2.1 Education Plans

The EPSEN Act 2004 provides for the provision of education plans for students with special educational needs (SEN). Under the Act, children with SEN will be educated “in an inclusive environment with children who do not have SEN”, unless this should be inconsistent either with the best interest of the child, or with the effective provision for the other children.

2.2 Identification & Assessment

When a student is identified to a principal as not benefiting from the educational programme being provided in their school, the principal “shall take such measures as are practicable to meet the educational needs of the studentconcerned.” Having taken such measures, if the student continues not to benefit, because of their SEN, the principal will arrange for the student to be assessed. The principal must consult the parents prior to making this arrangement.

Assessment must commence not later than one month after the principal’s decision and be completed no later than three months after that decision. Where an assessment establishes that a student has SEN, the principal must, within one month, “cause a plan to be prepared for the appropriate education of the student” – called and ‘education plan’ (EP).

Parents, the Council or the relevant health board may refer a child for assessment. An assessment “shall include an evaluation and statement of the nature and extent of the child’s disability… and an evaluation and statement of the services which the child will need so as to be able to participate in and benefit from education and, generally, to develop his or her potential.” The assessment should be carried out with the assistance of people with appropriate expertise and qualifications (as deemed by the Council or health board). This may include a psychologist, medical practitioner, the principal or designated teacher, social worker, or a therapist suitably qualified to provide support services in relation to the child’s SEN. The participation of parents should be facilitated by, ‘as appropriate’, the health board, Council or principal. A statement of the findings of the assessment is to be made available immediately to the parents.

2.3 Preparing the Plan

In preparing an EP the principal must ensure that the parents, area Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO), and other ‘appropriate’ people are consulted. Furthermore, s/he must ensure that parental involvement “is facilitated”. As soon as the plan is prepared the principal must provide a copy to the parents and the SENO. It is usually the responsibility of the principal to ensure that a plan is prepared. However, where a child has a severe or complex SEN, or where, following review, it is determined that their needs are not being met, the principal can request the Council to prepare a plan for the child.

When the Council is asked by a principal or health board to prepare an education plan for a child, the Council can agree or disagree to grant this request. If the Council refuses to prepare the plan then the principal or child’s parents may appeal to the Appeals Board. If the Council accepts the request it will direct the relevant SENO to prepare the plan. Preparation of the plan should begin no more than one month after direction, and be completed no more than two months later. The SENO must convene a team to provide advice in relation to preparing the plan. The team should include parents (where consenting), principal or teacher, and one or more of:

• The child (where SENO deems appropriate)
• A psychologist (NEPS or otherwise suitably qualified)
• Any other person whom the parents or SENO consider appropriate and who is suitably qualified

The team are also directed to consider “any needs, other than educational needs, …specified in the assessment.”

2.4 Content of the Plan

The format of EPs has yet to be determined by the Council. The specific content of plans will include the following:

1. The nature and degree of the child’s abilities, skills and talents;
2. The nature and degree of the child’s special educational needs and how those needs affect his or her educational development;
3. The present level of educational performance of the child;
4. The special educational needs of the child;
5. The special education and related support services to be provided to the child to enable the child to benefit from education and to participate in the life of the school;
6. Where appropriate, the special education and related services to be provided to the child to enable the child to effectively make the transition from pre-school education to primary school education;
7. Where appropriate, the special education and related support services to be provided to the child to enable the child to effectively make the transition from primary school education to post-primary school education, and
8. The goals that the child is to achieve over a period not exceeding 12 months.

The Council ‘may’ prepare in due course, guidelines in relation to matters to be provided in an EP by reference to the category of SEN relevant to the child and their category.

2.5 Placement

The Council may designate, of its own volition or upon the request of the parents, the school that a child with SEN will attend, and the school must admit the student upon the Council’s directions. In deciding this, the Council must consider the needs of the child, the parents’ wishes, and the capacity of the school to accommodate the child and meet his/her needs. The board of management of the school may appeal against this designation.

Where transfer between schools is identified in the EP, the principal in the first school must consult the second, before the transfer, to ensure that the second school knows about the EP, and to assist the second principal in amending the EP where necessary.

The Council must ensure that the necessary services identified in the EP are provided to a student with SEN. The health board has this responsibility for children who are not students. Provision is to be made “as soon as practicable after the completion of the assessment or…the preparation of the plan.”

2.6 Review

The principal must initiate a review of the EP at regular intervals and at least once a year. The purpose of the review is to establish if the child has received the services set out in the EP, and that s/he is achieving the goals specified therein. This is done with a view to amending the plan for the following period. The principal must provide a copy of a review report to the parents and the relevant SENO.

Where the SENO considers that the goals specified in the plan have not been achieved, s/he will reconvene the EP team (or part thereof) in order to review the content and implementation of the plan. In addition, where parents consider that the specified goals are not being achieved, they may request the principal to initiate a review – so long as no such reviews have been completed in the preceding six months.

2.7 Appeals

There are a number of grounds upon which the relevant parties may appeal to the Special Education Appeals Board, including:

• Principal and parents may appeal against the Council’s refusal to prepare a plan following a request from the principal or health board (Section 3.13)
• Parents may appeal against the Council or health board’s refusal to undertake an assessment (Section 4.7)
• Parents may appeal against an assessment on the grounds that it wasn’t carried out in accordance with the relevant standards (Section 6.1)
• The board of management of a school may appeal a decision by the Council to designate its school as the recipient of and provider for a specific child with SEN (Section 10.3)
• Parents may appeal against the Council's refusal or failure to designate a school for their child (Section 10.6)
• Parents may appeal against a principal's refusal to arrange a review of their child's education plan (Section 11.6)
• Parents may appeal against the discharge of duties in relation to their child's education plan, by the Council, principal, school or health board (Section 12)

2.8 Resources

The school principal is responsible for implementing a child's EP within the school. The Council is responsible for providing to the child the necessary services identified in his/her education plan. The Minister for Education and Science has a duty to provide the resources identified as necessary for the delivery of EPs, pending the consent of the Minister for Finance, and in keeping with the principle of allocating resources in a manner consistent with the common good (therefore, the allocation of resources is not unconditional once needs and their related services have been identified).

Figure 1 gives an overview of the structure of the IEP system and process that the EPSEN Act 2004 has provided for.

EPSEN Act Provisions for Individual Planning:

Under the EPSEN Act 2004, all children with SEN should be provided with an IEP, and this individualised programme should be delivered in an 'inclusive environment' with students who do not have SEN whenever possible.

Before the individual planning process starts, the Act identifies a four step process to confirm a child's SEN. This involves:

1.Identification; the student is identified to the principal as not benefiting from the educational programme being provided in the school.

2.The principal takes in-school "practicable" measures to meet the childs needs.

3.Following these measures, if the child is still not benefiting from the programme being provided, he/she is then assessed.

4.SEN is confirmed with an assessment statement.

Once SEN is confirmed the individual planning process then begins. This involves a cyclical process in which the Planning Team design the child’s individual Plan to meet his/her SEN; the Plan is then carried out during the Implementation stage (<12 months); the Plan is Reviewed; and the results of the Review feed back into a new Plan for the next period.