10% of special needs assistants lost, survey finds

MORE than one-in-10 special needs assistants (SNAs) working with pupils with disabilities have been lost in primary schools despite official claims that the losses resulting from a review would be nowhere near as high, a survey of 850 schools has found.

The Irish Examiner reported last July that about 1,160 (or 11%) of the 10,500 SNAs in primary and second-level schools may be lost, based on preliminary outcomes of the National Council for Special Education review ordered by then education minister Batt O’Keeffe. He has repeatedly rejected these figures as exaggerated and claimed any loss of SNA posts would be a result of diminished needs among pupils or children moving from a school.

However, a survey by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) supports the estimate, showing that 278 of the 2,862 SNAs (9.7%) employed at more than a quarter of the country’s 3,300 primary schools last September have been lost. Only 593 of the surveyed schools had their review finished, suggesting the final reduction could be closer to a 13% reduction across the primary sector.

While schools reported about 40% of lost posts were a result of pupils having left the school, three-in-five losses were due to National Council for Special Education (NCSE) staff determining that the needs of pupils to whom the SNAs were assigned had reduced.

IPPN president Pat Goff said the suppression of many of the posts is directly related to an overzealous interpretation of Department of Education rules that prioritise the child’s care needs as the primary basis for SNA support.

“This completely ignores the right of the child to enable access to the curriculum without impinging on the education of other children in their classes.

“Many of the remaining SNAs are now assigned to multiple children and this further masks the losses,” he said.

One primary school has lost 12 SNAs, two have lost eight such staff and two SNA jobs have been axed at 38 of the surveyed schools.

Just under half of them had one or two SNAs before the review and 155 of the 593 schools reviewed lost one SNA.

“The new minister Mary Coughlan must act immediately to reverse this draconian attack on our most vulnerable children. She now has an opportunity to show the more compassionate side of this newly revamped administration by immediately setting out new parameters whereby children are resourced on an individual needs basis,” Mr Goff said.

The NCSE is due to report the outcome of the SNA review to the minister next week, although it is understood dozens of schools had not yet been reviewed up to a week ago. The council said accurate statistics will be available once the report is finished.

Mr O’Keeffe and the NCSE have insisted that the criteria for SNA support have not changed and that no child who requires an SNA will be left without one.