Mr. Andy Pike:

There are numerous examples of the contract providing an opportunity for schools to direct SNAs to non-appropriate work such as cleaning, administration, covering books or photocopying, let alone the problems that arise in secondary and post-primary schools where some SNAs are required to be present in June when the students are not. This gives rise to a lot of discontent and a lot of menial work being allocated. We have a situation where half of schools have realised they need to be a little more respectful towards SNAs but we still have a job to do as a union to persuade the other half of the sector to follow suit. We do not run a survey because if we did, the number of people complaining that they are not respected would be pretty high. Going on the complaints that come through to the union office, we are looking at approximately half and half. Perhaps that is being a bit optimistic. The specific focus we want SNAs to have is on students with additional educational needs and the complex needs the committee has heard about. When we hear the Department and the NCSE mention that SNAs could be an all-school resource we worry that the message going to principals means they could be allocated work that has nothing to do with meeting the needs of students with additional educational needs. Ms O'Sullivan will speak about the UCD course and accreditation.