Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
608. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of special needs assistants employed in the 2017-18 school year; the additional number who will be hired in September 2018; the projected additional hires in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35229/18]
View answerThe National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school.
The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in Department Circular 0030/2014, which is available on the Department's website at www.education.ie, in order that students who have care needs can access SNA support as and when it is needed.
In considering applications for SNA support for individual pupils, the NCSE take account of the pupils' needs and consider the resources available to the school to identify whether additionality is needed or whether the school might reasonably be expected to meet the needs of the pupils from its current level of resources.
Schools are responsible for the recruitment of SNAs.
SNA allocations to all schools can change from year to year as children with care needs leave the school, as new children with care needs enrol in a school and as children develop more independent living skills and their care needs diminish over time.
My Department's policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support. In line with this policy, I announced in May 2018 that 800 additional SNAs will be allocated for the beginning of the next school year, with a further 140 expected to be allocated by the end of the year.
Future allocations are determined based on assessed need, where a school has received its allocation of SNA support for September 2018, but wishes new enrolments or assessments to be considered, which were not taken into account when the initial allocation was made, they may continue to make applications to the NCSE for the 2018/2019 school year.
By the end of this year, there will be a total of 15,000 Special Needs Assistants working in our schools, a 42% increase on 2011.
The total number of SNA posts allocated at the end of the 2017/2018 school year was 14,063.
