The 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.
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.
Circular 0030/2014 outlines that the care needs that a pupil has may change over time and that many children will naturally have diminishing care needs as they get older, and as they develop both physically and socially. In this regard, SNA allocations (excluding SERC recommended ratios of SNA support in special schools and classes) made from September 2014 are made initially for a maximum period of three years, subject to annual review, and subject to a full reassessment of their care needs at the end of the three year period.
When considering applications for SNA support from post-primary schools the NCSE will take in to account the importance of the requirement to allocate necessary care supports with the right of a child to acquire personal independence skills. SNA support will be provided to post-primary schools when required, however, continued and ongoing access to SNA support is generally not desirable for post-primary students, unless absolutely essential, as it can impede their independence and socialisation needs at an important developmental stage of their life.
While the provision of SNA support for post-primary schools may have additional considerations, my Department’s policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.
