Special Needs Assistant (SNA) Workforce Development Plan

The SNA Workforce Development Plan recognises the vital role SNAs play in supporting children and young people with special educational needs and their role in whole school communities. This plan brings clarity and strategic direction for the future of the SNA service, ensuring it remains robust, flexible, and responsive to changing and emerging needs.

The Plan is underpinned by a vision of achieving:

“A dynamic, diverse and professional workforce of Special Needs Assistants that is supported and respected within an inclusive school community and who provide high quality, appropriate care to children and young people with significant care needs, to facilitate their attendance, participation and inclusion in school to achieve their full potential.”

The Plan aims to support the continued delivery of inclusive education for children and young people with special educational needs.

The Plan also aims to strengthen the workforce and ensure that SNAs continue to deliver high quality services that meet the needs of children and young people now and into the future.

It sets out a range of measures to support professional development, workforce sustainability, and emphasises the importance of enhanced collaboration across school communities.

The Plan was developed following extensive engagement and consultation with stakeholders across the education sector and sets out high level objectives under five key pillars.

1. Review and development of the SNA role
2. Establishment of a Quality Framework
3. Establishment of a Learning and Development Programme
4. Supporting SNA recruitment, retention and diversity
5. Development of a communications strategy

Overall, the Plan includes consideration of how best school leaders, teachers and SNAs can work together to ensure that they are supported to provide the most effective service to children and young people with significant care needs in our schools.

The SNA Workforce Development Plan was developed in consultation and collaboration with all key stakeholders. This includes SNAs, students, parents, school leaders and teachers, school management bodies, unions, disability and special needs advocacy groups and student and parent representative groups.

The steering group provided overall oversight and guidance throughout the development of the Plan, ensuring a coordinated and strategic approach to the work.

To support the delivery of the Plan, dedicated working groups were established for each of the five pillars. The members of these groups brought together relevant expertise and experience to develop proposals and identify priorities within their retrospective areas.

Stakeholder groups (including an SNA stakeholder group) played an important role in the process by providing feedback and recommendations.

This collaborative approach helped ensure the Plan reflects the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders, including those involved in service delivery and those impacted by the services provided by SNAs, while supporting a shared vision for the future.

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