Schools under the remit of Cork Education and Training Board are participating in a groundbreaking project, the initial results of which were presented at a national Leading Inclusive Education event in Portlaoise last week.
Provision Mapping is an evidence-based process to evaluate student supports, strategically cost and plan provision, allocate resources, and identify staff professional learning needs.
Led by Dr Johanna Fitzgerald in partnership with Mary Immaculate College, the Provision Mapping project was initially piloted across 6 schools in Limerick and Clare ETB in 2016, followed by a national pilot across 33 schools in 2020, and is now being implemented in 140 ETB schools across sixteen ETBs.
Cork ETB’s Inclusion and Ethos Coordinator Anne O’Donovan also participated in a panel discussion on leading inclusive schools at the national event.
“Inclusive Special Education is all about making the invisible visible in Cork schools” said project lead, Education & Training Boards Ireland’s Dr Johanna Fitzgerald, “and provision mapping supports all students, including those with special education needs (SEN), by working with all teachers in schools to examine teaching, learning and assessment approaches that make a difference to students’ outcomes. Our initial project findings indicate that provision mapping is having a positive impact on student learning and staff understanding, awareness in schools and ETBs.”
Other findings include: Most important benefits include increased school wide awareness and understanding of inclusive and special education; 95% of participants surveyed indicate they wish to continue implementing the process; Additional qualitative feedback indicated that the strategic leadership nature of Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) role needs to be formally recognised and resourced in schools to develop and embed a schoolwide approach to teaching, learning, assessment and reporting for students with additional needs in schools.
Research commissioned by ETBI in 2023 and conducted by Opinions, has also shown that all parents consider providing for students with special education needs as highly important, ranking it third overall when asked to identify ‘important aspects when choosing a school’.
