services to support children in Irish-medium education; and harness the expertise in our special schools and develop their role to support inclusion across the wider school system. I will enhance the role of the Middletown Centre for Autism and expand its reach in developing neuro-affirming practice across the system and partner with the voluntary and community sector to enhance and expand delivery for children with SEN. Under the existing model, parents and, indeed, many schools see a statement of special educational need as the best way of securing support for a child. Aligned to that, we also know that many view one-to-one classroom assistant support as the gold standard intervention. Evidence from emerging practice here and elsewhere points to the effectiveness of a more nuanced approach, where schools have greater flexibility to deploy a range of professional support models in the classroom, including harnessing the opportunities of technology. Currently, many parents and schools do not have access to information on the wider range of possibilities for their children, and that must change. We now know from research and emerging evidence that one-to-one classroom assistant support is not always the most effective intervention for children. While one-to-one support is necessary for some children, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and we must be more responsive to children's needs and be guided by best practice and evidence. Securing the confidence of parents and teachers will be crucial to making that transition. My hope is that, with enhanced in-school support and an expert, responsive Education Authority and other support services, there will be increased confidence in the system to effectively meet the needs of children and young people without, in all cases, recourse to a statement. For the minority of children for whom a statement of SEN is required and their families, it is essential that the process is streamlined, efficient and easier to navigate. The EA is already leading the way on that aspect of reform through its digitisation of the assessment process. As I have indicated, the existing system of support is simply not working. The reform agenda will seek to fundamentally change the model of support for children with a statement of special educational need by building on what we have learned from the settings that provide support in different ways. I will do that through the following: ensuring that school leaders are given flexibility to determine the support required to meet children's needs and to deploy different models of support; empowering classroom assistants through high-quality and evidence-based professional learning; developing interventions that harness emerging technologies and ensuring that classroom assistants are trained in their use to meet children's needs; bringing forward a framework of whole-school support models that are based on evidence and good practice; and drawing on the learning from schools that already deploy different approaches.

That should not be viewed as a means of reducing the number of classroom assistants but as focusing on a more effective deployment that develops their expertise and more effectively meets the needs of children.

