AQW 26830/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 09/05/2025
Answered On Date: 19/05/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education whether he plans to undertake a review of the effectiveness of the Education Authority's Specialist Settings Support Team, as recommended in the Education and Training Inspectorate's report on Specialist Provision in Mainstream Schools.

Answer:

The Education Authority has advised that:

An early evaluation of the Education Authority’s (EA) Specialist Setting Support Team (SSST) was undertaken by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) in 2019. Since then, in response to a significantly increased number of settings and the associated need, the service has expanded and developed, particularly in the past two years.

The EA SSST complete regular evaluations of the support provided to specialist educational provisions in mainstream schools including evaluative discussions with setting staff, review of individual learner plans, parent evaluations, setting case studies, and baseline self-evaluation frameworks.