We have three exceptional special schools in Kildare North, namely, St. Raphael's Special School in Celbridge, Stepping Stones Special School in Maynooth and Sapling Special School in Kill. Indeed, the Minister of State met the school management of Stepping Stones this day last week, and I thank him for his work and engagement. It is much appreciated. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of special schools throughout the country and, under the leadership of the Minister of State, we have seen an increase in the number of special classes in mainstream education. This ensures that children get equal access to education and equal opportunity regardless of their background and perspective. All children who go to a special school or are in a special classroom have goals that are set out at the beginning of the year for them to achieve by the end of the year. There are some students who go through the junior cycle profile of achievement, JCPA. There is level 1 and level 2. This affords students in special schools the ability to have a level 1 or level 2 certificate at the end of completing the junior cycle. That is crucial for those young people when some of them want to go into the workplace in the future. It also provides a great sense of achievement and pride, not just for the student but for their families and the entire school community. At present, schools must manually generate JCPA certificates. The Department does not hold independent completion records of the students who have completed the JCPA and certificates are not automatically issued. As a result, junior cycle completion in special schools depends entirely on school level administration, unlike mainstream settings. The deputy principal in St. Raphael's in Celbridge was in touch with me about the lack of meaningful junior certificate recognition for their students and the increased administrative burdens on school staff. We made a representation on the issue and the Department was in touch with the school one week after we raised it. Certificates will be issued to last year's students. However, it should not be up to the schools to issue certificates. It should not be up to me or anybody else to contact the Department about these certificates being issued. It is about due process, fairness, equality and recognising the work and effort of the students, the staff and the families who have helped the students get to that point. There are some other concerns about some of the content that teachers have been recommended to teach. Staff have raised concerns about some of the material, which can be infantilising and quite childish for students who are 12- or 13-year-olds, or older. Those staff feel there needs to be more of an acknowledgement that every child's development and learning journey is very different, and that needs to be acknowledged. Some are more developed in certain ways than others, and that needs to be acknowledged. The main issue is that students deserve recognition equal in dignity to their peers. That does not only apply to special schools. Now that we see the increased opening of special classes in mainstream secondary schools, it is important for those students to feel equal to their peers in the year. Ensuring they have a certificate to show that is part of it. As I said, it would mean they could go into meaningful employment in the future and have something to show for it.

Sentiment score: 0.26

I thank the Minister of State for his response and, indeed, as I mentioned at the beginning, his hard work in this area. There has been a marked improvement in special education in the country since he took on the role as Minister of State for special education. I commend him on that. I want to thank him as well for his continued engagement because I have been raising issues with him continuously and he has always engaged in an open, fair and constructive way, and I think many people across the House will say the same. I am not going to go over to previous points but what I would like to do and as I always do on a Topical Issue matter, parliamentary question or oral parliamentary questions, is try to come up with proposed solutions. We can all identify problems, but actually identifying the solutions is the key aspect we should be doing a little bit more of as public representatives. The first solution I have is automatic certification, that is, introducing a centrally triggered junior certificate profile of achievement process for all junior cycle students, including level 1 and level 2. The second is a clear national certificate to develop a recognisable certificate of junior cycle completion for level 1 and 2 pathways, issued directly by the Department. Finally, we need a review for parity of esteem to examine junior cycle certification arrangements in special schools and address the perceived structural inequality. Those three steps would go a long way to solving this. Maybe it does not seem like a huge issue to a lot of people but for those going through special education, particularly with the increase in special classes in mainstream, it will become more of an issue. It is just about due recognition for hard work and the effort made by the students, their families and the school community.

Sentiment score: 0.44