Almost six in 10 special needs assistants (SNAs) in Irish schools have been assaulted by the children they work with, a new survey indicates.

SNAs provide classroom support to children with a wide range of learning, physical or behavioural problems. They work under the supervision of the class teacher. There are currently around 6,000 full and part-time SNAs in Ireland.

According to the survey, which was conducted by the trade union, IMPACT, almost 60% of SNAs said they had been assaulted and among these, nine in 10 claimed to have been assaulted more than once, while almost one in five said they were assaulted on a daily basis.

The types of assault described included attempted strangulation, hitting, biting, pushing and being hit with various objects.

While half of these assaults were considered ‘mild', 12% were considered ‘serious' - they required some medical attention. A further 2% were considered ‘very serious' - these required hospital treatment.

However despite the high number of assaults, the attitude of school management was described as ‘dismissive' in almost half of all cases.

Commenting on this, IMPACT assistant general secretary, Dessie Robinson, said that the attitude of most principals and management boards was ‘totally inadequate'.

"Some school principals take assaults seriously. But the overwhelming experience of SNAs is that managers and management boards are dismissive of the issue and see assaults as part of the job. They just shrug their shoulders and expect staff to carry on as if nothing had happened," he claimed.

While acknowledging that dealing with challenging behaviour and anger management is part of the role of SNAs, he insisted that schools still have a ‘legal and moral responsibility to put in place proper risk assessment, safety procedures, training and supports for those who experience assault'.

Over 1,900 SNAs took part in the survey in February and March of this year. The results were released at IMPACT's Education Division conference in Kilkenny this week.