'Sentiment alone won’t improve things for our children. A clear plan, with a clear outcome framework is what is needed.'
The Education Minister's programme for reforming the provision of support for children with special educational needs has been criticised as being "more empty words" in dealing with the crisis.
Within the plan, the Minister emphasises the need for a change to the model of support for children with special educational needs. This includes a move away from one-to-one adult support for every child, towards a "more flexible model giving schools greater autonomy to meet the needs of the children in their schools."
He continued: “Within the existing model, parents and indeed many schools see a statement of special educational needs as being the best way of securing support for a child. Aligned to this, we also know that many view one-to-one classroom assistant support as the ‘gold standard’ intervention. People Before Profit MLA, Gerry Carroll, said the reform plan's move away from one-to-one support raises "red flags" for educational support staff, and has urged the Minister to clarify what his plans will mean for the workforce.
“The Minister cited difficulties experienced by some schools in recruiting SEN classroom assistants, and appeared to use this as justification for his plans to ‘reform’ the model. He made no mention of the role that low pay, poor terms and conditions and unsustainable workload undoubtedly play in these recruitment difficulties.
“However, after listening to the Minister’s statement today all we have right now is more empty words and no finalised action plan or costings. Parents and schools are rightly impatient for change to be delivered, and we can only judge the Minister on his actions, so we are yet again left waiting to see change take place.”
Schools Department Of Education Stormont
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