Reflections on inclusion

Chapter 8 - Reflections on inclusion (PDF)

This chapter highlights several common themes arising from three inspection programmes conducted by the Inspectorate during 2024 that are relevant to the development of a high-quality, inclusive education system. The three inspection programmes were:

• a review of the admission policies of fifteen primary and fifteen post-primary special classes for autistic children and young people conducted between September and December 2024
• the evaluation of summer programmes 2024, conducted in one-hundred and fifteen schools between June and August 2024, with follow-up visits conducted in thirty-four schools in October and November 2024
• the evaluation of the use of assistive technology to promote engagement in learning, conducted in thirty-nine schools between September and December 2024.

The outcomes of each of the inspection programmes were presented in three separate thematic reports [1]. Taken together, these outcomes highlight several important areas for development in the Irish education system so that all children and young people are better enabled to access an appropriate education in line with their strengths, interests and needs. These are:

• the importance of achieving a consensus among all stakeholders, including parents and children and young people, on the definition of inclusion and the characteristics of an inclusive, high-quality system
• the need to consider carefully the function of a special class within an inclusive education system
• the need for alignment and coherence between policies designed to support inclusive practices
• the importance of promoting the agency of children and young people and the meaningful involvement of their parents in decisions about children’s learning
• the need to provide school leaders with the necessary supports to lead, develop and implement effective whole-school approaches to inclusive practices suited to their own contexts.

[1] Available at: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/2.20250422_Supporting_all_children_and_young_people_to_access_an_appropriate_education.pdf; https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/20250421_Confidence_and_connections_summer_programme_2024.pdf

As the Inspectorate Report (2021–2023) and Thematic Review [2] noted, inclusion in the context of education traditionally tended to be about ensuring that children with special educational needs could access education in mainstream schools alongside their peers. More recent understandings of educational inclusion take account of how education serves not only children and young people with special educational needs, but also those from a range of diverse ethnic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds as well as other aspects of diversity such as membership of the Traveller and Roma communities, language, religion, gender and sexual orientation. Taking account of these understandings, a fundamental principle of an inclusive education system is that all children and young people should be enabled to access an education that is appropriate to their interests, strengths and needs. Critically, in an inclusive education system, all must mean all, and the education must be appropriate for the child or young person.

A further development of the understanding of inclusion is the argument that inclusion and high-quality provision are essentially intertwined concepts [3]. This argument contends that responsiveness is a central feature of both high-quality and inclusive systems because a high-quality education system responds effectively to the needs of the learner, their community and society more broadly. Similarly, an inclusive system is characterised by a commitment to responsive provision that acknowledges the diversity of learners’ needs. Fundamentally, a key characteristic of a high-quality education system is its inclusive nature.

While this understanding of inclusion aligns with current international best practice, [4] the Review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2024 highlights how, within the Irish system, “the lack of clarity regarding what constitutes inclusion, and the limitation placed on the right to inclusion have been the source of much contention since 2004.”[5] The review further recommends that definitions of inclusive education should “comply fully with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the core features of inclusive education which are set out in it.”[5] In the context of the development of a long-term strategic plan for education in Ireland, the department has commenced work on articulating a definition of inclusive and high-quality education that aligns with the UNCRPD. Engagement with all stakeholders, including parents and children and young people, on this definition will be an important step in fostering a shared understanding of inclusion and a consistent, cohesive approach to the development of an inclusive high-quality system.

[2] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/the-department-of-education-inspectorate-report-2021-2023-and-thematic-review-pdf-version/

[3] Nilholm, C. (2020). Research about inclusive education in 2020 – How can we improve our theories in order to change practice? European Journal of Special Needs Education, 36(3), pp. 358-370. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2020.1754547; Navrátilová, J., Svojanovský, P., Obrovská, J., Kratochvílová, J., Lojdová, K. and Plch, L. (2024). Who is in focus? A scoping review of themes and consistency in inclusive education for all. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 40(4), pp. 654–671. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2024.2410570

[4] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/set-guidelines-and-supporting-documentation-to-aid-schools-in-supporting-childrenyoung-people-with-special-education-needs/A

[5] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/set-guidelines-and-supporting-documentation-to-aid-schools-in-supporting-childrenyoung-people-with-special-education-needs/

[6] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/consultations/epsen-review-consultation/#epsen-act-2004-review-report-and-easy-read-report

A guiding principle of the Special Education Teaching Guidelines, [7] issued by the department, is that those children and young people with the greatest level of need access the greatest level of support. This principle is equally applicable at system level. The review of admission policies, conducted by the Inspectorate in 2024, [8] found that almost all of the thirty admission policies reviewed contained clauses that could, if implemented as written, prevent autistic children and young people [9] with the greatest level of need from accessing a place in a special class where such placement was considered appropriate. The findings also highlighted the need for the Irish education system to consider the purpose of a special class and the profile of the children and young people who should be prioritised for places in a special class. This consideration requires careful balancing of several competing factors.

