Yahoo News Deal to end school support staff strikes will be relief to parents and children with special needs
A deal to end long running, intermittent classroom closures will come as a great relief to parents and children with disabilities if it's approved.
School support staff - classroom assistants, bus drivers, dinner ladies, and more - have been in locked in a dispute with their employers for some time and have been staging strike action across Northern Ireland on selected dates for more than a year.
All schools have faced disruption during the on-again, off-again strikes, but it's been special schools in particular where the impact has been most profound.
Read more: School strikes will hit most vulnerable children hardest and I know exactly who to blame
While most mainstream schools have managed to stay open during the strikes, special schools have been forced to shut classrooms entirely.
I know first hand just how profound the impact on children with additional needs has been, and how difficult it's been for those who care for them.
My eight-year-old son attends a fantastic special school in Co Derry. He is autistic and he has obvious learning difficulties, he's non-verbal and his behaviour can be difficult to manage - sometimes in the extreme.
The job expected of the classroom assistants who care for him is not an easy one. Infinite patience, kindness and care is required. He can't use a toilet so nappy changes are required fairly often throughout each day - an unpleasant task for anyone faced with a strong, unsettled and big-for-his-age eight-year-old boy.
Around six months ago, with Stormont still in deadlock and no Ministers in place, I wrote about the impact the strikes were having on my son.
When Stormont got back up-and-running, I assumed the pay and grading deal sought by the education support workers would be swiftly sorted out.
The way a society cares for its most vulnerable is, to my mind, quite telling about the state of that society. I assumed that here in Northern Ireland children with special needs would be a priority for the new Executive.
I watched as a deal for nurses was sorted out, fairly quickly, to bring an end to strike action in that sector.
A pay deal for teachers was secured.
Again, I assumed school support staff would follow soon.
Here we are, six months later. The school year will soon be finished. It will be a great relief if, finally, a deal to bring an end to the dispute is secured at last.
So soon after the disruption of the pandemic, I can only hope that my son will have a better run of it in the new school year.
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