School placements for children with SEN have been the subject of much debate in the Assembly. I acknowledge the efforts of the Education Authority, which, supported by my Department, has created 1,450 new special provision places this year to meet the ever-increasing demand. In April last year, I announced the SEN capital investment programme to enhance capacity across the system in order to support the placements of children with SEN. To date in this financial year, I have invested £51 million in the SEN capital programme and £58 million of resource for additional specialist provision in mainstream classes. As a consequence of the reform agenda, I will also do the following: require the Education Authority to prioritise special education in its operational plan 2 and take a SEN-first approach to future planning; work towards ensuring that there is enough flex in the system so that no child remains without an appropriate place; streamline EA assessment and the review process to inform placements; formalise information sharing with Health and Economy to aid planning to support children's educational journeys; and, finally, scope a suitable education offer for the development of post-16 specialist provision in mainstream schools. Work will continue and intensify in preparation for placements in September this year. However, we need to be clear on the challenges that lie ahead. While much progress has been made on building in additional capacity across the system, there are continued pressures, particularly in some areas. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of schools engaging closely with the EA to identify and bring forward solutions. For children with SEN moving into or out of education or transitioning to different provision, my reform agenda will, first, implement a transitional support programme at various stages of each child or young person's educational journey; secondly, introduce agreed data-sharing arrangements between health services, my Department and the Department for the Economy; and, thirdly, introduce a child development passport to include progress on milestones, interventions and a learning profile. For school-leavers with SEN, my Department will continue to work with Health and Economy to develop appropriate pathways into adulthood. SEN transformation is an investment not only for education but for our society. Delivering on the agenda will require sustained funding. I will continue to make the case to the Executive for appropriate investment in our education system and, in particular, to drive the reforms that, I know, are necessary to effect real change. My Department awaits the outcome of a bid to the Northern Ireland Civil Service transformation fund that would provide a much-needed injection of initial investment. Dependent on the success of that bid, work will commence on the following areas this year: transformation of the support model for children with statements; development of a pilot early childhood SEN intervention programme; development of a speech and language and communications intervention programme that will target 10,000 children over the next three academic years; development of inclusive play environments that will provide in-school support; testing of an enhanced nurture programme model over three years; development of a model of special schools as resource centres of expertise; and design and trial of an inclusive capacity-building programme, including a teacher and classroom assistant professional learning programme. Whist additional investment is essential to generate momentum in that transformation effort, we must also do better with the resources that we have. In the longer term, I will look to reconfigure funding as services are remodelled in order to ensure that all investment is impactful and as close to the child as possible. Change cannot wait. Some actions are already under way or due to begin imminently. The streamlining of the assessment and SEN placement processes will commence. Operational plan 2, with a SEN-first approach, will shortly be published. Preschool education settings will receive additional resource for children undergoing statutory assessment. That commenced in November last year, at an estimated cost of £1·2 million in this financial year. The EA will implement its graduated response framework and its new local impact teams model for pupil support services. The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) has been commissioned to evaluate specialist education provision, including early years foundation stage provision. I will publish my SEN reform agenda and delivery plan in the coming weeks. The plan has been developed with input from parents, practitioners and academics, and that engagement will continue as we move to implementation. My Department will also be engaging with key delivery partners around early actions, and I have asked the Education Authority to prioritise its areas of responsibility within the delivery plan. In that context, I am pleased to be able to advise Members that, reflecting the priority that I have placed on this issue, the chief executive of the Education Authority has confirmed that he will be restructuring the organisation in order to bring a renewed and specific focus on SEN reform at the most senior level. I hope today that I have provided Members with an outline of the scale of the reform that is needed. Transformation will take time, and it will require investment. I am committed to driving this agenda during this mandate, to working with ministerial colleagues, who have an important part to play, and to ensuring that our children and young people with special educational needs receive the support that they deserve. I commend the statement to the House.

I thank the Member for her positive response to the statement. The statement does speak to the issues around transitioning and the importance of the pathways and working with the Department of Health and the Department for the Economy. The statement is very much about ensuring that there is the best support for people who are moving from education into the post-education environment. That is very much part of the work that we will be taking forward in the transformation of special educational needs provision. I hope that those who have campaigned will recognise the efforts that are being made to ensure that we support them and their young people as they go through the process of transitioning from education.

I thank the Chairman for his question on behalf of his Committee. This is very much the outworkings now of a process of nearly 18 months, in which we have gone through those 200 recommendations and analysed them as part of the end-to-end review. I have now outlined where we are going and some immediate steps that we are taking. It is important that people reflect on some of what I have said today. That allows people to have some of that discussion. As a result of my announcements today, we will need to finalise that delivery plan, but I can assure the Chairman that that delivery plan is at the point of finalisation. I said in the statement that it would arrive in the coming weeks, and we will be able to publish the detailed delivery plan in the coming weeks. It is important, however, that, after I have taken decisions as the Minister around those areas, those stakeholders get the opportunity to finesse the delivery plan in that context. We will then move to implementation, and we are already moving forward. Those detailed plans will be published, and I look forward to the Education Committee being able to scrutinise that work.

I thank the Member for his comments and question. He is right to highlight the multidisciplinary teams — the local impact teams — that will be taken forward. That is very much about making sure that we support those children and young people with their additional needs in speech and language and other aspects associated with allied health professionals. There has been engagement between my Department and the Department of Health in that respect. It is very much part of the detailed implementation plan. Additional resource and recruitment and an increase in the number of people who are trained will be required to meet that need. That work has been done in collaboration between the two Departments. I have met the Minister of Health. Nick Mathison, Chairman of the Education Committee, has engaged on the issue with me outside the Committee and highlighted the need, particularly in special schools, for collaboration between health professionals and educational settings. The Chief Nursing Officer has commissioned a piece of work on that, which is ongoing, and a joint oversight group between Education and Health is looking at the kind of provision that is needed in special schools. However, the impact teams go further than that. They will support the needs that exist for children, with or without statements of special educational need, in all schools.

