Debate contribution: SEN Reform and Classroom Assistant Provision
Debate contribution by Mr Danny Baker on .
- MLA
- Mr Danny Baker
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 9 March 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- SEN Reform and Classroom Assistant Provision
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5453560
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will start by addressing the Member facing me, who said that children need just to be placed: that is the problem. The EA is playing with numbers. That is what it does. Children with additional needs are last in line and are placed in the wrong setting. Those who are there to support them and get them on the pathways that they, like other children, deserve to be on are coming under attack in a cost-cutting exercise. There should be no doubt about the important role that classroom assistants play on the front line in ensuring that our children receive the support that they need to learn, grow and thrive. Our classroom assistants are the cornerstone of the education system in the North. They are often the people who notice long before anyone else that a child is struggling. They work with pupils who are struggling and encourage them to build confidence and independence. For children with additional needs, classroom assistants can make a huge difference in helping them feel safe, valued and supported. For those reasons, it is vital that we recognise, respect and continue to support classroom assistants in the valuable work that they do every day.
Yes.
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Absolutely. Given that it was announced in a social media post, we know how little the Department cares about classroom assistants and our children with additional needs. We see it when we go into schools. Last week, I was lucky enough to visit Coláiste Feirste, in which I could see the progression being made and the pathways that the teachers, school leaders and classroom assistants provide for our young people. They are creative in doing that, but it is being done without the support of the Minister, his officials or the Education Authority. It is down to the dedication of the classroom assistants. Many of them work well beyond their job description, but they do so for the love of the child and the job. They have second and third jobs just to stay in the profession. Too often, they do their work without recognition or respect from, in particular, the Department and the EA, which then take the credit when a school does a great job. Members will see that on school visits. It is not hard to work out. In the past number of weeks, I have placed on record in the Education Committee my concerns about the loss of one-to-one support. Anybody who wants to watch back those meetings or read Hansard will see that senior officials are reluctant — in fact, they will point-blank refuse — to answer simple questions about the removal of that support. They dance on the head of a pin. That is lost on nobody.
Yes.
Our classroom assistants are already doing that. You are missing the point about the misplacement of children and there being no data on children who are on reduced timetables. So many children with additional needs are sitting at home right now because they were placed in the wrong setting. They should be in either a special school or one of the specialised units. So many children have been misplaced because of the failure to plan year-on-year, and that goes back decades. It did not happen overnight. We could plaster the Chamber with SEN strategies. The SEN reform agenda is nothing new; it is just being dressed up again. The problem is that we are not facing up to that. We are not directing priorities to where they should be directed. Going after the low-hanging fruit, which are transport and classroom assistants, looks to me like a cost-cutting exercise.
We have a Minister who cherry-picks his evidence to suit his reform agenda.
622 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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