Complaint

A number of complaints were submitted to the Office by parents on behalf of their children who were pupils in, or were due to start in, a Special School in September 2011. The complaints related to the decision made by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to reduce the Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocation to the school. The school determined it could not meet the educational needs of these children and as a result contacted parents ahead of the upcoming school year, significantly reducing the timetable for some pupils and advising that they were not in a position to provide any hours to others.

While the actions of the NCSE are not currently within its investigative remit, this Office was concerned with respect to the impact that this would have on the children’s education and also the background planning and preparation that is invariably required by families in those circumstances. The Office was concerned that children and their families were getting caught up in a resource issue which was clearly not of their making, but affecting them directly.

Examination

The Office engaged with the school to ascertain how it had managed the SNA reductions, the discussions which had taken place with the NCSE, and the Department of Education and Skills regarding the matter. This intervention reflected the Office’s key emphasis on promoting the local resolution of any complaint or concern where possible and appropriate.

Outcome

Following the intervention of this Office local discussion occurred between the relevant parties and an increased SNA allocation was granted by the NCSE. Consequent to this development, it is the Office’s understanding that all the children in question were enrolled without restriction on school hours. The Office is currently taking steps to have the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 extended to include NCSE in its remit. Further work will be carried out on this in early 2012.

Posted in: Investigations Education