State expenditure on the provision of Learning Support Assistants (LSA) in independent/private schools has soared over the past six years, with €305,656 spent in 2011 rising to €2,711,579 in 2016.
In the first three months of 2017 alone, the government forked out €2,711,579 to pay for LSAs at private schools.
The information was tabled in Parliament by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo in reply to a PQ by PL MP Alex Muscat.
Over the years, the government changed its policy to start paying for the use of LSAs at independent schools, which could explain the jump in expenditure. Prior to this however, a scheme was in place where government would reimburse the parents of children who attend private schools and need to pay for an LSA.
On average, the annual increase in expenditure between 2011 and 2016 stands at €481,115.
According to the 2013 World Report on Disability, Malta has one of the highest proportions of children with disabilities in inclusive education in the European Union. This refers to children with special needs included in the same classrooms as everybody else rather than being sectioned off into a dedicated classroom or school.
This system was launched in 1993, where the support of children with special needs who attend mainstream schools is provided primarily through LSAs. Once the child with disabilities reaches school age, he/she is referred to the Statementing Moderating Panel (SMP) which issues a statement of individual educational needs. The level of support is identified for the child and the necessary steps are taken.
The Malta Independent spoke to several educators from private schools around Malta in order to understand why government expenditure has gone up for the payment of LSAs. All agreed that demand has certainly soared for children in need of special support in the classrooms, however this is not simply due to a case of more children being identified as needing special assistance.
Many agree that awareness has grown compared to the past, and that a child showing signs of difficulty in this day and age is far more likely to be given the attention they need than in the past.
Some spoke of the difficulties of when an LSA calls in sick for work, and how the school does everything in its power to make arrangements so that they do not encourage the child to stay home. An LSA is assigned to an individual child, however when an LSA calls in sick schools ascertain the level of support needed for the child and whether arrangements can be made.
One person said that if the child needs very high levels of assistance, if the LSA does not make it into work, it would be unsafe to try and make other arrangements, mainly for the child in question and for the surrounding students.
Due to a situation where some school were abusing the government’s provision of LSAs, the Statementing board has become stricter in its review of a child, and extra time is taken in order to accurately assess the child’s specific needs.
“Rightly so,” one school worker remarked, “especially considering the shortage of LSAs available”.
One of the biggest struggles most school workers remarked is that there are no replacement LSAs at hand, as this would be a very costly initiative to set up.