Written answers

Thursday, 2 June 2005

Department of Education and Science

School Staffing

5:00 pm

Photo of Pádraic McCormackPádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to regularise the situation regarding special needs assistants in primary schools; her further plans to make those posts full-time; if re-deployment arrangements will be entered into where special needs assistants become surplus to requirements in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18752/05]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy may be aware that a review has been conducted in recent months to establish whether primary schools have the level of special needs assistant, SNA, support that they need for children in their care, whether they have resources which they no longer need or whether they need extra resources. The review has found that some schools no longer have the care needs for which the SNA was originally sanctioned, that is, in some cases the child may have left the school while in other cases the care needs of the child have diminished as the child has progressed through the school. In this regard, the schools where surplus SNA support was identified have been advised that they may retain this surplus until the end of the current school year.

There is no redeployment scheme in place by which SNAs who are surplus to requirements in a particular school could be redeployed to another school. Putting such a scheme in place would be quite complex as there is no guarantee that as a post becomes surplus in one school, an additional post would become available in the locality. Unlike teachers, where posts are allocated on a pupil-teacher ratio basis which enables a redeployment scheme to work effectively, SNA posts are allocated on the basis of individual care needs and the creation of a workable redeployment scheme would be much more difficult.

The Deputy will be aware that this Government has put in place an unprecedented level of support for children with special needs. Indeed, since 1998, the number of SNAs has increased from under 300 to nearly 6,000 nationally. In addition to this, more effective systems, such as the establishment of the National Council for Special Education, have been put in place to ensure that children get support as early as possible. It is important to state that where it has been established that additional SNA posts are required, these posts are continuing to be allocated on an ongoing basis.

Photo of Bernard AllenBernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 235: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will reverse the decision made to discontinue the three posts of classroom assistant in a school (details supplied) in County Cork in view of the impact that decision will have on so many of the children who are dependent on the support of a classroom assistant. [18753/05]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the positions of special needs assistants which are allocated to schools to meet the care needs of children with special needs. My Department has undertaken a review of the number of special needs assistants in our primary schools to ensure that they have the right level of support to meet the assessed needs of their pupils.

This review found that some schools had excess posts in that the care needs for which they were originally given the post no longer exist. This would be because the child that the special needs assistant was sanctioned for has either left the school or has progressed to a point that they no longer need this type of support. Special needs posts cannot be held onto by schools who no longer have the care needs for which they were sanctioned. Others schools were found to need additional SNA posts and these posts are continuing to be allocated on an ongoing basis.

Following the review, my Department advised the school in question that based on the special educational needs of its pupils, it has a surplus capacity of two full-time SNA posts. The school has been advised that the surplus can be retained until the end of the current school year. The school currently has four full-time and two part-time SNA posts.

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