Previous Inspectorate reports [10] highlighted the growth in special classes and provided insights into some of the reasons behind this growth. These include increased prevalence rates for autism and parents’ perceptions of the benefits of special class placement for their child. In this regard, the Inspectorate findings echo research by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) [11] [12]. However, it is also the case that Ireland has ratified the UNCRPD and, as such, is committed to developing an education system where all children and young people are enabled to learn alongside their peers in an inclusive environment [13]. The NCSE has also provided policy advice, which recommends “the progressive realisation of the Irish inclusive education system where all local schools are enabled to educate all students in their community in line with students’ strengths and abilities” [14].

The system faces a significant, strategic challenge in reconciling the ongoing growth in specialist provision and strong parental preference for special class provision with developing inclusive learning environments where all children and young people learn with their peers. Currently, the department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) address this challenge by providing a continuum of educational provision ranging from education in mainstream classes, with additional supports as necessary, to full-time education in special schools.

Current policy advice is that the placement of a child or young person along this continuum should also be informed by the principle that children and young people should be educated in the most inclusive environment possible [15]. NCSE guidance states that placement in a special class is for those children and young people who are unable to access the curriculum in a mainstream class, even with support, for most or all the school day [16]. The review of admission policies conducted by the Inspectorate in 2024 highlighted the need for the department, in consultation with the NCSE, to ensure that there is a common understanding of the purpose of special classes along this continuum of provision and, most importantly, that only children and young people who require a placement in a special class are enrolled in a special class.

[7] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/set-guidelines-and-supporting-documentation-to-aid-schools-in-supporting-childrenyoung-people-with-special-education-needs/

[8] Available at: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/2.20250422_Supporting_all_children_and_young_people_to_access_an_appropriate_education.pdf

[9] The Inspectorate acknowledges that there are different perspectives in relation to terminology when describing autism. Some use person-first language (child with autism), as this recognises that the presentation of autism can vary from person to person. Others refer to autistic children, as this embraces the neurological difference of the person. The Inspectorate uses the neuroaffirmative language of autistic children and young people in this report.

[10]See, for example, Early Intervention Classes for Children with Autism: Towards a coherent, inclusive system Available at: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/early-intervention-classes-for-children-with-autism.pdf

[11] Available at: https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/An_Inclusive_Education_for_an_Inclusive_Society_NCSE_Policy_Advice_Paper_7.pdf p. 115

[12] The NCSE has commissioned further research on the factors behind the growth in demand for special school and special class places. At the time of publication, this research is being undertaken by Hibernia College.

[13] Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/general-comments-and-recommendations/general-comment-no-4-article-24-right-inclusive

[14] Available at: https://ncse.ie/content/uploads/2024/05/An_Inclusive_Education_for_an_Inclusive_Society_NCSE_Policy_Advice_Paper_7.pdf. p. 115

[15] National Council for Special Education (NCSE) (2014). Delivery for Students with Special Education Needs: A better and more equitable way. Available at: https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Allocating_resources_1_5_14_Web_accessible_version_FINAL.pdf; NCSE (2024). An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society, NCSE (2024). Available at: https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Inclusive-Education-for-an-Inclusive-Society.pdf

[16] Available at: https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NCSE-Guidelines-for-Setting-Up-and-Organising-Special-Classes-2024-ENG.pdf

The assistive technology focused inspections highlighted the need for alignment and coherence between department schemes designed to support inclusive practices in schools.

The policy and practice of the department is moving from the medical model, which required a child or young person to have a diagnosis of disability before they could access support, to an educational needs-based approach. This needs-based approach informs the continuum of support [17] and recognises that children and young people require different levels of support depending on their identified needs. It also recognises that a child or young person’s educational needs may change over time. The guidelines provided by the department to inform how schools deploy the additional teaching resources for special education teaching is also based on this approach. These guidelines [18] require teachers, in collaboration with parents, the child or young person themselves and relevant professionals, to carefully identify learning needs and relevant strengths and to plan for evidence-informed interventions to meet these needs. Importantly, they do not require a diagnosis of disability before a child can access support.

