Richard Boyd Barrett demands SNA circular be rewritten with parents
Richard Boyd Barrett spoke on Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and the contested 2014 circular, urging that the circular be withdrawn and rewritten with input from parents, SNAs and school communities. He pressed for guarantees that cuts or redeployments will not recur next year and called for protections for children with special needs.
Demand for rewritten circular
Richard Boyd Barrett repeated concerns about the 2014 circular, which parents and school communities describe as "infamous" and believe should be torn up. He urged that any new circular be written with direct input from parents, SNAs and school communities so the same mistakes are not repeated.
Concerns about redeployment and future security
He highlighted protests by parents, SNAs and school communities after the government moved to reduce SNA allocations and then backtracked following public outrage. Those groups want firm assurance that staff will not be removed again next year and that resources will follow need rather than being imposed top-down.
SNA numbers and debate over impacts
The transcript records an exchange noting a rise in SNA numbers since 2014, with figures discussed moving from around 16,000 to "25,000 plus" and expectations of further growth. Opponents of the "infamous circular" argue expansion has occurred but that policy must still protect pupils and school communities.
Policy process, redeployment scheme and workforce planning
The record shows a new circular is being prepared and that there has been stakeholder engagement on a redeployment scheme and a workforce planning document. The speaker referenced the need for regular assessment of school needs, suggested COVID interrupted the NCSE's approach, and said resources should follow changing need year-to-year.
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T-Shark, the parents, the SNAs, the school communities who protested over the misguided move by the government to take SNAs, significant numbers, from many, many schools across the country and then had to backtrack because of the outrage. But what they want to know, or one of the key things they want to know, is they're not going to be there again next year, in a year's time, that the same issues will happen again. And whether the infamous circular, 2014 circular, which they believe should be torn up, is going to be rewritten with the input of the parents, the SNAs, the school communities, so that the same dire mistake isn't made again. So the government has committed to withdrawing that circular and rewriting it, but are you going to get input from the people who matter and who know how that circular should be written in a way that guarantees the rights of children with special needs and the school communities and not just make another mistake because it's written top-down by people who don't really understand the issue. Deputy Paul Murphy. Who was next? Deputy Boyd Barrett. Again, you call it the infamous circular. It's been the circular since 2014. And since that circular, the numbers of SNAs have gone from 16,000. More size gone from a probably about... Sorry, what I'm talking about. It must have been 10 or 12 then. It was 16 in 2020. So go back to 2014. What was it? It's now at 25,000 plus. It will be next September and probably go higher now. So I don't know why you're calling it infamous. There's been some expansion of SNAs since then. And there will continue to be a growth in the number of special needs assistants. And that will continue. But there is a new circular being issued. There has been engagement with stakeholders. There also then do a redeployment scheme on which there's been substantive stakeholder engagement. And that's very imminent. It's very near completion. And then there's the workforce planning document on which a lot of work has taken place as well. And what should happen ordinarily on a year-to-year basis is the resources should follow the need. And need will change. There'll be increased need in some schools. There'll be reduced need in other schools. It shouldn't be done every five years. COVID apparently interrupted the NCSE's approach to this. There should always be regular assessment of need in respect of what schools require. That shouldn't be contentious.
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