E-scéal 318 - SNA Croke Park Hours – Do’s & Don’ts
- Published: 17 October 2012
DES Circular 71/2011 now requires SNA’s to contribute to the Croke Park Agreement. IPPN members have contacted the support office seeking clarity on its implementation in schools. We have provided a list of the main queries to the DES for clarity and received the following guidance.
Q1: Are Croke Park Hours additional to the 12 compulsory days that SNAs were initially obliged to complete?
No, the 12 days have been subsumed into the 72 hours (pro-rata for part-time SNAs) to provide greater flexibility to schools to plan for the utilisation of the hours available.
Q2. How are the Croke Park hours to be used?
The implementation of the hours is at the discretion of the BoM to meet the needs of the school. The following is a list of strategies that schools have adopted to productively engage SNAs for 72 hours.
• Attend part of the mainstream staff meetings when areas relevant to their role are being discussed. For example: Child Protection, Health and Safety, Fire Drill Policy, Accident Policy, Critical Incidents, Anti-Bullying, Code of Behaviour, Yard Supervision etc
• Attend CPD courses outside of school hours
• Assist in homework clubs where special needs pupils are present. These include EAL pupils, and other pupils qualifying under GAM.
Q3: When should Croke Park Hours be completed?
A central requirement of the re-configuration of the usage of the 12 days, is that the time be utilised and delivered outside of normal school opening hours and/or the normal school year. No existing agreements or arrangements can be incorporated into the utilisation of this time requirement. For example, the re-configured time cannot
be used for duties which SNAs must already perform before and after school i.e. the preparation and tidying up of classrooms, reception and dispersal of children etc.
Q4: How are the number of hours for full-time, part-time SNAs calculated?
The Croke Park hours requirement for a full-time SNA are 72 hours. Hours for part-time SNAs are calculated on a pro rata basis, using the number of hours they work as a fraction of 32 hours. Example: If an SNA works 16 hours a week: 16/32 x 72 = 36 hours
Q5: How do you calculate the number of hours that an SNA is to complete when returning from maternity leave/or going on maternity leave?
In the same way as the hours for part-time SNAs are calculated on a pro-rata basis, the Croke Park hours for an SNA who is on maternity leave is calculated based on the number of weeks she has been at work.
Example: School year: 36 weeks
Maternity Leave: 26 weeks
Time at work: 10 weeks
Croke Park Hours: 10/36 x 72 = 20 hours
Click here to download DES Circular 71/2011
Is sinne le meas
Seán Cottrell & Gerry Murphy
