Special needs assistants fall victim to spending cuts obsession

IN his letter (March 15), Kieran Kennedy highlighted then Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s lip service to schoolchildren with special needs, while in practice the minister sought to restrict the role of the Special Needs Assistant (SNA) to one of “care” at the expense of educational support.

Mr Kennedy needs correcting in one respect, however. The teaching unions did not connive at O’Keeffe’s cynicism to preserve teachers’ monopoly of educational input in the classroom.

In fact, the TUI, in a submission on SNAs to the Department of Education and Science in November 2008, expressly endorsed educational support rather than a narrow “care” role for the SNA. In a submission in January 2009, INTO also envisaged an educational support role. Enlightened teachers have learned what SNAs can contribute to the classroom experience.