A Northern Ireland teaching union has demanded urgent talks with the Education Authority (EA) and the education minister after a "last-minute scramble" to secure school places for children with special educational needs (SEN) left some pupils without a placement for September.
Dr Graham Gault, regional official for the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) Northern Ireland, wrote to the EA and the minister saying the situation that saw six children left without places last month must not recur. The EA has announced 1,374 additional SEN places for the 2025-26 school year and said addressing the issue remains an "absolute priority".
In the letter, NAHT called for "constructive, collaborative and positive engagement" with school leaders in areas of highest need within two months, saying repeated short-notice arrangements were avoidable and disrespectful to staff and families. The union criticised what it described as any suggestion from the EA or minister that schools were unwilling to accommodate pupils with SEN, calling such suggestions "profoundly insulting" and a "misrepresentation" of the commitment and professionalism of principals and teachers.
NAHT said sustained, systemic underfunding was the primary barrier to schools' capacity to support children with SEN and that attributing blame to school leaders was "unwarranted" and misdirected. The letter urged the EA to use its ability to forecast demand for specialist provision and to involve school leaders in planning to ensure places are available in advance.
Dr Gault said the EA's late efforts to secure places should have been foreseeable and that the solution was not to "talk down" school leaders or attempt to "strong-arm" schools into rapidly establishing specialist units without adequate preparation or resources. "Doing so is disrespectful to dedicated professionals, and not in the best interests of schools, pupils or parents," he wrote.
The EA responded by welcoming NAHT's proposal for engagement and acknowledged the need to end what it called the annual cycle of a "perpetual crisis" over SEN places. The authority reiterated that large-scale expansion of the number of mainstream schools offering specialist provision was required to meet demand and that ongoing engagement with schools in high-need areas was a priority.
The EA said work on SEN provision for the 2026-27 school year is already under way and emphasised that providing appropriate places depends on expanding specialist provision within mainstream settings. It also highlighted the impact of severe budgetary constraints on education services.
In June the EA wrote to school principals outlining a consideration, described by the authority as unprecedented, to instruct some schools to admit pupils requiring specialist support — a measure NAHT has warned against if attempted at short notice and without resources. The authority said its suggested measures aim to ensure "schools are properly supported and, most importantly, that all children in our community receive the best possible education."
Education stakeholders say accurate forecasting, timely capital investment and targeted staffing support are critical to expanding specialist provision in mainstream schools. NAHT's appeal reflects wider concerns about how local authorities and government departments plan and resource provision for children with additional needs amid tight budgets.
NAHT has formally asked the EA to establish mechanisms for collaborative planning with school leaders within the next two months. The EA said it would continue to prioritise engagement and planning as it works to deliver the additional places already announced for 2025-26 and to prepare for future demand.
The dispute highlights tensions between school leaders, unions and the EA over responsibility for meeting rising demand for specialist places and the resources required to do so. Both NAHT and the EA signalled a willingness to engage, while emphasising different immediate remedies: NAHT called for strategic planning and funding, and the EA stressed the need for expansion of specialist provision within mainstream schools to meet demand.