Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 March 2017
148. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to provide a special needs assistant for every child who is in need of one; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14847/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe investment which is being made to support children with special educational needs is an area of spending which has been prioritised above most other areas by this Government.
Funding for special education provision in 2017 will amount to some €1.68 billion, which is equivalent to over 19% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training and an increase of 12% in spending in the past two years. This funding provides for a range of supports and services including providing for access to Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support.
Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated to mainstream Primary, Post Primary and Special Schools to assist children with special educational needs who also have additional and significant care needs. Such support is provided in order to facilitate the full participation of those pupils at school and also to minimise disruption to class or teaching time for the pupils concerned, or for their peers, and with a view to developing their independent living skills.
SNAs are not allocated to individual pupils but to schools, as a school based resource, in the same manner that teachers are allocated to schools. I can confirm that access to SNA support is allocated to schools in respect of every qualifying application to the NCSE for children who have assessed additional care needs.
The provision of a quantum of support to schools gives schools the autonomy and flexibility to manage their allocation of SNA support in order to utilise this support to the best possible effect. It allows schools to target support to those pupils who have the greatest degree of need at any given time, recognising that the level of need that a child may have may be variable over time. The school is in a position to use their educational experience and expertise to manage the level of support which has been allocated to them to provide for the care needs of identified children as and when those needs arise and to provide access to SNA support for all children who have been granted assess to support.
An additional 115 SNA posts, at an annual cost of €3.8m, is available to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to allocate to schools from January to June 2017, bringing the total number of SNA posts available for the 2016/17 school year to 13,015, which represents an increase of 23% over the numbers allocated in 2011. This is the highest allocation of SNA posts that we have ever had. This increase reflects the growing participation of children with special educational needs and will support their full participation and progression within the educational system, reflecting the Programme for Government commitment to ensure that all children with special needs can maximise their potential. The demand for 2017/18 will not be known until the NCSE SNA application process has been completed.
The NCSE has published details of the SNA posts allocated to schools for the current school year, 2016/2017, on its website www.ncse.ie.
