To ask the Minister of Education to detail the (i) qualifications; and (ii) experience required for teachers and classroom assistants working in Specialist Provision in Mainstream school classes.

Specialist Provision in Mainstream Schools (SPiMS) classes aim to provide high quality educational experiences for the children attending them and ensuring they have confident and competent staff who are equipped to support children with special educational needs (SEN) is key to this.

Schools have responsibility for recruiting their own teachers. As a minimum, an applicant for a teaching post in a SPiMS must hold a teaching qualification which meets the requirements for recognition to teach in grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland.

Each school then sets its own experience selection criteria using a template provided by Education Authority (EA), which includes ‘person specifications’ for teachers working with children and young people with SEN.

Governors select from a list of experience, knowledge and skill requirements relevant to the post and may add any criteria that are specific to the needs of the pupils or school.

Schools are also responsible for the recruitment and selection of classroom assistants and similarly will set out qualifications and/or experience deemed to be essential criteria as determined relevant to the post which may include a Level 2 childcare qualification as approved by the EA (a list of approved qualifications is available from the EA website www.eani.org.uk).