Sinn Féin TD for Longford-Westmeath, Sorca Clarke is appalled by the findings of AsIAm’s recent report that reveals exclusion of Autistic voices in school policies and seconds their calls for urgent rights-based reform and teacher training.

The report “What We Wish You Knew” presents critical evidence of the failure to meet the rights of Autistic students under Irish school policies.

Teachta Clarke said:

“It is becoming increasingly clear that there are significant gaps in how schools across Ireland address the needs of autistic students.

“There needs to be more of a focus on the quality of a child’s educational experience, rather than government patting themselves on the back after a child has secured a school place.

“We need to ensure that teachers receive appropriate and regular training on autism.

“We need to be proactive instead of reactive to ensure that autistic students receive the appropriate supports in a timely manner.

“We need to strive towards creating inclusive learning environments that will give all students equal opportunity to thrive in their school environment and reach their full potential. This starts with representation, by giving autistic people a seat at the table, particularly when it comes to policy formation.

“AsIam’s findings come at a crucial time in the Irish educational sector. Tulsa’s Child and Family Agency is reviewing the statutory guidelines on Codes of Behaviour, while the Department of Education prepares to publish long-awaited guidelines on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools. Together, these reviews can provide an opportunity to establish a framework compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). We now need to see a sense of urgency by government in delivering the latter”.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Disability, Pauline Tully TD, said:

“The UNCRPD is clear in its position that persons with disabilities – including autistic people – be included in the general education system. It is also clear in its position that they must be fully supported within every model of educational provision.

“The Joint Committee on Autism, of which I was a member, was established to consider services and supports for autistic people, with education being the first area we considered.

“The Committee published a Final Report which contains 23 recommendations in regard to education, many of which tie in with the findings of AsIAm’s ‘What We Wish You Knew’ report.

“One of its recommendations was that ‘long-term planning for the full inclusion of children with additional educational needs, including autism, must begin immediately to ensure that autistic children are not segregated from their non-autistic peers and that they receive a high standard of education and achieve the best possible outcomes.’

“The Final Report saw the need for the Minister for Education to ‘update Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to ensure that education professionals, including teachers and SNAs, receive suitable autism training.’

“It also called for the Minister to ‘implement measures to reduce the use of… reduced school hours’ and ensure that ‘protocols around restraint and penalisation are stated unambiguously, with a view towards eliminating these practices’.

“I look forward to viewing the Department of Education’s long-awaited guidelines on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools and would like to see this include a plan for the elimination of these practices.

“As the report from AsIAm states, there is a ‘pronounced lack of clarity around Codes of Behaviour’ in schools and this needs to be addressed to ensure this outdated guidance is replaced with rights compliant guidance which are not an ableist and a one-size-fits-all approach.

“For this to work properly it must involve co-design and co-production with autistic students, their parents and educational professionals.

“We need the Department of Education to publish its long-awaited guidelines on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools and the government to engage constructively with Tulsa’s review of the statutory guidelines on Codes of Behaviour and urgently deliver on the issues presented in AsIAm’s report.”