Una “raffica di chiamate” quando i ministri si sono resi conto che il “disastro delle pubbliche relazioni” sulla disposizione dell’SNA stava per scoppiare

It’s a fucking disaster outright. 

The restrictions they’re imposing are unworkable, and the underpaid, undervalued, and already overexploited SNAs are left to figure out which rules they can most safely break to give the kids the support they need. And they have to do that knowing the school and department will hang them out to dry when it inevitably causes issues. 

They don’t have any of the supports or protections other staff do – such as they are! – despite doing a physically and emotionally draining job that pays so badly most SNAs I know can get HAP.

How this stuff reads in effect is that, while an SNA can know beyond a doubt that a kid is heading towards enough distress to soil themselves in class, they aren’t to intervene until they actually do – because that would be “emotional” rather than “physical” needs. That’s just not how it works, doesn’t make any sense, never mind being unthinkably cruel, and expecting SNAs to deal with the inevitable, bigger fallout of not being able to intervene sooner is just preposterous in a classroom full of other kids.

They’re supposed to work like hospital care assistants rather than the role they’ve trained, qualified, applied for and accepted, even when that obviously doesn’t make sense, and try to reconcile the irreconcilable dilemmas this produces. 

Proper SNA support is the difference is between kids actually learning to read or retaining the capacity to speak, or not, and it impacts more than just the SEN kids themselves. It’s not a “nice to have”, it’s the difference between giving these kids the education they have a right to, and the best chance they can get to navigate the world, vs just warehousing them until they age out, and then reaping the inevitable shitshow consequences of that.

Surely the minister that approved this should tender their resignation ? Or is this one of those system errors that everyone will learn from ?

They closed down the ‘Special Schools’ and brought those pupils into mainstream schools on the promise that there would be plenty of SNAs to assist pupils with special needs. Now they are cutting those SNAs to the bone. And what they are worried about is a PR disaster.

I would say the reaction among the cabinet was more like “You let Hildegard do a press release!!!!”


Elephant in the room – somehow 30-40% of children now have additional needs. 
The system was designed for <5% needing additional assistance as it was from 1960-2000. 

It’s not sustainable, 50% of a population has an additional need then no one in that population had an additional need.

Somethings (eg: ADHD) are definitely parenting/screen related and others (eg: mild ASF/dyspraxia) are bring over diagnosed. Additionally the curriculums have been simplified again and again, and the ability for teachers to actually chastise students for poor behaviour essentially eliminated. Schools need to teach children both information and basic societal etiquette, and they are failing at the latter. 

In the current primary school system schools receive approximately 200 euro per child per year – it’s actually among the most insanely cost effective departments in the government. The educate together schools will already shoot way way above this amount. If we want SNAs for half the students it’s going to be into the stratosphere.