I thank the Member for the question, which builds on some of the issues that we have already touched on. That speaks to the issue of providing wide support for children who have additional needs. Whether it relates to speech and language or communication or behavioural issues, that support needs to be provided so that children can have their education in mainstream settings but also in specialist schools. Work has been done in moving to what were called local integrated teams but will now be called local impact teams. The very name speaks to what we are trying to do, which is to make an impact. That will ensure that services are integrated and consider a child's holistic support needs, so that the system is more agile in providing the support that is needed. There will be a more streamlined approach to referrals, which will allow schools to have easier access to support. We will move towards the creation of local impact teams this year, but that is, of course, dependent on us being able to resource them. We will seek to build on that, which will make a positive impact on children who require that support.

I thank the Member for the question. The statement outlines the importance of having the right support for people. It talks about the importance of ensuring that educational professionals get access to that training. It speaks to how we will work with the initial teacher education settings so that there is that support. I want to see investment in classroom assistants to empower them to provide the support that children require.

There are a number of areas that we are taking forward to provide that professional development and the learning that can do that. That is something that we will do with our initial teaching educationalists, but, again, it is also part of the collaboration with the Department of Health. We will take that work forward, in terms of professional learning, and address some of the issues that the Member has raised.

I thank the Member for the question. Yes, I share the concerns that he has just articulated. We have had to create those 1,450 places, but I want to make sure that children, when they are placed, receive the appropriate place. It is not just about getting any place. That is what we are trying to do in the processes that we are taking forward. On access to specialist schools, the Member is right. That is why I announced that every specialist school in Northern Ireland had been reviewed by the Education Authority to identify the ability to enhance that capacity, so that we can put in place investment, where we can, and meet the needs in those localities by increasing the spaces available in special schools. We have taken that forward as part of the capital programme, but there is also the operational plan that the Education Authority will soon publish, which is the plan for how you area-plan the education provision needs in your community and across Northern Ireland. Within that, I have asked for — it will be included — a SEN-first approach. The provision and planning for meeting special educational needs has to be given priority, and that will be reflected in the document that will be published. We are working on the capital needs of the entire school estate, we are working to make the process by which we assess people much better so that we respond with the right support, and we are ensuring that people are placed in the right setting.

I thank the Member for his comments and his questions. I spoke about the need for significant investment to allow the transformation to take place. It is incredibly challenging, if not impossible, to do it within my Department's resources. That is why we submitted a bid to the Northern Ireland Civil Service transformation board for funding, and that is one of the projects that is waiting for a decision. Unashamedly, I say clearly that I need that to be approved because it will allow us to take forward the work. We await a decision, and I outlined the steps that we could take as part of the work, should we get a response in the affirmative. If we do not get a response in the affirmative, Members will need to ask serious questions as to why, because that will restrict my ability to take forward the transformation that needs to happen. I also want to make sure that we utilise the resources that we have as effectively as possible. That is why I have spoken about the need to ensure that schools get the flexibility to deploy resources in a way that, the evidence shows, is impactful. Some schools have not been able to recruit classroom assistants, but principals have also said that they can recruit a full-time teacher and deliver lessons in a smaller class setting. That is having a positive impact, and there are good examples of schools that have moved significantly towards that model. Today's statement affirms that approach and states that it is the way in which we need to take things forward across Northern Ireland. The independent review of education noted that an additional £136 million in resource funding a year would be required to transform SEN support. The initial costings from the exercise that we have taken forward indicate that investment in the region of £114 million a year would be required to support the identified areas that will be contained in the delivery plan. That equates to around £570 million being needed over the next five years. I do not need to tell Members how challenging it will be to deliver all that we do in education as well as taking forward the transformation work in the absence of that additional resource. I am absolutely committed to taking forward what I can with the resources that are currently available to me, but the plan will require significant investment.