As the education system develops, it is important that all schemes to support inclusive teaching and learning practices are based on the process of identification of strengths, interests and needs, the implementation of evidence-informed interventions and the monitoring of the response to the intervention. Schemes to support inclusive teaching and learning should also reflect the continuum of support process and utilise the associated student support file. The effectiveness of this approach is contingent on teachers’ use of effective assessment approaches and their use of the student support file to track a student’s educational pathway and to record the student’s progress over time.

A 2024 report by the Inspectorate [19] on provision for children and young people with special educational needs highlighted teachers’ use of assessment to plan for teaching and learning as an area that required improvement. Chapter 10 of this report also highlights that, while some progress has been made in embedding the use of the student support file in schools, further work is required.

Research [20] highlights how educational reforms often occur in a “dislocated and siloed manner” that fail to adequately consider impacts of change across the provision landscape. It is important, therefore, that progressing greater alignment between the assistive technology scheme and the overall needs-based approach to supporting inclusive practices in schools should be part of a whole-of-system approach to building teachers’ assessment capacity and to improving the use of the student support file in all schools.

[17] Available at: https://assets.gov.ie/Special Educational Needs: a Continuum of Support.pdf

[18] https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/set-guidelines-and-supporting-documentation-to-aid-schools-in-supporting-childrenyoung-people-with-special-education-needs/

[19] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/58f54-inspectorate-publications/#special-educational-needs

[20] Gleeson, J. (2010). Curriculum in Context: Partnership, Power and Praxis in Ireland. Switzerland: Peter Lang; Banks, J., Frawley, D. and McCoy, S. (2015) in N. Kenny, S. McCoy and G. Mihut (2020): Special education reforms in Ireland: changing systems, changing schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2020.1821447, p. 7

Chapter 12 of this report notes that the Inspectorate’s work with children and young people is informed by the Lundy Model (2007) [21].The Lundy Model adopts a rights-respecting approach that acknowledges the right of children and young people to be part of every decision that affects them. The inspections of summer programmes in 2024 highlighted practical examples of how schools put this model into practice through involving children and young people in decisions about their learning.

During their visits to summer programmes, [22] inspectors found that some programmes had very good systems in place to capture children and young people’s insights into their learning. For example, some programme organisers held focus groups with the children and young people to discuss their preferred activities and some organisers surveyed children and young people at the end of the first week of the programme. They did this to find out what was working well and what could be improved. In other programmes, where practice was excellent, children and young people were enabled to set goals for their own learning and to make choices about the types of activities that would support them to achieve these goals.

Inspectors also reported on some very good examples of teachers talking to children and young people about their learning and providing them with worthwhile opportunities to reflect on the successes and challenges they experienced in learning. Summer programmes facilitated this in different ways. Some used templates, others used notebooks, digital journals or art displays. In some programmes, the children and young people shared their reflections with their parents. Some programmes organised assemblies where the children and young people presented to the wider group and described what skills they developed and how they developed them.

Talking to children and young people about their learning and facilitating them to reflect on their success as learners is a very effective strategy. It develops the agency of children and young people, helps them to take responsibility for their learning and to develop an awareness of themselves as learners.

The Inspectorate report inspection findings about on assistive technology [23] also highlighted some schools where children and young people were involved meaningfully in decisions about how best to use assistive technology. The report inspection findings acknowledged the very good practice of some teachers who sought the views of children and young people regularly on their experiences of using technology and amended their teaching based on the feedback. This practice led to very effective inclusive teaching and learning approaches. However, this was not a consistent feature of practice across the thirty-nine schools inspected. In many schools, the children and young people were not involved meaningfully in decisions about how and when they should use assistive technology. In a small number of schools, children received very little feedback on work they completed using assistive technology or on the development of their technology skills.

Consequently, one of the main recommendations from inspections of the report was that teachers and school leaders should consult regularly with children and young people about their experiences of using technology and any adaptations that may be required to support their learning.

These findings and recommendations are supported by research published by the Economic and Social Research Institute, [24] which both emphasised the importance of student involvement in the decision-making processes and highlighted it as an important issue for schools to address.

