The Education Authority for NI has identified 58 schools in locations facing pressure for schools spaces that it says should be able to enrol pupils with special educational needs (SEN). As a result, Education Minister has written to these schools requesting support.

But the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT NI) has hit out at what it says is an "unacceptable" move to shift blame onto schools for the shortage of SEN placements. The union's national secretary, Dr Graham Gault, said "this is not a failure of schools", adding: "this is a failure of government and system leadership."

He added that it is "simply unacceptable" to "attempt to shift both the burden and the blame onto schools that are already operating beyond capacity".

The Workers Party agrees. The rush to find school places in this haphazard manner means that children are not always placed in schools that meet their individual needs. Children need to see which school they are going to well in advance. Writing to schools at the end of this academic year is merely a knee jerk reaction to an ongoing problem.

Children with special needs are not getting the priority or services they are entitled to. Lack of special needs places in schools is not a new phenomenon. Parents and their children with special needs have been going through this nightmare for years.