To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) what training in special educational needs and behavioural management exists for teachers; (ii) whether this training for teachers is mandatory; and (iii) the proportion of teaching staff that had training of this nature in the last twelve months.

The Education Authority, my Department and the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) have provided a range of training on special educational needs and behavioural management. This is set out as follows:

Education Authority Provision

(i)The Education Authority’s Behaviour Support teams and other Special Educational Needs (SEN) support services provide advice, support and training to schools on a range of issues related to special education and behaviour management. This is provided for nursery, primary and post-primary schools and covers:

general strategies for classroom management;

specific training on conditions such as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder; and

specific strategies to meet the needs of individual children where more targeted support is required.

Since 2010 the following training on special education and behaviour has been provided:

Capacity Building including Early Years;

Educational Testing; and

Safe handling.

(ii)Although this training is not mandatory it is encouraged in relation to compliance with the Special Educational Needs and Disability (NI) Order 2005 in terms of staff accessing training to support children with SEN.

(iii)It is not possible to provide the proportion of teaching staff that had training of this nature in the last twelve months.

Department of Education Funded Provision

(i)My Department has funded a SEN Continuing Professional Development Literacy project run by Stranmillis and St Mary’s University Colleges for three years ending in March 2015. This offered continuing professional development for teachers to develop their capacity to teach reading, spelling and independent writing skills to SEN children of primary school age. It offered training to Masters level for one teacher from each primary school, together with whole school training for all relevant staff.

In addition, my Department also provides funding to The Middletown Centre for Autism which provides a broad range of training courses for educational professionals and parents, and continues to expand the availability of its online research information and training resources for both parents and professionals.

(ii)Neither of these training activities are mandatory.

(iii)563 schools registered for the SEN Continuing Professional Development Literacy project and 6,222 teachers participated, at various levels; this represents almost 70% of the primary schools here.

In the case of the range of training provided by The Middletown Centre for Autism, this training is available to all schools and in 2014/15 training was provided to approximately 4,000 professionals.

Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) Provision

(i)Over the past three years, CCEA has provided training on Quest; the Q Skills; the SEN Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities framework; and Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD). Resources are also made available online for teachers to cascade this training to other members of staff in their school. These SEN training courses are currently being transitioned to provide more comprehensive online courses with engaging and interactive resources; these will be available by the end of this academic year.

Q Skills and Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities events have trained over 200 teachers each year. Schools are also able to avail of training for individual teachers or whole school directed time sessions on Quest; the Q Skills; the SEN Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities framework; or SEBD.

(ii)This training is not mandatory for teachers.

(iii)In the past 12 months, CCEA has offered training on the Q Skills assessment resource and the SEN Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities framework to every primary school and SEN school here. Approximately 240 teachers attended these training events, representing over 200 schools.

Other Provision

There are also many other organisations that provide SEN training and schools are free to supplement any training provided by statutory agencies. My Department does not hold details of any training provided by independent organisations.