As they say, a week is a long time in politics, and last week was particularly long for some.

We moved from a cliff edge of cuts to Special Needs Assistant places, to the Government ‘Pausing’ these cuts on Tuesday last.

Emma O’Kelly gave a comprehensive overview here, but there is some extra context that I feel is important.

We have, for a while now, promoted the idea that the best place for certain treatments is within the community. That there would be a continuum of support for vulnerable members of our society.

Unfortunately, our funding model for schools has never really kept up with this ambition. Mainstream schools were simply never given the full resources needed to look after the narrow definition of support that was utilised by the Department of Education.

The models we use for capitation and staffing (teacher/sna/other staff) are very limited, and force principals to spend an inordinate amount of time form-filling in order to try and secure the resources that their school needs.

The fact that Micheal Martin could, last week, suggest that principals could just ‘appeal’ the decision shows just how much this model has been normalised.

Circular 0030/2014 sets out the parameters within which SNAs operate. Pages 5 and 6 give examples of “the primary care needs which would be considered significant – and which might require SNA support”

I think we can all accept that the world has changed a lot since 2014. We are only beginning to understand the psychological and developmental damage caused by the pandemic, and our mechanisms for coping with it.

There are more and more diagnoses of autism, ADHD, Emotional Behavioural Disorders or other conditions than were before. According to the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 21% of children aged 3 to 17 have been diagnosed with a ‘mental, emotional, or behavioural condition’ in 2021.

That’s pretty shocking.

In real life, that means that a large number of children are suffering to the extent that they cannot function to their best in school or in life. Trauma Informed Practice confirms this. When a child is under stress, then he or she is spending energy coping with that stress, before they can focus on their other tasks.

Anybody who works in the school knows the value of SNAs. Yes, students who need special care receive it, but beyond that, the generosity and compassion of so many SNAs provides students with a friendly face who can be there for them at a number of different points of the day.

School is about more than just the academics. They are places for students to grow academically, yes, but also to grow emotionally, physically, spiritually.

And, let’s move away from our limited funding models. Let’s look after our students properly.