The report says the assistants are crucial to the success of the policy of including children with special educational needs in mainstream education. The Education Act which became law last summer created a 'presumption' that pupils with SEN should be educated in mainstream settings, and the committee's inquiry into SEN takes this approach further still.
The report emphatically supports inclusion and argues that where a special school is recommended for a child, this must be justified in relation to the child's best interests.
The committee recommends that special needs assistants should have opportunities for joint staff development with teachers.
Sylvia Russell, director of the National SEN Training Co-ordination Project, a Scottish Executive-funded project based in the University of Glasgow, said in her submission to the inquiry that although the job of an SEN assistant required 'substantial commitment and professionalism', levels of pay were very low. Most SEN assistants, unlike classroom assistants, she said, were on temporary contracts with no prospect of permanency.
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