I thank the Member for her question and agree entirely with her sentiment. This has to be about the children and young people. That is the focus. Where the evidence leads us to say that the model needs to change, we need to make sure that we change it, because that is what is in the children's interests. As I outlined, I am committed. Some of the immediate actions that we can take are contained in the report. Early, year 1 actions are intended to rebuild confidence and capability across the education system and are embedded in a clear plan to implement system-wide reform. The priority actions include additional professional support in the classroom; improved and more child-centred communications; improved approaches to placements and admissions; and a more child-centred approach to support, which, as the Member articulated, this should be about. I agree with her that it is about the children and young people.

SENCOs do an incredibly important job, and I agree with the Member in highlighting the contribution that they make. The transformation programme is very much about supporting children and young people to access the right support in a timely fashion. Often, it has been the delay in getting statements from psychologists that has led to services not being provided. We all know that earlier intervention has a significant impact, so we need to support it. That is why I want to have in place a process in which we are not dependent on a psychologist's report in order to access support. We have the support of allied health professionals' assessments, so we can access the support and put it in place in a timelier fashion. All of that will assist SENCOs in schools.

I thank the Member for his question. He has often engaged with me on the importance of supporting our children and young people in education settings. I recognise that one-to-one classroom assistance will remain the most appropriate form of support for some children — I spoke to that in the statement — and I want to be clear that the role of classroom assistant remains key in our schools and is pivotal to the delivery of inclusive, whole-class provision for pupils with SEN. The evidence from a range of scrutiny reports tells us, however, that one-to-one classroom assistance is not the most appropriate form of support for the majority of children. It can lead to dependency, with children being hindered in developing independent learning skills. Additionally, one-to-one support can isolate students from their peers, limiting their opportunities for social interaction and collaborative learning. Furthermore, the effectiveness of one-to-one support can vary significantly on the basis of the skills and training of assistants, leading to inconsistency in the quality of support. Research indicates that inclusive teaching practices whereby all children are engaged together often yield better outcomes and foster a more supportive learning environment. Feedback gathered from the end-to-end review of SEN also makes it clear that the current methods of deploying that resource may not be the most efficient or sustainable. As we know, there is a lack of flexibility in the role of classroom assistant, due to the allocation of hours and the way in which statements are written. There is a need for a more efficient strategy for providing increased professional support in the classroom. That is why I am keen to see the development of a flexible, evidence-based model for classroom assistance that can be readily deployed by schools to best meet localised, sector-specific needs. My officials are exploring a range of models and a suite of revised approaches that will be made available to schools during the first term of the 2025-26 academic year.

I thank the Member for his kind remarks and for recognising my commitment to supporting our children and young people with special educational needs. We absolutely need to make sure that we get this right. The GCSE is one measure used in the figures that I provided for the academic outcomes of children with special educational needs. The Member is right about making sure that, when it comes to transitioning from education, we support pathways so that those young people are able to have careers, to develop themselves professionally and to participate in our economy. That is why I spoke about the need for collaboration not just to meet health needs — I am working with the Department of Health on that — but with the Department for the Economy. Those transition years are important, and I understand the concerns of those who have campaigned on the issue. They are fearful about what will happen when their children or young people leave a formal education setting. My statement and the work with the Department of Health and the Department for the Economy speak to the need to make sure that those pathways provide the right support for those young people so that they are independent outside a formal school setting and can engage in our society and with industry. That is what the statement speaks to and what we will be there to support.

I thank the Member for his comments. It is about all of those. It is not just about meeting the needs of children with a statement of special educational need; indeed, the transformation work should reduce the number of children who require a statement of special educational need. Often, families have to resort to getting a legal document in order to force the provision of the support that, they feel, their children need. It should not get to the point where parents need to get a legal document in order to get their children the right educational support in school settings.

