Ms Anne Howard:

The Chairman talked about making the roll-out of provision compulsory at primary level and not at post-primary level. I would have real reticence about making it compulsory within any sector. I certainly cannot speak to the primary sector as we do not represent the teachers there. In the post-primary sector, however, there are already huge demands on principals. I do not believe there is capacity within their workloads to add to them. I referenced the need for an appointment to be made within a post-primary setting. That is separate from a co-ordinator of special educational needs within schools. That would be a separate role. It would be run as an entity within the school and then at least then the recruitment process can start much earlier. As my colleagues have pointed out, if people understand what is available to them, the roll-out of that will become much easier. An individual will have the energy to drive that and not be caught up in the myriad of other leadership responsibilities that exist within the school.

With regard to the co-ordinator's role within the schools, many schools in the post-primary sector have co-ordinators who do very valuable work. They are designated as co-ordinators, although no allowance is given for that role. Whatever alleviation of time they have is the alleviation that comes from the allocation that is rightly applied because they are doing the administrative work regarding the roll-out. However, they are also the people who need to co-ordinate with the external services. I am really concerned about this because the services are not always available to them. I note that even within the system, access to CAMHS and getting appointments with NEPS for students is just incredibly difficult. Again, this is not a criticism of those organisations or the work they are doing. However, they are under-resourced and, therefore, we just cannot get them.

I spoke to an excellent co-ordinator in a school recently. She is so successful in her job because she is giving all of her time and energy to the job, but she loves what she does. I would be concerned about burnout for people like that. That is a real struggle for people in schools who work in this area. One of the things she said was that no SENO was assigned to her school. She did have access to a SENO who was assigned to another school or range of schools who she could ring if there was an issue she needed addressed. There was nobody assigned to her school, however, because there was nobody available to do that. Again, that is not a criticism of the work of SENOs but it is the under-resourcing with which schools are constantly struggling. When Government says it will roll out the resources and ensure those resources are in place, schools will be thrilled and delighted. They will welcome that, but they will need to see the evidence of it. I am sorry, but they will need to see the evidence before they say "Yippee" and that, yes, this is something with which they can all engage and run.

Schools absolutely want what is best for the students of the ground. They absolutely want what is best for the families because they know, as does the Chairman, that engagement by schools with families is fundamental for all children, but particularly for students with special educational needs. Schools will welcome this, but they need to know the resources are there. They will not welcome them until they see them. We are meant to have access to the other services too but when we go looking, they are just not there.