Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be able to outline the position regarding the circular which has recently been issued to schools in respect of the special needs assistant, SNA, scheme and the provision of resource teaching support for children with special educational needs. This Government has passionately defended the provision for special educational spending since coming into office three years ago. It is an area of spending which has been prioritised above all other areas by this Government, despite the enormous pressures on all areas of public spending. Some €1.3 billion will be spent in support of children with special educational needs this year. This level of investment represents approximately 15% of the entire educational spend of the Department of Education and Skills, which is €8.3 billion. There are a greater number of SNAs and resource teachers in schools now than at any time previously.

In December 2013, the Government announced it was increasing the number of SNAs available for allocation to schools to reflect demographic growth and increased demand for SNA support. The previous provision of 10,575 SNA posts has been increased by 390 posts to 10,965 posts being made available for allocation up to the end of 2014. This will bring to almost 11,000 the number of SNA posts available to work with children who have an assessed care need requiring SNA support in primary, post-primary and special schools. These extra posts will ensure that the Government's policy of ensuring that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.

A value for money and policy review of the SNA scheme and National Council for Special Education's policy advice on supporting children with special educational needs in schools both concluded that the intended purpose of the SNA scheme was not always generally well understood by parents or schools and that the scope and purpose of the scheme should be clarified for schools. In accordance with the recommendations contained in these reports, my Department recently issued a new circular to schools in respect of the SNA scheme, which clarifies the scope and purpose of the scheme. The circular restates the Department's policy on the SNA scheme and clarifies the care nature of the SNA role. It details the type of significant care needs for which SNA support will normally be provided. The purpose of this circular is not to reduce the number of SNA posts allocated to pupils who require such support, as is evidenced by the fact that the number of posts being allocated has increased. Rather, its purpose is to provide information and guidance to schools in relation to the criteria and operation of the scheme.

An additional 480 resource teaching posts have also been made available for the current school year in order to meet growing demand from schools for low incidence special educational needs support. This brings to over 10,700 the number of resource teaching and learning support teachers in mainstream schools, which is more than at any time previously and compares favourably with 10,305 posts for the 2012-13 school year and 9,950 posts for the 2011-12 year. These increases in teaching and SNA posts should be seen in the context of requirements for the Government to make expenditure reductions across a range of areas and is reflective of this Government's commitment to providing resources to support children with special educational needs in schools.

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