Teaching assistants in Wales have welcomed moves to improve their employment conditions and pay.
There are more than 38,000 teaching assistants working in schools in Wales. Typically they are mainly female, “very poorly paid and lack any career development and training”, said Unison, the largest union representing them.
A group, which includes head teachers and teaching assistants, has now been set up by the Welsh Government to look at their working conditions. Pay is decided by local councils, not the Welsh Government, but the group’s work will feed into that.
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The group is looking at:
- How teaching assistants are deployed;
- Access to training and professional development;
- Standardisation of roles, and;
- Pay, as a longer-term consideration for local authorities based on outcomes achieved above.
Education minister Jeremy Miles said officials will work in the coming months to identify how improvements can be best made in all four areas.
Unison, which has been working with the Welsh Government to secure improvements, said many teaching assistants go “above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis and are often not given the credit for the key work they do”.
Jo Jones, who works as a teaching assistant in Carmarthenshire, said: “We are often the first face children see when they arrive at school and the last before they finish their day.
“It is excellent news that gaps in the provision of professional development and training for teaching assistants have been recognised and that the aim is now of ensuring equality of access to targeted, high-quality, and consistent training for teaching assistants.
“It is also reassuring that other areas such as deployment, standardisation of roles, pay, wellbeing, and governing body representation are also being addressed.”
Announcing the commitment in a written statement Mr Miles said: “Teaching assistants are an integral part of our education workforce, providing vital support to our children and young people day in, day out.
“Teaching assistants have long highlighted concerns in relation to their roles in schools ranging from access to training, deployment, and terms and conditions.
“As part of my commitment to support the vital work of our teaching assistants work is progressing to respond to these concerns with our social partners including the education trade unions, Welsh Local Government Association, and local authorities.”
A new "Teaching Assistant Professional Learning Steering Group" is developing resources for school leaders and governors on the deployment of teaching assistants.
Other work includes looking at setting minimum qualification requirements for teaching assistants and developing a career pathway. More information on that will be given before the end of the academic year, said Mr Miles. And he said teaching assistants’ pay “requires attention”.
“The matter of pay has also been raised by teaching assistants as an area requiring attention including consistency within and across local authorities.
“I am mindful that there are different pay structures in place across Wales and the Welsh Government does not have the ability to set pay and conditions for teaching assistants.
“This remains the responsibility of local authorities and/or schools with individual authorities having different approaches within their local pay frameworks to reflect local considerations.
“However the work on deployment and standardisation of roles referred to above can bring greater coherence to support pay discussions, to work towards greater consistency between local authority areas and to support local authorities to reflect the important role that teaching assistants play, in their terms and conditions.”
Helen Huelin, Unison Cymru/Wales organiser, welcomed the statement. She said: “Teaching assistants are an integral part of the school workforce and work incredibly hard to support children and young people across Wales to achieve their educational aspirations.
“We are pleased that the Welsh Government is providing funding for improved access to good-quality professional development and training opportunities for teaching assistants through the new National Professional Learning Entitlement which will support them to continue to provide the highest quality learning experience in our schools.
“This is a long-overdue piece of work that will raise the profile of teaching assistants and recognise the value and contribution they make in schools across Wales.”
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