All-Ireland Special Needs Education website launched

The first ever all-Ireland website designed to help teachers deliver Special Needs Education has been launched today.

The site, which can be found at www.socsci.ulst.ac.uk/education/scte/sen/, was the brainchild of researchers from the School of Education at the University of Ulster.

Student teachers on both sides of the border have already begun using the new resource in mainstream schools throughout the island.

Commenting on the site, Dr Roger Austin, Head of School of Education at UU said: “Recent legislation means that more and more children with special needs are being integrated into the mainstream education system and this presents new challenges for teachers.

“Student teachers and those at the start of their teaching profession face an increasingly wide range of children with diverse needs. These needs span a large spectrum and can include anything from behavioural problems like Attention Deficit Disorder to learning difficulties, such as Dyslexia to physical disabilities.

“We see this web site as one of the ways that young people with special education needs can be supported in an inclusive way.”

Funded by the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, the site includes the legislative framework for special education, definitions of types of special need, the role of ICT in supporting learners and teachers and information on resources, teaching strategies and case studies.

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