Education Minister says one‑to‑one help not always ‘most effective’ for pupils

Schools should aim to reduce “over-reliance on one-to-one support where this is not the most effective approach”, the Education Minister has said.

Paul Givan pledged that every child “that requires one-to-one support will be guaranteed to retain” it but made clear there is not “an unending supply of one-to-one classroom assistance for all of our pupils”.

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

Set to begin from the end of this decade, the Department for Education has estimated the proportion of children with Send getting an education, health and care plan (EHCP) will start falling each year from 2030.

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

In the assembly, DUP MLA Gareth Wilson asked Mr Givan if “there will be any lessons for Northern Ireland to learn from the planned Send reforms”.

The Education Minister acknowledged that Northern Ireland is experiencing “similar challenges” to England “with rising levels of need, increasing expenditure and limited improvement in outcomes for children”.

“Initial indications are that Send reforms in England align closely with the direction of travel that’s already established here in Northern Ireland in the Send reform agenda, and also the five-year delivery plan, which I published last February,” he said.

“Both include a greater emphasis on inclusion and early intervention, tailored support for the individual needs of the child and specialist support delivered in locality-based terms.”

He added: “Also similar to our Send reform proposals, there is an emphasis on giving schools more autonomy to support children in different ways, promoting inclusive practice in all classrooms and reducing over-reliance on one-to-one support where this is not the most effective approach.”

Last week the EA announced changes to the classroom assistant system which would focus on needs, with statements of Send specifying “functional needs and the specialist actions required”, and school leaders determining “how to deliver support”.

The body said the proposed changes “should not be characterised as a measure to cut costs or reduce the current number of classroom assistants”.

Sinn Fein MLA Cathy Mason said the EA’s announcement caused “shock and alarm” to families.

“Minister, you know that families fight tooth and nail to secure this provision for their child and to have it casually brought via social media on a Thursday evening is just not acceptable,” she told the assembly chamber.

“Can you set out what safeguards will be put in place to ensure that no child who currently receives one-to-one classroom support will have that provision reduced or reconfigured without a full formal assessment, or the clear consent of their parents, or do you think that their parents have closed minds too?”

Mr Givan replied: “Any child that requires one-to-one support will be guaranteed to retain one-to-one support where that is in the best interests of the child, and the process identifies that as being in the interest of the child, they can have an absolute guarantee that they will have one-to-one provision.”

He added that school principals “have been unable to recruit classroom assistants to have one-to-one provision” and it has been “proven that there can be more effective support for children in terms of their educational attainment”.

He concluded: “This is an important area that we need to try and navigate when it comes to supporting our children and young people, but presenting a position that there is an unending supply of one-to-one classroom assistance for all of our pupils is not based upon reality.”