Like all Members who have spoken before me, I too wish to express my gratitude to SNAs and, indeed, the whole school community team members, including the special education teachers. As a granddaughter, daughter and niece of primary teachers, I understand very well the complexities of what is involved in the State and the school community trying to meet our objectives under Articles 42 and 42A of Bunreacht na hÉireann, that is, to create an environment to enable learning by all children in the State at their level. I thank the staff and the chief executive of the NCSE offices, who similar to the parents and to the school communities, have endured quite a lot of anxiety, phone calls, communications and requests for information. To try to get to the nub of everything, I sought a meeting with the chief executive. He afforded me one on Monday last. At that meeting, I learnt quite a few important points that are important to share. There has been a lot of misinformation in this space. One point I learnt was that the toolkit, which is the root of the problem, is up for review. There has been extensive consultation. There was commitment by all parties, such as unions, school representative bodies, etc., to support the toolkit at the time. The important thing is it is being reviewed. The lessons that are to be learnt from this, and they are important lessons, are: accuracy of communication - establish the facts and make sure the facts are communicated accurately; ensure there is co-operation and collaboration by all parties - in this instance by the school community - before announcements are made; ensure the voices of all parties are heard; ensure the suggestions put forward are built into policy; again review policy on a continuous cycle; and then provide clear communication to the stakeholders. I cannot improve on what Deputy Roche said about the voice of the child. I am concerned when I look at the current iteration of the toolkit, which focuses on primary medical needs. They are important, vital, very bespoke and specialised in many cases. However, it is about the softer skills. It is about removing the anxiety, it is the friendly face, it is the encouragement, it is maybe pointing out a line, it is assisting with the holding of the pencil or it is whatever is appropriate to the child at that point. That is the role and the delivery of the support. I have an issue with the title SNA. They are all needs assistants. I am grateful to them but we must establish facts and have clear communication going forward.

Sentiment score: 0.25