A few weeks ago I posted about the new SNA circular.

What struck me about the reaction wasn’t that people disagreed with my interpretation. It was that almost everything came back to one thing:

The 72 hours.

The new circular makes some fairly significant changes to the SNA role. It formally recognises things SNAs have been doing for years: supporting regulation, reinforcing learning, helping with transitions, contributing to Student Support Plans and undertaking professional development.

Yet, for many SNAs who responded, none of that seemed to matter.

The 72 hours remained.

One comment summed it up:

“They literally just renamed it.”

Others were worried that principals would misuse the hours, based on their experience of what has happened in the past.

So I’m curious.

Did the 72 hours kill any chance this reform had of being welcomed by SNAs?

And if those hours had been removed completely, would you have viewed the rest of the changes differently?

I’d particularly like to hear from SNAs on this one.