Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter today. I assure the House that the education of children with special educational needs is a key priority for this Government. The Government will invest in the region €2 billion this year in supporting children with special needs, which is over 20% of the total education budget. By the end of this year, there will be 18,000 special needs assistants employed in our schools. As the Deputies have pointed out, the SNAs play a huge role in supporting the inclusion of pupils with significant care needs in education and in school life. This was acknowledged in the Comprehensive Review of the Special Needs Assistant Scheme, published by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, in 2018.

The review made a number of recommendations regarding SNAs and the need for a more broadly based set of supports, including therapeutic supports for pupils with complex needs. The review also referenced the training needs of SNAs. In this regard, the NCSE recommended that a new national training programme at level 5 of the national framework of qualifications be developed for existing SNAs who do not have the requisite level of training and for new SNAs on appointment.

The NCSE also recommended that training tailored to the specific complex needs of some students being cared for by SNAs should be provided.

The policy advice has been considered by the Department and the value of an accredited programme is recognised. The Department is committed to the development of a strategic framework for SNAs that will identify need and provide quality training in a timely manner. In order to begin providing a foundation for this, it was decided that initial priority should be given to the development of a training programme for SNAs who may not have had a recent opportunity to access a training programme tailored to their role. The initial aim of the new programme is to provide training, not a professional qualification. This might provide some clarity to the Deputies on that specific question. This is the first national training programme for SNAs employed by the State and it is tailored to their needs. I assure the Deputies that the programme will be evaluated and the outcome will inform the approach to the training of SNAs in the future.

The Department recognises that a more strategic approach is required for the training of SNAs. This would deal with a number of matters, including the identification of need and the provision of appropriate training programmes. The issue of programme accreditation will be considered further in this context. I look forward to its development. A public procurement competition was held for the development and delivery of a new national training programme for SNAs. A detailed specification of need and learning outcomes was developed and published for the competition. Following evaluation of the tenders received, the contract was awarded to University College Dublin's school of education, in conjunction with its school of nursing, midwifery and health systems.

A total of €2.5 million has been allocated to this programme over the next four years on the basis of a full uptake of 3,500 SNAs. My understanding is that some 2,500 SNAs have applied for the training, which meant this phase was oversubscribed, and the first cohort of 500 were enrolled in January. The programme consists of five modules delivered online over a ten-month period, with a two-month break during the summer period. Flexibility is a key part of the approach to the delivery of the programme. It is important to stress that it is a voluntary programme and something SNAs have been seeking for a considerable period of time. I stress that as it is a new programme, it will be evaluated and the outcome of that evaluation will inform future policy, including policy on accreditation.

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