Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 June 2012
218 Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if additional special needs assistant hours will be granted in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29093/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of such supports and the staffing resources available to my Department.
Firstly I wish to clarify the distinction between the role of the SNA and that of the teacher. SNAs and teachers have separate yet complementary roles. The class teacher is responsible for educating all pupils in his/her class, including any pupil with a special educational need. In this task, the teacher may be supported by a learning support teacher and/or resource teacher. SNAs are allocated to schools to enable them to support pupils with disabilities who also have significant care needs. All schools had been advised to apply to the NCSE for SNA support for the 2012/13 school year by 16th March, 2012 and schools will be notified shortly by their local SENO of their SNA allocation for 2012/13, based on the number of valid applications received and the extent of the care needs of qualifying children.
The deployment of SNAs within schools is a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available onwww.ncse.ie.
