Classroom assistant reveals assaults are so common she regularly ...

The huge increase in children with special educational needs (SEN) in Northern Ireland schools has left classroom assistants bearing the brunt of violence and abuse from kids in a system struggling to cope.

The first ever in-depth study of their experiences was released following research by the Ulster University (UU). It revealed the “need for urgent reform and recognition” of the classroom assistants (CAs), most of whom are employed to support children with special educational needs, describing them as a “pivotal workforce”.

The SDLP’s Education spokesperson Cara Hunter says the role of classroom assistants is vital and they deserve fair pay and safe working conditions.

The report found that increasing demands have been placed on the CAs – who are paid between £13 and £15 per hour – and their job description is so vague they can be asked to do anything from teaching to supervising or cleaning.

The classroom veteran of 20 years, who’s asked to remain anonymous to protect the children she works with, says the public have no idea how challenging the job can be.

It’s common to be bitten, headbutted, slapped, hurt with sharp objects and subjected to the most vile verbal abuse.

She believes pressure from some parents to keep SEN children in mainstream schools, poor diagnoses from educational psychologists and a lack of support for the CA workforce is contributing to chaos in the classroom.

“Sometimes it’s just easier to take the beating, and I know I’m not on my own,” she says.

“I don’t think a lot of people realise how bad it is at primary level, secondary level and across the board. I go home to my family covered in bruises and they tell me ‘leave, get out of there’.

“But there are some kids who are brilliant and you just want to help them. That’s why you do the job.”

She works with a small group of children within a mainstream primary school, known as a social communication class for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

“A lot of these classrooms have been set up to meet the enormous demands for SEN children. Some children within these classes may have a diagnosis of ASD, some are awaiting a diagnosis. Some children have severe behavioural issues which can lead to violence against themselves, other children and staff,” she says.

“These are new classes which are popping up everywhere which are thrown together because of the demand.

“The principals are under a lot of pressure to open up these kinds of classrooms.”

According to Department of Education data, the number of children with an SEN statement rose by 51pc between 2017 and 2024 to nearly 30,000. In the same period, the number of children enrolled in special schools increased by 25pc to almost 7,200.

The number of CAs employed by the Education Authority rose by half to 22,800 between 2018 and 2024, and the professional who spoke to Sunday World says they’re the lifeblood of schools.

To meet the demand for classes, schools may employ parents, who are usually untrained, and it’s hit and miss whether staff have the appropriate handling training.

“Some of us have trained in handling these situations. Some of us haven’t. Some classroom assistants and teachers might be trained in positive handling and others don’t have a clue.

“You have to try and divert the children or manoeuvre them because things can escalate really quickly. Because we are mostly women and there are some big nine- and ten-year-olds when they come for you, it’s scary.

“I’ve worked with girls who are a lot smaller and you jump in front of them.

“I also know of ladies who have had their breasts groped, with malicious intent, who have been laughed at while they’re being assaulted.

“The children might have autism but there are other children where it’s just behavioural. There might be a situation at home. There might be social services involvement.”

She says pressure from parents to keep their children within mainstream schools and the lack of special needs schools is also adding pressure on the CA workforce.

“Children need to be placed in the right setting. That’s a big problem, that there isn’t enough space in special needs schools.

“It’s also a parental choice. While a child is better suited to a special needs school the parent can disregard that.

“Then we have wee boys and wee girls coming in and disrupting the education of all the other children and they are suffering because that child is not placed appropriately.

“This is the job of the Education Authority. The EA have placed these children into these settings without, in my opinion, proper assessments.

“Place the children in the correct settings. If it is an ASD classroom, it must be for children with a diagnosis of ASD and not for children with severe needs that would be better placed in a special needs school or in a behavioural support class.”

In UU study 82pc of the 1,500 classroom assistants who took part in the research said they weren’t fairly paid. Half of the participants are also on temporary or term-time contracts.

“There needs to be more awareness of what’s going on from our side.

“You would have had challenging behaviour before but it’s so much more prevalent now. It’s getting out of hand and we need help,” says the professional.

The SDLP’s Education spokesperson Cara Hunter says it’s impossible to overstate the importance of the work carried out by classroom assistants.

“As the number of pupils with a statement for special educational needs has grown so too have the extra duties on classroom assistants, with little in the way of recognition through their pay or otherwise.

“The role of a classroom assistant has evolved significantly in the last few decades, with many carrying out vital support.

“Without them, many of our SEN pupils would be unable to attend school at all.

“While many of our classroom assistants get into the profession because they love the work they do, they deserve to have their efforts recognised in the form of fair pay and safe working conditions,” says Cara.