Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 April 2019
116. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason no procedures are in place to enable the transfer of an allocated SNA from a primary school to a secondary school for a child; if his attention has been drawn to the anxiety experienced by families (details supplied); his plans to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17868/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in Department 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.
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.
SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school based resource.
SNA allocations to all schools can change from year to year as children with care needs leave a school, as new children with care needs enrol in a school and as children develop more independent living skills and their care needs diminish over time.
The SNA allocations for the 2018/19 school year were announced in May 2018 to provide certainty to schools, parents and SNAs at the earliest opportunity. It is expected that this timeframe will also be adhered to this year with the allocations for September 2019 being announced in May 2019.
