Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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144. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if special needs assistants will be trained up in the PEC and ABA learning system for children with autism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18888/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the role of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) is set out in my Departments Circular 0030/2014.

Under the terms of this Circular, the primary role of the SNA is to cater for the care needs of pupils with disabilities in an educational context, where the nature of these care needs have been outlined in professional reports as being so significant that a pupil will require adult assistance, beyond that which can normally be provided by the class teacher, in order to be able to attend school and participate in education.

The Circular sets out what would normally be considered to be significant care needs under the terms of the scheme. The Circular also distinguishes between the roles of Classroom Teachers and Resource/Learning Support Teachers and the role of the SNA. Students with special educational needs can have very complex learning needs and should be taught by qualified teachers who are equipped with the skills to meet the needs of these students. SNA's are specifically recruited to assist in the care needs of those pupils and do not have a teaching/pedagogical role.

There are therefore no plans at this time to extend the role of an SNA to provide for additional learning or teaching activities.