To ask the Minister of Education what actions her Department has taken to address the shortage of classroom assistants.

The majority of Classroom Assistants working in schools in Northern Ireland are employed by the Education Authority (EA). The EA has advised that it has taken a number of actions at an operational level to support schools in addressing short-term and emergency gaps in Classroom Assistant cover, including the establishment of a relief register for all grades of Classroom Assistant. When a school has a need for emergency cover for a Classroom Assistant post, the EA's Emergency Resourcing team works with the school to help them secure emergency cover.

At a strategic level, the EA is in the process of establishing a project to review the current employment model for Classroom Assistants working with pupils with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and provide recommendations for strategic change. The primary focus of the review will be on how to optimise the capacity and development of the Classroom Assistant workforce to support pupils with SEND, but the resulting employment model will extend to cover other general assistant roles.