Special education in Ireland has come a long way from when it was frowned upon to have a mental or physical disability to now being accepted within the community. Special needs is defined as all children having the same needs with other children have extra ones. (Flood, 2013). There are two types that are classified according to frequency of occurrence, high incidence special needs and low incidence special needs. An example of high incidence special needs would be dyslexia and an example of low incidence special needs is down’s syndrome. (Flood, 2013). The development of Special Education in Ireland will be discussed in great depth within this essay.
In the 12th century it was a Gaelic Ireland, the Brehon Laws were in place within Ireland. These laws created specific provision for the protection of people with disabilities and categorised their rights both socially and economically. (Cunneen, 2018). If these people were exploited, the people who did so would be punished. When the English Common Law arrived to Ireland in 1169 this protection for people with disabilities ended. (Cunneen, 2018). Once the English Common Law was introduced people with disabilities were no longer safe from being exploited or from being abused, they now had no protection. This went on until in 1755 a school for both girls and boys was set up for children with severe learning difficulties. It was set up by David Manson. They were encouraged to learn through play and corporal punishment was banned within this school. During this time, a lot of people with disabilities were still discriminated within the community and children with such disabilities were separated from others within school. They would be put in their own class to not hold others back. In 1816 the National Institute of the Deaf and Dumb was founded in Dublin by a man named Dr. Charles orpen. (Cunneen, 2018). In 1831 the National School System was founded. Any child with a disability was not included within this system. This shows another example where they were treated unfairly and unjustly. Due to children with disabilities being left out the catholic church decided to educate children with special needs. In 1838 the Poor Relief Act was created. This was for all the people who had disabilities. They were put into these workhouses and they worked long hours but they were never educated. (Cunneen, 2018). After this many schools for the deaf and the blind started opening around the country, mainly in Dublin. People with disabilities were still not treated equally at this time but it was clear that the treatment was improving.
In 1922 the foundation of the Irish Free State occured. This allowed for Irish Administration to control Ireland. Although the treatment of special education was improving, the “education of children with disabilities and learning difficulties held a very low place on the list of political priorities of the new state.” (Griffin et al, 2007, p.29). In 1947 the first special school for children with general learning disabilities was recognised by the state. Parents of children with disabilities were feeling alone and desperate. In 1955 the ‘Association for Parents of Mentally Backward Children’ was created. (Griffin et al, 2007, p.40). “This was the first time ever in Ireland, that a special school was founded, funded and managed by parents. (Cunneen, 2018). Nancy Jordan became the principal of a school in 1961 for emotionally disturbed children. In 1962 it was recognised as a national school by the Department of Education. This was also the first school to adopt the Montessori style system. The 1970’s became very important for the development of special education. Approximately 100 special schools were set up to help educate children with disabilities. Also a number of special classes within mainstream schools was established. This was a significant development for special education. (Cunneen, 2018).
At this stage people began to see children with disabilities and learning difficulties as they should have been seen all along. In 1989 the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child was established. Article 23 applies to this essay as is states “Children who have any kind of disability have the right to special care and support, as well as all the rights in the Convention, so that they can live full and independent lives.” (UNCRC, 1989). Special Education became under review in 1993 by the Special Education Review Committee (SERC). “The SERC Report suggested seven principles to underpin the development of comprehensive special education provision.” (Griffin et al, 2007,p.51). The SERC Report highlighted many different issues within the Special Education and helped it to develop, progress and improve. The Education act was established in 1998. This guaranteed the ‘automatic entitlement’ of provision to any child with a disability. (Cunneen, 2018). This allowed for protection over any child with a disability again. “The Education Act 1998 provides a statutory basis for policy and practice in relation to all education provision.” (Griffin et al, 2007, p.57). In 2004, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act was created. “A child with special educational needs shall be educated in an inclusive environment with children who do not have such needs unless the nature or degree of those needs of the child is such that to do so would be inconsistent with the best interests of the child.” (EPSEN Act, 2004). In the following year the disability act was formed. This allowed for assessment of health and education needs. In 2010 the Free Pre-School Year was introduced which allowed for a child between 3 years and 2 months and 4 years 7 months to avail of a free year in Pre-school. Children with disabilities are also eligible of this system. The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) was established in 2016. This allowed for supports to be created for children with disabilities attending ECCE settings. There are 7 levels of support within AIM. Universal support covers levels 1-3. Targeted support covers levels 4-7. (Cunneen, 2018). This allowed for the supports to be spread to all the people who needed them and allowed them to get the support they needed under the basis of the 7 levels.
There was also provision made for Primary and secondary schools. In special schools the number of students in the classes have to be small with the moderate general learning disability is 1-8. In special classes within mainstream schools the classes have to be small in numbers where the autistic spectrum disorder is 1-6. In integrated settings in mainstream classes the teacher holds all responsibility for the progress of each student whether they have special educational needs or not. (Cunneen, 2018). The number of special schools in 2014 was 141 but now it has decreased down to 135. This is due to more schools having special classes within mainstream schools or else having integrated classes within mainstream schools. The number of pupils that still attend a special school is 8,208 and the number of special class pupils attending a mainstream primary school is 5,572.
While writing this essay I learnt many different things about Special Education in Ireland. I learnt about how people with learning difficulties and people with disabilities used to be treated and pushed aside and excluded from certain aspects of life. I learnt about how many acts and committees had to be set up for people who have special learning difficulties to have the rights that they do. Before writing this essay I never knew that people with disabilities and learning difficulties struggled so much to fit into society and about how much people had to try and stand up for their rights. This essay showed me the timeline of the development of the Special Education in Ireland and all its significant events that helped impact on it’s development that I never knew occured.
It is clear that people who had learning difficulties and people with disabilities suffered a great deal in the past with the way they were treated and by the way they were seen by society. Over time the treatment towards them became nicer and more understanding but took many years for this to occur. I found myself learning from the start of this essay till the very end and also found it very enjoyable to learn about this topic throughout the assignment. It can be said that there is a big developmental difference between how people with disabilities and learning difficulties are treated now and how they used to be treated in Ireland. It is great to see the improvement and how much better the treatment for them has become and it can only improve for years to come. Overall I felt that I learnt many new facts about this topic and also learnt how it was in our past to see where we are now. This is how the development of Special Education occured in Ireland.