[21] Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice is not enough’: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for education. British Education Research Journal, December 2007, vol. 33(6), pp. 927-942

[22] The department provides all schools with resources to offer a two-week summer programme. Schools are asked to prioritise children and young people with special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage for places on the summer programme.

[23] Department of Education and Youth (2025). Using Assistive Technology to Promote Inclusion, Access and Participation in Learning. Report forthcoming.

[24] Available at: Carroll, E., McCoy, S., and Ye, K. (2024). ‘Embracing diversity in all its forms’: The voluntary secondary sector in Irish education, ESRI Research Series 182, Dublin: ESRI. https://doi.org/10.26504/rs182

Effective collaboration between parents and teachers can lead to improved outcomes for children and young people across a range of areas including attendance at school and engagement in learning [25]. The assistive-technology-focused inspections found that there were some schools where there was very good collaboration between parents and teachers to support the use of assistive technology. However, in over three-quarters of the thirty-nine schools inspected, there were limited structures in place to support parents.

In these schools, parents reported being challenged in supporting their child’s learning at home. For example, some parents reported that they felt ‘lost’ when their child asked for help at home and others reported a sense of frustration at having to ‘figure it out themselves’. Consequently, another of the main recommendations from the assistive technology focused inspections was that parents should be involved integrally at all stages of a revised assistive technology scheme, thus enabling them to support their child’s learning more effectively.

During their visits to summer programmes, inspectors found that most summer programme organisers consulted with parents on the strengths, interests and needs of their children. This was done mainly through one-to-one meetings, using templates from the programme guidelines and digital surveys. The process provided worthwhile opportunities for parents to share important insights about their children with teachers. Importantly, these insights informed the activities of the summer programme. Collaboration with parents was further strengthened in the programmes where parents were invited to attend assemblies where their children shared their learning. Positive collaborative practices were also evident where parents assisted teachers in delivering learning activities in areas such as art, craft, drama and music. As schools work to strengthen the involvement of parents in their children’s learning, they may find the positive strategies described above helpful.

[25] Kantova, K. (2024). Parental involvement and education outcomes of their children. Applied Economics, 56(48), 5683–5698. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2024.2314569

Findings from inspections [26] regularly highlight the importance of schools devising, adopting and consistently implementing whole-school approaches. When this is done effectively, it facilitates teachers and other staff to reflect on and discuss their practice. Whole-school approaches that are implemented consistently provide a coherent learning experience for children and young people across all learning settings and provide all members of the school community with clarity about appropriate expectations for teaching, learning and assessment practices.

Effective whole-school approaches were evident in just under one-fifth of schools (18%) inspected as part of the assistive-technology-focused inspections. Staff in this small number of schools collaborated to devise and implement collective approaches and the young people experienced a consistency of expectation and support from all teachers in relation to their use of assistive technology. Most importantly, this whole-school approach led to the effective integration of assistive technology within the school’s overall approach to learning and assessment for all. However, the inspections also found that, for most schools, there was a need for staff, parents and the children and young people to work together to devise and implement a whole-school approach to the use of assistive technology. The main impact of the lack of clear common approaches to assistive technology was inconsistency in practice among teachers in how they used assistive technology to support learning and assessment in their lessons.

The finding that learning experiences for children and young people in schools where agreed whole-school approaches are implemented consistently are better than learning experiences in schools where whole-school approaches are not agreed or consistently implemented is not surprising. However, the challenge that school leaders face in facilitating their school communities to collectively devise whole-school approaches across the breadth of the curriculum must also be acknowledged. These challenges relate chiefly to strengthening the culture of collaboration among teachers and to making sufficient time available for meaningful teacher collaboration, without eroding teaching time. A key challenge for the Irish education system is to provide all school leaders with the necessary resources to facilitate the development and implementation of effective whole-school approaches to inclusive and high-quality teaching, learning and assessment practices.

