teaching assistant/Special Needs Assitant

elliemc

hi there,
just wondering if anyone knows whats involved in doing teaching assistant, I am currently a full time parent and am looking to back to work. I did some initial research around FETAC courses in childcare, would these be enough or is there a specific Dept of Education accredited one I could do.

I am looking for something part-time or online/distance learning, ideally North Dublin, Swords direction.

Kind regards

Aoife

Cat Melodeon

Going down this route you would be much better off doing a general childcare qualification with a special needs focus than doing a specific SNA course. Funding for SNAs has been slashed. 2,000 SNAs lost their positions over the past 24 months and the DES have narrowed the qualifying criteria so that fewer children with special needs are now eligible for assistance. DES also require you to do a two-year SNA course and these are only offered on a full-time basis.

In light of this, you might be better off doing a general childcare qualification as you would be better able to pick up work in a wider range of childcare settings. Make sure it is FETAC accredited. Many creches etc are now encouraging their staff to progress to degree level so you would want to have a properly accredited qualification to be able to compete for jobs.

The VECs usually run childcare courses on both a full and part-time basis, but you will find that most of them started in Aug/Sep so you won't be able to get on until next year. Grange VEC offers Level 4-6 in Working with Children (FT & PT). FÁS also run PT courses depending on demand. Very few distance learning courses are accepted for childcare positions as work experience makes up an important module in all the good ones. Contact your local FÁS office for more information as they will be aware of what courses are running in your area, and check out this website for other options:
http://www.eveningclasses.ie/products.asp?cat=318

elliemc

hi thanks for your feedback, i was looking at fetac childcare/pshychology course in kilroys college thats available on line. but i will do a bit more research, I want to just be practical about what I do, i was considering doing a B.ED in St Pats, but I know how scarce jobs are, in my childs school 500 applied for 1 position so I don't know if its worth the slog of doing a course like that and not getting work at the end, (sure everyone is in a similar situation that is looking for any kind of work now I presume) and I want to be able to go out and work while my kids are at school so a role in the teaching environment would be ideal.

I guess the FETAC course is a good place to start anyway.

byhookorbycrook

Primary schools do not have assistants and SNAs are being cut right left and centre, so that there are as many unemplyed SNAs as there are teachers.

Ryan T

Cat Melodeon wrote: »

Funding for SNAs has been slashed. 2,000 SNAs lost their positions over the past 24 months and the DES have narrowed the qualifying criteria so that fewer children with special needs are now eligible for assistance. DES also require you to do a two-year SNA course and these are only offered on a full-time basis.

]
Where are you getting these facts from.

1. You don't need a two year course qualification to be an SNA. FETAC level 5 is fine

2. The minister proved in the Dail last year that very few SNAs had been let go. I cant remember the actual figure but it was close to 200 not 2000

3. The same funding is available as before (not slashed at all)

implausible

elliemc wrote: »

i was looking at fetac childcare/pshychology course in kilroys college thats available on line. but i will do a bit more research, I want to just be practical about what I do, i was considering doing a B.ED in St Pats, but I know how scarce jobs are

The unemployment levels are similar for teachers and SNAs - cuts, cuts, cuts. However, with a FETAC Level 5 Childcare certificate, you'll be far more employable. With the ECCE scheme and various community childcare schemes, childcare is a growing sector.

A word of advice about where you plan to do a course: VECs provide the exact same FETAC courses as the private colleges at a fraction of the cost; the private colleges charge thousands whereas your local community college/further education college only have an administration fee of €200 max. However, the VEC courses tend to be full-time i.e. 4 days at college, one on work experience.

E.T.

Ryan T wrote: »

2. The minister proved in the Dail last year that very few SNAs had been let go. I cant remember the actual figure but it was close to 200 not 2000

3. The same funding is available as before (not slashed at all)

I don't know if you work in a school, but ours, and most schools locally have lost SNAs this year, despite what the minister has said. This is in spite of a rise in the number of children with SEN, with reports from a range of professionals stating that these pupils NEED a FULL TIME SNA. More and more we're seeing the situation where one SNA is shared between two or more children with a variety of SEN, which is completely ludicrous.

