Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2017
143. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether it is appropriate for a child who has had the benefit of a special needs assistant, SNA, in a national school to then go on to secondary school with no form of assistance. [42903/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraSpecial Needs Assistants, SNAs, are provided to assist recognised schools to cater for pupils with disabilities, who have additional and significant care needs, in an educational context and where the nature of these care needs has been outlined in medical and other professional reports as being so significant that a pupil will require additional adult assistance in order to be able to attend school and to participate in education.
The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers, SENOs, 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 my Department's Circular 0030/2014, which is available on my 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. My Department’s policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.
The Circular sets out that a key goal of SNA support is to help children to develop independent living skills, and that continued and ongoing access to SNA support is generally not desirable for post-primary students, unless essential, as it can impede their independence and socialisation needs at an important developmental stage of their life. Accordingly, whereas SNA support will be provided to post-primary schools when required, only pupils with chronic and serious care needs will normally be allocated SNA support in post-primary schools.
In considering applications for SNA support from post primary schools, the NCSE will take into account the importance of the requirement to allocate necessary care supports with the right of a child to acquire personal independence skills.
The level of SNA support allocated to all schools can change from year to year, as students with care needs leave the school, as new students with care needs enrol, or as students develop more independent living skills as they get older and their care needs diminish over time.
All schools have been advised of their allocations for SNA support for the 2017-18 school year. Details of SNA allocations which have been made to schools have been published by the NCSE on their website at:http://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/NCSE-17_18-SNA-Teaching-Allocation-to-Special-Schools2.pdf.
Where a school has received its allocation of SNA support for 2017-18, 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.
The NCSE Appeals Process may be invoked by a parent or a school where it is considered that a child was not granted access to SNA support on the grounds that my Department's policy was not met in accordance with Circular 0030/2014. Schools may also appeal a decision, where the school considers that the NCSE, in applying DES policy, has not allocated the appropriate level of SNA supports to the school to meet the special educational and/or care needs of the children concerned.
All schools have the contact details of their local SENO and parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on: www.ncse.ie.
