Special Educational Needs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 March 2023

Tuesday, 28 March 2023

Questions (353)

Réada Cronin

Question:

353. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Education if her Department will address the cyclical delay in making known special needs assistant allocations, such delay having a deleterious impact on the working life and planning capacity of highly-committed, talented and expert SNAs who give so much to the school system beyond their paid hours and given the critical impact SNAs have on the education and lives of children with special needs; if her Department will look at ways of making their roles and working lives more secure, especially as they age, having made a huge contribution through the years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14636/23]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

I would like to thank the deputy for raising these matters and would like to advise the following

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this Government

For 2023, the spend by the Department on special education will be substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my Department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education

This level of educational funding and support is unprecedented and represents in excess of 27% of the Department’s total allocation for 2023

The SNA allocations for the 2023/2024 school year are presently being development by my Department and it is intended this will be advised to schools as soon as possible in April, a month earlier than in 2022.

My Department has allocated 1,165 additional SNA’s to schools in the past year and in Budget 2023 an additional 1,194 SNA’s are being provided to support schools and will be allocated as follows: 735 to support students in new special classes, 124 to support students in new special school places and 335 to support students in mainstream classes

By the end of 2023, there will be over 20,000 SNAs working in our schools.

I want to assure the Deputy that my Department is very aware of the importance of the SNA role in our education system, supporting the inclusion of students with additional care needs in education. In this regard, in December 2022, my Department established a dedicated SNA Workforce Development Unit in order to ensure that sufficient time and attention is given to the examination of the SNA role in our school system.

My Department is continuing to work on a number of strategies to support the work of SNAs in our school, including on workforce development planning, SNA training and SNA contracts. This work is happening in consultation with the education partners, particularly Forsa who represent SNAs at school level.