Education Authority chief hopeful sufficient SEN places can be secured next year

The head of the Education Authority (EA) has said he is hopeful that with collective effort there will be special education places for all school children who need them next September.

The start of recent school years has seen a struggle to accommodate all those with special educational needs (SEN), and last month was criticised as a “last-minute scramble for school places”.

It comes as the demand for SEN places has increased by 50% in the last five years.

Last month, Education Minister Paul Givan said a £1.7 billion Executive-led programme is needed to tackle spiralling demand for special education.

Richard Pengelly, chief executive of the body which administers education in Northern Ireland, said in their work ahead of September 2026, they have identified 308 mainstream schools in areas of high demand for SEN provision.

He said a series of engagements with those schools will start early next month focusing on the expansion of specialist provision.

“I genuinely believe that with a collective effort by the sector, we can break the annual cycle of shortfalls and delays,” he told MLAs on the Stormont Education Committee.

Asked by committee chairman Nick Mathison if he was confident of securing all the school places needed for September 2026, Mr Pengelly said he was “really buoyed” by the positive engagement they have had with the teachers’ unions recently.

“I don’t want to give a sense that I’m planning for failure, I think success is a collaborative endeavour… I think there is a new energy and a new mindset amongst all of us this time so I’m hopeful we will work through this,” he added.

Mr Pengelly, who came into the post in April 2024, also defended the EA’s performance.

He told MLAs they had warned that September 2025 would be challenging, and not because of not starting preparations early enough, but because the pipeline of supply had been exhausted.

Mr Pengelly said work had started shortly after the conclusion of the 2024 process, engaging with hundreds of schools and assessing sites.

He said they had ensured all children had an allocated place by September 2025 “by the skin of our teeth”.

“We created just over 1,300 additional places across 120 schools,” Mr Pengelly said.

“Absolutely acknowledge that of those 1,300 places across 120 schools, around 80 of them weren’t fully ready by the start of term, and I think that number is down to around 40 now.

“The key point I want to emphasise is that that is frustrating and it’s annoying, and there are some reasons for it, and there are lessons for us to learn for the future.”

There were some terse exchanges during the committee meeting, with Sinn Fein MLA Danny Baker telling Mr Pengelly he “had no faith” in the EA to deliver.

He raised cases from a school he works with where SEN pupils had to be accommodated at another site, and he said they could not access the full curriculum, such as sciences and home economics.

“I have no faith in you going forward for placements in the next year because you aren’t even delivering on last year,” Mr Baker said.