Professional Development for Special Needs Assistants in the Irish Education System: Evidence from a National Training Programme

Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are paraprofessionals who play a vital role in supporting students with special educational needs (SEN) in Irish schools. Despite the growing number of SNAs in Ireland now exceeding 21,000 nationally and their recognised vital contribution to the education system, there has historically been a dearth of accredited professional training opportunities available to them. In response, a national 10-month professional development programme, presented in a virtual learning environment (VLE), was designed to address this gap. This programme comprised modules targeting essential skills to support SNAs to meet the needs of learners with SEN. This paper reports on an evaluation of the experiences of 961 SNAs on the programme’s implementation using pre- and post-training surveys. Results identified strong completion (86.8%) and high satisfaction rates among SNAs. Notably, over 75% reported a positive impact of this course on their professional practice, including increased confidence in their role. Variations in training needs of SNAs working in mainstream educational contexts compared to SNAs working in special school settings were noted. The findings suggest the effectiveness and scalability of VLEs to support professional development programmes for educational paraprofessionals, offering valuable insights for inclusive education systems internationally.