We need to transform the way in which we support children and young people. There are thousands of children who do not have a statement of special educational need but have additional needs and require that support. The transformation seeks early intervention so that we make the impact at those earliest of years. All the evidence shows that, when you do that, less intervention is required as you get older, and it is a more efficient use of resources.

The Minister of Health has referred to "shifting left" in the Department of Health when it comes to services meeting need. This is about a shift left in Education when it comes to meeting the needs of children and young people with educational need. It is about getting in early and meeting the needs of all our children and young people, not just those with statements of special educational need.

I thank the Member for her contribution. She brings her personal experience to the subject and has very much added value to my consideration of the issues by speaking about the need to support her young people. My officials have done an incredible amount of work on the issue, and I commend them for it. It is very personal for some of them as well. They have invested themselves not just professionally but emotionally in taking this forward. I thank them for that, and I thank the Member for the work that she has done to support me in making this statement. The streamlining process is really important, because there is huge frustration, as we have touched on already. We are going to streamline the process. I have engaged with the chief executive of the Education Authority in that regard. One of the directors who will be recruited will be tasked with reforming those processes in the Education Authority. That is the priority that is being given to addressing those issues within the EA. I support that work. The work that we are doing today, which I outlined in the statement, is all about supporting children, young people and their families. The streamlining of those processes is part of the outworkings of that.

I thank the Member for that. I assure her that, when it comes to new builds, our officials are already dealing with the supernumerary issue. There is no point in building new builds, engaging in school enhancement programmes and building an estate if they do not recognise some of the children who end up going to those schools. I agree with the Member: you cannot area plan on the basis of not including people who have additional needs.

I would say to those parents, "I hear you. I understand you. Your voice has come through very clearly as part of the work of the end-to-end review". That experience has very much informed what I have articulated today about how we are going to address the issues. As a society, we are marked on how we treat the most vulnerable and those who need the most. If we fail them, we are not living up to the values that we should be setting ourselves as a society. The work is very much based on the evidence of people's experiences. I get the frustration: although you get a statement, you can still feel failed because classroom assistants cannot even be recruited in some areas. I have articulated that I believe that there is a better way to meet the needs and that we need to do that better and work through the process of being able to meet them. I do not want parents to feel the frustrations that they often do when they are exasperated, not able to get a placement and hear of children who have their place confirmed while they still have to fight. Those parents contact the EA, and they are frustrated at not getting a response and at being passed around from one person to the next without getting the information. All that is hugely frustrating. We have improved, but we have so much more to do. Today, I am outlining how we are going to do that. I have indicated the resource that will be required. There are short-term measures that we have already started and measures that we will start imminently so that we can improve all those issues for the people who need it most.

I thank the Member for her comments and her engagement with me, particularly on the early years provision in special educational needs and more generally. The statement outlined the work that we are going to do on early years, because it is critical that we not only provide that support and make that early intervention but support the practitioners who are in early years settings. This work will complement that which we have taken forward on the early learning years strategy that we want to develop and on the measures that we have already implemented. The funding that I was able to secure from the Executive meant that we were able to provide support to early years settings and provide the childcare subsidy that the Member spoke about. That is why I am delighted that, in the draft Budget that is out for public consultation, I have again been able to secure the funding that will allow that 15% subsidy to continue into the next financial year. I know that that will come as a welcome announcement for those who have been part of that scheme, for which over 13,000 people have registered. That funding is secured in the draft Budget and will be finalised when we agree it as an Executive. That 15% subsidy will continue into the next financial year.

I thank the Member for his comments and his question and for the work that he is doing on the Education Committee. I know that this is an important area for the Member. We have spoken about the need to provide much better support in accessing the services that are required. All the work that we will take forward, a detailed plan of which will be published in the coming weeks, will address the issues that the Member has spoken about. As I outlined in the statement, it will take time to transform these services, which have become embedded over the past almost decade. It will require time for those changes to take place, but we have now started on that journey today. We will publish the detailed documents within weeks, and there are short-term immediate decisions that are already being taken forward, including in the areas that the Member has spoken about. We will see the transformation of the support for children with special educational needs.

