Understanding Special Educational Needs (NCSE, 2014)

Types of education provision

The DES provides for three main types of education provision which are available to primary and post-primary pupils with special educational needs. These are:

• A mainstream class in a mainstream primary or post-primary school where the class or subject teacher has primary responsibility for the progress of all pupils in the class, including pupils with special educational needs. Additional teaching support from a learning support or resource teacher may be provided, where appropriate.
• A special class in a mainstream primary or post-primary school with a lower pupil-teacher ratio specified according to category of disability. This means that classes have small numbers of pupils, for example, a special class for children with autistic spectrum disorder has one teacher for every six pupils.
• A special school with a lower pupil-teacher ratio specified according to category of disability. This means that classes have small numbers of pupils, for example a special school for children with moderate general learning disability has one teacher for every eight pupils.