This is the same Department of Education which uses Learning Support and Resource teachers to misleadingly lower pupil-teacher ratios, so they're well able to put any kind of spin they want on figures. (In case people are not aware of this - take a school with 7 teachers, 5 of them are class teachers, the other two are Learning Support and Resource. 140 pupils. This means a pupil-teacher ratio of 28:1 in reality, but 20:1 in the Department's publications.

lily lou

Oficially you only need a pass in the Junior Cert in English, Irish and Maths to be an SNA, but most SNA's do have qualifications. It's very hard to get an SNA job though, I really wouldn't waste my money on the course. Childcare will give you a lot more options, good luck:)

niall3r

Im not sure of whether its acceptable or not but I know there are a number of NQTs who are working as SNAs.

Cat Melodeon

Ryan T wrote: »

Where are you getting these facts from.

1. You don't need a two year course qualification to be an SNA. FETAC level 5 is fine

2. The minister proved in the Dail last year that very few SNAs had been let go. I cant remember the actual figure but it was close to 200 not 2000

3. The same funding is available as before (not slashed at all)

As E.T. said, it is easy to manipulate the stats. In the school I worked in, of the 6 SNAs that worked there 3 years ago, only two had their contract renewed. This despite there still being the same number of SEN pupils requiring the same level of care in the school as before. The actual figure from the NCSE review was a reduction of 360 whole time equivalent positions - this does not indicate the actual number of SNAs made redundant. The positions are often part time by nature and include those on a 2hr/day contract doing essential work like accompanying a child on school transport - three of these positions would make up one WTE. Additionally, the review had not been completed at the time of publication so it does not reflect the full picture. Conservative estimates of the actual number of SNAs now without jobs (even if they were only jobs of a few hours a week) run at over 1,300. The DES is not forthcoming with information on this - I may have overestimated at 2000, but claiming it's only 200 is plain dishonest.

Furthermore, these are only the redundancies and do not include the number of SNAs whose positions disappeared with the ending of the school year due to their clients suddenly having 'progressed to independence'. Pupils are being told that they have 'progressed to independence' successfully and no longer need assistance, even though they are as likely to injure themselves in class this year as last. The SENO makes this decision, supposedly in consultation with the school staff and other professionals, but I know of cases where all the reports suggest that the child needs further help, where teachers and parents are left begging the SENO for clemency, but to no avail. There is not even an independent appeals process in place to assist these people.

School based SENCOs round the country are having applications for support rejected where previously there was no issue with getting resources. The amount of paperwork now required from doctors, consultants, NEPS, the HSE, teaching staff, parents and counsellors now puts such a burden of administration on those in the SENCO role that they simply do not have enough time to get all the paperwork for all of the children ready in time for the school year. Criteria that made a child eligible for assistance before are now being reexamined, where once a particular position on the spectrum of various disorders meant immediate access to services, now report after report is being requested. Parents are left begging for help. SNAs are being split across pupils. SEN pupils are also being withdrawn from classes into old-style 'remedial' classes with a shared resource teacher rather than being left in the mainstream classroom with an SNA as per education policy ca 2005. Every obstacle that can be put in the way is being put in the way. Support for SEN pupils has regressed.

Is it really a coincidence that An Bord Snip recommended a 20% cut in the number of SNAs?

The only people I hear denying that funding and resources are being cut are politicians and the regional SENOs, but they would say that, wouldn't they? Ask parents, principals who are actually clued in and SNAs and you'll see there is a very different situation playing out in schools across the country.

Re: the FETAC course, yes you are right, a one-year course will do. Most SNAs I know did the two-year progression to Level 6 training. Under DES regulations, all you need is a Junior Cert or equivalent and 'good character'. Shame there aren't more people of good character on the political end of the education system...