All schools must provide SEN places amid rising need, says NI education minister

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

All mainstream schools in Northern Ireland will be required to facilitate students with special educational needs (SEN), Stormont’s education minister has said.

Paul Givan sent a letter to school principals saying “suitable” schools have a role to play in meeting the needs of children with SEN, which he described as “one of the most pressing challenges facing educational systems”.

On Monday, UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson set out major reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system, saying the British government will “take away that fight that so many parents” often face in accessing legally-guaranteed support.

In September 2025, 34,011 pupils in Northern Ireland had a statement of Send, an increase of 85 per cent in 10 years, according to the Education Authority (EA).

In his letter to principals, seen by the Press Association, Mr Givan acknowledged “the need for all types of SEN provision has grown exponentially in recent years and is projected to continue to rise, even with a predicted decline in the overall school age population”.

He added: “All schools have a role to play in meeting the needs of this changing demographic.

“To meet future demand and ensure that children do not have to travel unacceptably long distances to access appropriate placements, I am now requiring all mainstream schools which the EA considers suitable to facilitate specialist provision to engage constructively with them to put it in place.

“The policy objective is to ensure children and young people with a statement of SEN have access to an appropriate specialist placement in their local community, where possible, and educated alongside their friends and peers.”

The NI education minister paid tribute to schools that have established specialist provision, but said he “had hoped that more would have done so”, adding: “A more direct approach is now considered necessary.

“The feedback I have received from those schools which have already set up specialist provision has been overwhelmingly positive, however I accept that schools need to be adequately supported through this process.”

Mr Givan said the move did not stem from a desire to “transfer responsibility for this issue to schools, but rather to ensure the system as a whole comes together in a more collegiate and effective way to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable children in our society”.

The minister pledged that an enhanced support package from the EA would be available to schools.