Special needs assistant officials clash over allocations delay

Officials charged with overseeing the provision of special needs assistants (SNAs) to children with learning disabilities have clashed over who is responsible for the delay in announcing next year’s allocations.

The Department of Education and Skills said earlier this week that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) had to assess each application "before they were in a position to advise the Minister on the quantum of SNAs that would need to be allocated to schools for the coming school year".

It added: “Confirmation of the numbers involved was only received last Thursday.”

However, Teresa Griffin, chief executive of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) told an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday that this was not accurate "in its entirety".

“We provided the information at the same time or maybe a few days earlier than we did last year,” she said.

Jim Mulkerrins of the department's special education unit told the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection that the announcement was due in a matter of days and that it regretted the delay.

However, it had to carry out “due diligence” to check there had been proper explanations for the growth in SNA demand, and “to satisfy ourselves the NCSE has managed the process properly”.

Both officials were responding to questions from Fianna Fáil education spokesman Charlie McConalogue, who also queried the high refusal rate for SNA applications.

There were 8,600 applications last year, 35 per cent of which were refused. This was a “very worrying” proportion, said Ms Griffin, as every rejection led to concern if not anger from parents.

Mr Mulkerrins said it was never the intention that every child with special needs would get an SNA, rather it was allocated only when those needs went beyond what could be provided by the classroom teacher.

Classroom work

While SNAs are employed to help with non-teaching duties, such as toilet, mobility and caring needs, they are in some schools used to support classroom work under the direction of the teacher.

Ms Griffin counselled against expanding this role at the expense of contact with teachers, pointing to research showing the quality of the teacher was the most important factor in determining educational outcomes for pupils with complex learning needs.

“The NCSE considers that there is insufficient evidence, at this point in time, to support the introduction of a new teaching assistant grade to work specifically with students with special educational needs,” she said.

“The research findings indicate that paraprofessionals can act as a barrier to a student’s access to the teacher and full participation in classroom activities.”

Áine Lynch, chief executive of the National Parents Council (Primary) supported this view, saying it would be concerned that the remit of the SNA would be extended to include an educational role.

Mr Mulkerrins said the department recognised the need for further training of SNAs but this had to be targeted, depending on the needs of specific children.

Impact, the union which represents SNAs, highlighted the practice of members having to administer catheters, and carry out other medical procedures.

But Mr Mulkerrins said a very small number of pupils would require this, so the department would not support training for every SNA in catheterisation.

He added SNAs should be included in discussions on Individual Education Plans for pupils.

The committee, under an investigation led by Senator Mary Moran, is exploring the role of SNAs, with a view to making recommendations to the department.