72 hours

Previous pay agreements did create a requirement on SNAs to work an additional bank of 72 hours in a school year in circumstances where there was additional SEN work to be carried out.

Where such additional, appropriate work exists, SNAs are required to do it. Where there is no such additional work, the requirement does not exist. The 72 hours are not a target. If the work exists, and if it is appropriate, a school can require SNAs to work up to 72 hours.

Similarly, if there is no additional work to be carried out, there is no need to call down any of these hours. It has become a particular problem that, in many cases, SNAs are being asked to carry out work that is not SEN-related work in order to complete these hours.

It is, however, very much a mistake to consider the 72 hour a target. It is not the case and is not what we signed up for. The Oireachtas statement afforded an opportunity to highlight practices where SNAs are told the 72 hours is a target and are given non-SNA work to do.

Ultimately, however, we remain grateful to our membership for engaging with us on this matter and for pointing out the concerns that you have. Therefore we have written to the Oireachtas subcommittee again to clarify our position to make sure that there is no further room for misunderstanding.

• A copy of that letter is available to view HERE
• Download a copy of Fórsa’s position on the ’72 Hours’ HERE
• Download a copy of Fórsa’s submission to the Oireachtas education committee HERE
• See also: An SNA’s place is on the board - Fórsa Education news bulletin Wednesday 20th March 2019
• A full archive of SNA contract issues published in the news bulletin is available HERE.

NCSE Review

Last year, the NCSE made a series of recommendations to the government concerning the future of the SNA role. In November/December, Fórsa held a nationwide series of meetings with our SNA members to get their feedback in relation to each of the 13 recommendations. This was augmented with an online survey. Impressively, through the meetings and surveys, we have the views of some 4,000 SNAs in relation to the recommendations, thus ensuring that should there be discussions with the Department of Education about the recommendations, we will be able to talk with authority and accurately reflect the opinions of our SNAs.

Although we have collated the views of our SNAs, we have not yet published it. We do not yet know which, if any, of the recommendations that the government may be interested in adopting. It would not be prudent to share the insights of our members in relation to all of the recommendations if it turns out that the government is not interested in all of them. We will therefore ensure that when we do publish the material we have collated, it will be in response to the changes that the government are interested in.

As things stand, none of the recommendations have been adopted. This means, for example, that there has been no name change. It also means that the pilot scheme that is recommended in the NCSE review should not begin until we have been invited to discuss it implications. That is why Fórsa issued a ‘non-cooperation’ instruction to members concerning the pilot scheme. We will lift this should it appear that our concerns have been answered. Ultimately, Fórsa will be cooperative when it is in the interests of our members.