Fórsa’s national secretary for Education, Andy Pike, issued the following message to Fórsa SNA members about the SNA allocations for the school year commencing in September 2021, which were released earlier today (Thursday 27th May)
Today the NCSE published the SNA allocations for the next school year 2021/22. The total number of SNA posts allocated to Schools will be 17,556. The number of schools gaining posts will be 1,139, while 50 schools will experience a reduction in SNA posts.
Allocations for mainstream classes have been carried forward to next year without significant changes. Some new posts have been added for new and developing schools. This is good news for SNA members in mainstream classes who will not experience the same fragmentation of posts as in previous years. However this also means that SNA allocations to mainstream classes will not increase for the second year in succession despite growing evidence of an increasing number of students enrolling who have complex additional education needs. Schools can now only apply for additional SNA posts through the exceptional review process.
The number of SNA posts allocated to special schools increased by 74 to 2,704, with 35 schools gaining posts and four schools losing posts based on an assessment of student needs. The number of SNA posts allocated to post primary mainstream classes increased by 104, rising to 2,576 with 111 schools gaining posts. The number of SNAs allocated to post primary special classes (and units) increased by 147 to 1,095 with 78 schools gaining posts and ten schools losing posts.
The number of SNAs allocated to primary mainstream classes increased by 455 rising to 8,355 with 688 schools gaining posts and six Schools losing posts. The number of SNAs allocated to primary special classes (and units) increased by 366, rising to 2,826 with 326 schools gaining posts and 37 schools losing posts, some of which were reallocated to mainstream in the same school.
Fórsa will now make contact with members working in the small number of schools with a reduced allocations to ensure that SNAs can access advice on redeployment options and entitlements.
It’s regrettable that, despite the progress made in improving job security for SNAs in mainstream classes, a small number of schools have still seen a reduction in allocations. This issue must be addressed as part of the forthcoming review of the SNA contract, which includes the allocation model as well as the redundancy and redeployment scheme. The existing allocation model continues to cause disruption for special schools, special classes and ASD units which cater for many of the students with the most complex needs.
You can view the new allocations HERE.
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