Concern over future of Clare’s special needs assistants

Fears have been expressed that some of the 261 special needs assistants (SNAs) employed in Clare schools could be made redundant by the end of the month as a result of a national review currently underway.

As the deadline approaches, Deputy Pat Breen has requested that Education Minister Batt O’Keefe clarify whether any of the SNAs employed in Clare schools would be withdrawn.
Deputy Breen also wanted the minister to outline how pupils who are in need of special needs will be integrated into mainstream classrooms if these SNAs are made redundant.
Minister O’Keefe has confirmed that 220 SNAs are serving in primary school and 41 are employed in secondary and community/comprehensive schools. He also noted these figures don’t include the number employed by Clare Vocational Education Committee.
The National Council for Special Education (NSCE) has been requested by the Department of Education and Science to carry out a review of its allocation of SNAs in all schools. The process is well underway with the entire review due to the completed by the end of March.
Deputy Breen pointed out the whole idea behind the SNA scheme was to put the special needs child on a “level playing field”.
“The SNA’s have received special training and they have built up a strong relationship with the child with whom they work. I have witnessed the distress and upset which is caused to special needs children and their families when, for one reason or another, an SNA who has been working with that child for a number of years is made redundant or leaves the position.
“It causes huge upset. To suggest that teachers can teach an entire class and also meet the needs of a special needs child is unrealistic and unworkable and every child’s education will suffer.
“Minister O’Keeffe claims that this review is being carried out to identify surplus posts which are in the system. I cannot understand this, as the education cutbacks made by this Government have already impacted on SNAs and their families. In recent times, I have been inundated with complaints from parents of special needs children who have been affected by cutbacks where the hours that SNA’s work in schools has been reduced,” he said.
Minister O’Keefe said the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), was carrying out a review of (SNA) allocations in all schools with a view to ensuring that the criteria governing the allocation of such posts are properly met.
“This is an exercise in identifying surplus posts which are in the system and which do not meet the current criteria – posts that have been retained when a pupil’s care needs have diminished or where the pupil has left.
SENOs are communicating the outcome of the review directly to schools as the review progresses. The allocation for any school and any adjustments to that allocation depends on a number of factors such as the number of pupils with care/medical needs leaving, the number of new pupils, the changing needs of the pupils and any surplus identified. It is expected that the NCSE will have completed the review by the end of March 2010.
“I wish to assure Deputy Breen that the SNA support will continue to be made available to schools which have enrolled pupils who qualify for such support,” he said.