It would be completely wrong to reframe this as some form of simple communication problem. This is a systematic policy failure. Successive governments have designed a model that narrows how care is defined. It signed off on it and allowed letters to be issued. When the schools and the parents rightfully reacted, suddenly everyone seemed to be taken by surprise. Absolutely nothing about this was surprising. You cannot tighten SNA thresholds in overcrowded classrooms and pretend that nothing else will be impacted. You cannot remove complex need from the special education teacher allocation model and not expect the pressure to land somewhere else. You cannot speak about inclusion while refusing to deal with adult to child ratios in our classrooms. Inclusion is never just a slogan. Inclusion is done best when it is included as a staffing model. Right now, teachers are managing classes that are larger and more complex than the structure was ever designed to support. Special needs assistants have become a pressure valve for a wider failure to invest in adequate teacher supply and class sizes. If we are being truly honest, this was not chaos caused by any school. It was chaos created by a system that in no way matches the reality of a classroom. If Government wishes to calm this down it must begin by stopping any conversation about narrowing supports and start rebuilding the architecture of our classrooms properly. If the Government keeps trying to squeeze the system without strengthening it, the only people who will pay a price will be our children. We need to start valuing SNAs. Too often in this Chamber over the past six years, we have come in and spoken about SNA pay, their evaluation, the model from which they are accredited and how they are treated in classrooms. SNAs do an invaluable job. We need to start valuing them.

Sentiment score: 0.08