Exploring the influence of teacher professional learning on classroom teachers’ understanding of their role and professional practice within ‘The Special Education Teacher Allocation Model’

The Department of Education announced to schools through Circular 0013/2017 (DES 2017a) a revised funding model for the allocation of Special Education Teachers to mainstream schools. A greater autonomy in identifying students’ needs and in deploying additional teaching supports was entrusted to schools. With a growing population of students with diverse needs in mainstream classrooms (McCoy et al. 2016; Casserly and Padden 2018) the opt-in approach to teacher professional learning (TPL) on ‘The Special Education Teaching Allocation Model’ (SETAM) (DES 2017a) is concerning. This study captured the collective voices of classroom teachers, key stakeholders in the policy text. In doing so a gap in the dearth of literature on the model was addressed. The research explored the influence of TPL on the classroom teacher’s understanding of his/her role and professional practice within the model, adopting a sequential mixed methods approach to the investigation. Participants responded to a web-based survey, engaged with a researcher designed TPL activity and then participated in semi-structured interviews unveiling SETAM’s (DES 2017a) enactment and impact in Irish classrooms. Findings indicated significant variation in classroom teachers’ understanding and practice across contexts. An increased confidence to initiate, write and review Classroom Support Plans was reported following TPL. Findings confirm that an emphasis on TPL at classroom level is imperative for the classroom teacher to lead, communicate and collaborate, confidently and effectively, to contribute impactfully to a ‘universal response’ (Fitzgerald et al.2021, p.18) to inclusive education.N