SNA allocations frozen for 2020-2021
by Niall Shanahan
 
Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said the union has discovered that more than 70 posts were either lost or fragmented in primary schools.
Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said the union has discovered that more than 70 posts were either lost or fragmented in primary schools.

SNA allocations for all mainstream classes have been frozen for the next school year, while new and developing schools have received new SNA allocations.

 

Mainstream schools had the opportunity to apply for additional posts by the end of May, decisions on those applications will be communicated by the end of June.

 

Following an analysis of allocations in special education classes, Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike said the union has discovered that more than 70 posts were either lost or fragmented in primary schools: “The allocations added close to 500 new SNA posts to the sector, which is a net gain of approximately 425 posts in special classes,” he said.

 

Andy said 40 posts were either lost or fragmented across 37 schools in post-primary schools. He said the allocations added nearly 180 new SNA posts to the sector, a net gain of 138 new SNA posts.

 

Overall, the union found that the allocation to special classes resulted in 120 SNA posts either being lost or fragmented with loss of hours, while 460 new posts were added to the allocations for the next school year.

 

“This suggests that the level of job fragmentation and redundancies will be much lower this coming year due to the freeze on mainstream allocations, but problems still exist within special classes and special schools,” he said.

 

He said Fórsa maintains that the Department of Education and Skills (DES) should now undertake to secure SNA allocations in special schools and special classes in the same way as mainstream classes. “The NCSE review recommends increasing the baseline allocation for special settings considerably, and we believe that this must be done for the next full allocation process for the school year 2021/22.

 

“With increasing job security available in mainstream classes we anticipate retention difficulties in future years if staff seek to move into the more secure employment provided for in mainstream classes. Fórsa believes all classes should be treated equally in respect of SNA allocations and job security,” he said.

 

Separately, Fórsa has written to the DES requesting a review of allocations to Early Intervention Classes due to the difficulties in obtaining student assessments due to Covid-19. Andy added: “We believe that new students will enrol in these classes September and current allocations should be frozen.”

 

Read Fórsa’s advice on returning to your workplace HERE

 

 

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