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Review of Classroom Assistant support across the North

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18th Mar 2026

Message sent to all schools from the Education Authority - 16th March 2026

In light of some inaccurate comments regarding the rationale for SEN reform, EA wish to clarify that planned reforms to classroom support in NI are not aimed at cutting costs or reducing classroom assistant numbers.

Instead, the reforms are fundamentally aimed at improving the quality of support provided to children and young people.  To support this ambition, a key pillar of the reforms is to give schools more freedom to develop alternatives to a blanket one-to-one classroom assistant support model.

Many schools in NI have already moved away from a rigid one-to-one approach for all children, with classroom assistants acting as integral, multi‑skilled professionals whose contribution extends well beyond traditional support functions. These reforms will help formalise and underline that approach.

None of this should come as a surprise, as the approach to this reform agenda has been clear since it was set out by the Minister, in the Assembly, in early 2025.

The Education Authority will next week (March 24) launch a public consultation on changes to classroom support for pupils with special educational needs.

Tomas Adell, EA's Chief Transformation Officer, said: 

"The current system does not meet the needs of the child in the best way possible and is under increasing strain.

"We plan to give schools greater flexibility to tailor support to the individual needs of children.

"The new enhanced model will allow us to use the excellent classroom assistant workforce we currently have in the best possible way and recognise the skills and experience they have.

"We would encourage every classroom assistant to take part in the public consultation. We will of course be continuing our engagement with classroom assistants and their trade union representatives as part of the consultation process."