I thank the Member for outlining the case, and, of course, I am happy to look at the individual case. The statement seeks to address the very point that he has just made. It should not require a legal statement of educational need for a child or young person to get the support that is required in our educational settings. That is why it has to change. That is why we are creating these local impact teams with educationalists and allied health professionals. They all have the ability to address these issues, put in place the right support and give flexibility to schools to have the resources that they need to best meet the needs of their children and young people. That is why we are doing the work in our special schools to increase the school estate. I want to get to the point, as I said to Mr Gildernew earlier, at which you do not need a statement to get the services that are required, because professionals know what is needed. You should not need a legal document to have to take people to court. You should be able to get that support. That is what I want to do and what the statement is about: providing the right support to the right people in the right place at the right time.

I thank the Member for the question. Yes, in the Department of Education, we are always engaging with unions on a whole range of issues. What is critical here is what is in the interests of the children and young people. We have to ensure that, where the evidence shows that a particular model or approach works better than what we have been doing, we need to change the model. I am sure that the Member, like me, wants to put children first in this. I have outlined the very valuable role that our classroom assistants play. I have outlined the way in which I want to empower them and support them with training to make that impact on children and young people. I also outlined that, in Northern Ireland, there are schools that, rather than using the resources available through a statement to have a classroom assistant, have deployed that resource to recruit a full-time teacher and have a smaller class. Those school leaders and the families have said that they are getting a good outcome when it comes to the educational impact. I encourage the Member and other Members to visit those schools, if they have not done so, of which there are a number that I will easily commend to him, to see first-hand the impact that that is having. I will namecheck Integrated College Glengormley as one example of where resources are being deployed to employ full-time teachers and deliver in small settings. I also reference The High School Ballynahinch, whose principal could not recruit a classroom assistant. Despite repeated attempts to recruit, he was unable to do so, and the resource is being used to employ a full-time teacher. Is the Member really saying —?

Is the Member really saying that we should stick to a model that does not work, or should we take an evidence-based approach that is in the best interests of the children's outcomes?

Ultimately, as Minister, it is my responsibility to ensure that appropriate governance arrangements are in place and there is accountability through being able to measure our outcomes. We will very much want to do that through regular reporting and being able to hold people to account in respect of that. As part of the reform agenda, I will create a new delivery unit in the Department. It will be established to drive forward the reform agenda. There will be progress measures for targeting. That will be monitored regularly through formal governance structures. This is not just a hypothetical announcement: it is real. The delivery plan is real. There will be governance, targets and accountability. I am sure that the Member, who passionately holds Ministers to account, will also hold me to account as I hold my Department and all the various stakeholders to account as we take that progress forward.

On one hand, let me thank the Member for her comments, but, on the other, let me just push back: I do not believe that the Minister of Health and the Minister for the Economy are failing in their support for children and young people. I understand the concerns that have been expressed about that transition period, but Members will criticise the Department of Education for not meeting current need. On the one hand, I will take it as a compliment that the Member thinks that I can do that effectively, but, on the other, Members will challenge me and say that my Department is not supporting children and young people. Therefore, the solution should not be a default position that my Department should become legally required to provide education up to the age of 25. If that were the case, the Department of Health and the Department for the Economy would need to relinquish functions. Those two Ministers would need to let go of certain areas for which they are responsible, and those areas would need to come to the Department of Education. The resource would also need to follow. What I would rather do and what, I think, my ministerial colleagues would rather do — I am not speaking for them — is ensure that our three Departments work closely together and provide the pathways and support that are needed, because, ultimately, it is that support, from whichever Department it comes, that the families and campaigners on the issue want to see. I am determined to make sure that they get that support irrespective of the Department in which that responsibility sits. I am confident that that is the desire of the Minister of Health and the Minister for the Economy.

7,294 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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