School support staff have described how they teach themselves GCSE subjects on YouTube before taking classes for qualified teachers while they also work beyond their hours and aren’t paid for meal breaks. The teaching assistants, who work in schools around Wales, say their workloads have increased as hard pressed schools struggle to find, keep, and pay for adequate staffing levels.
One higher level teaching assistant (HLTA), who works in Wales’ largest local education authority of Cardiff, said :“I have taught multiple subjects at GCSE level with little to no support from mainstream teachers. I have used BBC Bitesize, YouTube, and Twinkl to teach myself before teaching pupils.”
Another HLTA working in Conwy said: “I regularly cover planning, preparation, and assessment sessions for teachers. I am usually expected to plan and prepare for these lessons myself.” Others described teaching all week rather than supporting teachers.
A teaching assistant from Rhondda Cynon Taf said they were skipping breaks because of increased workloads, which was a matter raised in the teachers’ strike last term. They said: “I begin before contracted hours and leave work after contracted hours plus work 15 minutes into my unpaid dinner break and we no longer take our unpaid 15 minutes afternoon break due to my workloads in class.”
The comments come in a survey released by the National Education Union, whose members in Wales walked out last term in a row over pay and what they said was a crisis in recruitment and retainment caused by underfunding and increased workloads. The NEU survey of almost 7,500 support staff members in Wales and England shows that:
- 75% are routinely working outside of contract hours;
- more than half (51%) say their workplace has seen a reduction in the numbers of support staff in the past year, and;
- two-fifths (41%) undertake cover supervision, the majority of whom (75%) describe that work as teaching and therefore beyond the bounds of their contract.
Schools have warned that redundancies will follow as a result of below inflation budget packages. Some have already begun to cut staff and earlier this week one local education authority warned its schools don't have enough funding to keep children safe or provide statutory levels of education.
“Support staff are most vulnerable to staffing cuts at a school and they have also experienced significant real-terms pay cuts in recent years. The findings of this survey show that they continue to bear the brunt of budget strains in schools, often working unpaid hours and taking the role of a supply teacher for a fraction of the cost,” the NEU said.
More than two-thirds said they had to work extra hours, mostly unpaid, because “workload demands it” and 30% confirmed it was because there has been a reduction in support staff numbers at their workplace. “There’s not enough members of staff. Lack of experienced staff. Lots of apathy – you can earn more in a supermarket,” one teaching assistant told the survey.
Two-fifths (41%) of respondents said they do “cover supervision”, which entails providing an adult presence in the classroom in the absence of the teacher but should not mean the delivery of lessons. But the NEU said for a significant majority (73%) this distinction does not apply and they report that they end up delivering the lesson.
“For 75% of respondents to our support staff survey there was no difference between their cover supervisor work and that of a supply teacher,” said the NEU.
More than half of support staff also reported starting work before their contracted start time (58%) and leave work after the contracted end time (42%). A further 38% said their workload has increased in the last 12 months and some reported less support staff but more special needs children joining their school.
A majority of respondents (51%) confirmed that the number of support roles at their school has reduced since last year. However for around a third (36%) there has been some stability – either an increase in support staff or the same number being maintained.
“TAs who leave haven’t been replaced or take a long time to recruit. Often experienced staff are being replaced with apprentices,” one respondent told the union.
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Support staff are important but put-upon members of the school community. Too many are being driven beyond the point of contractual agreement to deliver work which is either unpaid, unsuited, or both.
“As successive annual surveys have shown unpaid hours are a fact of life. It cannot be right that a majority of support staff now do the work of teachers as a matter of routine. This is a consequence of workload and staffing cuts brought about by persistent underfunding of schools.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "Guidance on appropriate deployment of teaching assistants has been provided to school leaders. The Teaching Assistant Professional Learning Steering Group is also developing future resources for leaders and governors on the deployment of teaching assistants."
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