[26] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/inspectorate-publications/

Under article 24 of the UNCRPD, Ireland is committed to ensuring that all children access education in an inclusive environment, without discrimination. Fundamentally, an inclusive education system is one that ‘accommodates all students whatever their abilities or requirements, and at all levels – pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, and life-long learning ’[27]. This chapter has highlighted several important actions required to ensure this vision is realised in Ireland. These are:

• engagement with all stakeholders, including parents and children and young people, will be an important step in achieving a system-wide consensus on the definition of inclusion and the characteristics of an inclusive high-quality system
• there is a need for key parties, including the department’s special education section, NCSE, the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), representatives of parents, children and young people and teachers, to work together to ensure that there is a common understanding of the purpose of special classes within the system and that only children and young people who require a placement in a special class are enrolled in a special class.
• policy makers need to ensure that there is alignment and coherence between all schemes to support inclusive teaching and learning practices in settings and schools. This should be achieved as part of a whole-of-system approach to building teachers’ assessment capacity and to improving the use of the student support file in all schools.
• School leaders and teachers should ensure that children and young people are involved meaningfully and appropriately in decisions about the nature and type of additional support they receive.
• Schools should strengthen the involvement of parents in their children’s learning.
• Educational stakeholders should consider how best to provide all school leaders with the necessary resources to facilitate the development and implementation of effective whole-school approaches to inclusive and high-quality teaching, learning and assessment practices. The opportunities to develop effective whole-school approaches should not result in the reduction of class-contact time.

Walsh (2023) [28] notes that policy development and implementation in the Irish system is devolved to a wide range of actors, which can lead to “insufficient awareness of how various policies relate to and cohere with one another.” He highlights the need for alignment and coherence between vision, content, pedagogy and assessment practices within the system. This chapter calls for actions across five important areas to further advance the development of a high-quality and inclusive education system. Securing alignment and coherence between actions will be critical to ensuring success in these five areas.

[27] Available at: https://www.unicef.org/eca/sites/unicef.org.eca/files/IE_summary_accessible_220917_0.pdf

[28] Walsh, T. (2023). Alignment and Coherence in the Context of Policy and Curriculum Development in Ireland: Tensions, Debates, and Future Direction. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82976-6_10-1, p. 1

Annual report on admission policies in primary and post-primary schools with special classes for autistic children and young people

Following the publication of the Inspectorate report on admission policies for special classes, [29] the Minister for Education and Youth requested the Inspectorate to provide an annual written report on the implementation of admission policies in primary and post-primary schools with special classes for autistic children and young people. The Inspectorate is engaging currently with the NCSE and the department’s special education section on this review and will publish the first of these annual reports in 2026.

Provision for children and young people from the Traveller and Roma communities

The Traveller and Roma Education Strategy (TRES) aspires to an education system that is open to and welcoming of all, irrespective of background or ability, and that engages learners of all ages meaningfully in a positive learning environment where equality is upheld, and diversity respected [30].

The Inspectorate has been involved in advising and supporting the development of the TRES and has commenced a series of inspections that focus on the learning experiences and outcomes of children and young people from the Traveller and Roma communities. These inspections will conclude in the second half of 2025 and the Inspectorate Report (2025) and Thematic Review will include a report on the inspection outcomes.

Supporting schools to improve provision for all children and young people

During the 2023/24 school year, the OECD reviewed the department’s approach to resourcing schools in addressing educational disadvantage. The final report published in July 2024 highlighted a key challenge for schools as follows: “Some schools face challenges in formulating SMART targets that are both meaningful and realistic within their specific contexts. The challenges persist due to uncertainties in regard to the use and analysis of data, and the monitoring and evaluation of the targets set” [31].

This OECD finding reflects findings in previous Inspectorate reports on planning for improvements in schools in the DEIS programme [32]. Interestingly, the findings also reflect Inspectorate findings across a range of education provision contexts, including provision for children and young people with special educational needs [33].

Supporting schools to address this challenge and to improve their provision is a key priority for the Inspectorate. To achieve this, the Inspectorate, during 2024, refined its approaches to evaluating aspects of provision in schools in the DEIS programme and for children and young people with special educational needs. The revised approaches place a clear focus on the quality of students’ learning and on the school’s capacity to plan for improvements. These approaches will be implemented from November 2025 onwards and the Inspectorate Report (2025) and Thematic Review will include a consideration of and reflection on the inspection outcomes.

[29] Available at: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/2.20250422_Supporting_all_children_and_young_people_to_access_an_appropriate_education.pdf

[30] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/consultations/traveller-and-roma-education-strategy/

[31]OECD (2024). OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland, Reviews of National Policies for Education. OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3433784c-en.p.297

[32] Available at: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/improving-outcomes-and-experiences-for-children-and-young-people-evaluation-of-home-sc.pdf

[33] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/inspectorate-publications/#special-educational-needs