Conference on classroom support reform

The event will be held in the Balmoral Hotel in Belfast on Thursday April 16.

It will include talks and panel discussions on how to deliver better support and improve outcomes for pupils with SEN.

The conference is part of a series of events for the consultation, which is running until May 22, 2026.

Information sessions – both online and in-person – are also being held for classroom assistants and schools, as well as for parents, carers and the general public.

More information is available here: Enhanced Support Model - Public Consultation | Education Authority Northern Ireland.

The public consultation by the Education Authority sets out how improvements in classroom support can be achieved by changing current rigid approaches that often do not work for children.

Under the planned reforms, schools will have more flexibility to tailor support to the individual needs of pupils. Rather than adopting the current "one size fits all" model with its over reliance on individual classroom assistants at all stages, schools will be able to adapt support to the needs of their pupils with SEN at each stage of their development. 

Thursday's conference will hear first-hand from schools that have been developing innovative new approaches.

Tomas Adell, EA's Chief Transformation Officer, said: 

“The conference and the other consultation events will help set out the pressing need for change.

"We all know that at present many children with SEN do not receive the support that they require. This is not acceptable, and we must do better.

“The conference gives us an opportunity to look at how a number of schools from across Northern Ireland have successfully changed the way in which they deliver support, focusing on the needs of their pupils at each stage of their development. They have shown that change to the current model of support can achieve excellent outcomes for their children and young people with SEN.

"The evidence does not support individual classroom assistant support as the best solution for every pupil. We know that this approach is not routinely adopted by many countries who achieve better outcomes than Northern Ireland."