Welcome to NABMSE members login

Some content on this website is restricted to members only. It includes NABMSE Research reports and publications, consultation reports and other relevant documents.

Join NABMSE

If would like to become a member of NABMSE and would like to be part of the Voice of Special Education in Ireland, please check out the membership section.

Benefits of NABMSE membership

Being a member of NABMSE ensures that you:

  • Have up to date information on Special Education issues.
  • Have representation on committees and fora related to education and Special Education issues.
  • Have access to advice and guidance.
  • Have the opportunity to be consulted on Special Education Issues.

About: Policies

The policy of NABMSE is based on relevant legislation in the education and disability areas such as the Education Act 1998, The Equal Status Act 2000 and the Education for Persons with Special Education Needs Act(EPSEN) 2004. The policy of the organisation is also derived from motions passed at the Annual General Meeting. These are usually issues of importance and concern to Boards of Management in Special Education and are forwarded and discussed by member Boards at the AGM. These motions are followed up and lobbied for with the relevant Department or Agency.

The motions at the 2009 AGM included:

EPSEN Act

  1. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science to urgently reconsider the deferral of the full implementation of the EPSEN Act (2004).

Funding

  1. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science to provide:
    1. funding for the cost of Manual Handling and Health and Safety Training for special needs assistants and teachers.
    2. substitute cover for staff when attending these courses.
  2. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science to take into consideration and provide funding for the additional costs that are generated in special schools.  Hidden costs include the maintenance, repair and replacement of essential equipment as required by the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act (2007). These and other costs including service and utility charges are substantial and specific to schools providing services to students with special educational need.
  3. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science to negotiate with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to financially assist special schools who serve students with complex medical and physical needs and as a result have mounting costs which in the past may have been met by patron bodies.

Principal Teachers

  1. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science to review the criteria in the SERC Report (1993) in relation to the administrative status of the principal of special schools catering for students with low incidence special educational needs and to take cognisance of the educational, medical and professional supports that this cohort of pupils need.
  2. NABMSE calls on the Department of Education and Science to lift the moratorium on posts of responsibility which have resulted in an undue burden being placed on school principals.

Teacher Training

  1. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science to request the Teaching Council to ensure that teaching practice for teachers in training would be of adequate length and appropriately supervised to ensure that the student teachers gain skills to provide appropriate education for children with special educational needs.

Transport

  1. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Science and the Minister for Transport to ensure that special schools are consulted well in advance of the changes in Bus Routes in order to accommodate children with special educational needs, their parents and bus escorts.

2010

The motions at the 2010 AGM Included:

  1. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to commit to and continue with the rollout of the building programme in relation to special schools.
  2. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to consider the large volume of extra administration and managerial work associated with productive deployment of SNA resources in schools. We ask that recognition be given to principals to reflect this volume of work.
  3. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to review the grant for ICT and ask that it be weighted in favour of special schools and classes to allow equality of access to ICT resources with mainstream classes.
  4. This motion calls on NABMSE to highlight with all the partners in education the need to urgently reduce the Pupil Teacher Ratio in all categories of special schools and classes in recognition of the fact that pupils are presenting with more complex needs than when SERC reported in 1993.
  5. NABMSE calls on the NCSE to ensure that:
    1. Changes in staffing arrangements are not imposed during the school year.
    2. Changes in NCSE application procedures are notified in adequate time to allow schools plan for the following school year.
    3. A system for appointing SNAs to special classes and schools is devised to take into account the group needs within a class.
  6. NABMSE calls on the NCSE and the Minister for Education and Skills to allocate a minimum of one SNA to each class in a special school and that this SNA is considered separately to any SNA that is required to meet the additional needs of individual children.
  7. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to reinstate Resource Teaching Hours for students with Mild General Learning Disability
  8. NABMSE calls on the NCSE to ensure that SENOs make decisions and give notice to schools before the end of June, at the latest, with regard to SNA and teacher allocation for the following school year.
  9. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to provide a Home School Community Liaison Teacher for all special schools.
  10. NABMSE calls on the NCSE to remove the requirement that referral/assessment reports contain a specific recommendation for placement in a special school and that children are not denied resources on such grounds.
  11. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to ensure that transport services for students with disability are improved to include efficient operation of the scheme and to focus on the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable students.
  12. NABMSE calls on the Department of Education and Skills to carry out an immediate review of the role of special needs assistants supporting pupils whose complex needs are not currently being met under the “care only” stipulation.
  13. NABMSE calls on the Department of Education and Skills to take responsibility for the allocation of teaching staff in special schools.
  14. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Health to ensure, as a matter of urgency, that there is parity of services for children who have an assessed general learning disability regardless of where they are enrolled or to which service they are affiliated.
  15. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to develop a policy in relation to the dual enrolment of pupils attending special schools and mainstream schools.
  16. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to:
    1. invite companies to tender for the service and repair of school equipment used by students who have physical disabilities.
    2. negotiate all service charges and agree a pricing structure for work carried out on this equipment in schools, along the same lines used by the HSE to service students’ home equipment.
  17. NABMSE calls on the Minister for Education and Skills to invite companies to tender for an audit of school equipment, to collect and store unwanted/unused equipment and to decontaminate and technically refurbish equipment for re-use in any school.