Previous research has shown the key role played by teaching assistants during the pandemic in directly supporting vulnerable and key worker children during lockdowns, often managing bubbles while teachers delivered remote learning (Moss et al, 2021).
We were keen to find out about the experiences of teaching assistants during what has been labelled the “recovery year” of 2021/22, and as such UNISON commissioned the Education Research, Innovation and Consultancy Unit based at the University of Portsmouth to document their role (Hall & Webster, 2022).
Unfortunately the “recovery year” was itself blighted by further waves of Covid, exacerbated by the lack of government action on mitigations in schools. This led to high rates of staff and pupil absence, particularly in January, March and July.
Covid recovery funding to help children catch-up on lost learning never came close to the levels proposed by the recovery tsar Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned over this very issue. Further, the country became more and more engulfed in the cost of living crisis, with spiralling energy costs putting enormous pressures on school budgets too. This has resulted in an increasingly bleak backdrop for “recovery” to happen.
What then of the teaching assistants who were well placed to play a vital role in pupil catch-up? While the latest study was small and limited to primary settings, the findings will resonate with all schools. Interviews were carried out with heads, teachers and teaching assistants across five schools in England.
A key finding was that the pandemic has remade the role of the teaching assistant – potentially forever.
Responsibilities and workloads have soared as schools have been under pressure to help pupils catch-up in the wake of the pandemic. Additional duties taken on during lockdown phases, such as increased support for parents and carers and filling in for specialist roles, persisted into the 2021/22 academic year since demand for specialist staff outstripped supply when schools fully re-opened.
This has resulted in even more varied and intense workloads that have become normalised. The report describes, for example, how teaching assistants have been covering roles previously undertaken by speech and language therapists and have been setting up food and clothing banks for families in financial difficulty.
As well as workload, the emotional toll has increased for teaching assistants given the experience of the previous year with little opportunity to decompress. One told researchers: "You have been so strong for everybody else. The children, your family, your parents, your siblings. Who's there for you? If only somebody ever said, ‘Come to us and speak to us for 10 minutes, just the way you speak to those parents’.”
The report also captures headteachers’ concerns that chronic low pay is driving more teaching assistants out of classrooms to better paid, less stressful jobs. Further, heads were unable to recruit to vacancies. One explained: “We've had a rolling advert for teaching assistants now since January, and we found one person. We need eight."
Teaching assistants themselves spoke of the high cost of fuel as a particular strain on their finances, to such an extent that some said they could no longer afford to drive to work.
Teaching assistants reported that the most effective actions schools could take to incentivise them to stay in post (aside from pay) were including them in the school community and processes, such as lesson planning, and investing in and supporting their development as classroom professionals.
The report ends with recommendations, several of which are aimed at the government:
- The government should commission a large-scale survey of schools to fully investigate the extent of the changes to the teaching assistant role and to learn lessons about what is now needed for teaching assistants to thrive in their role.
- The government must provide sufficient financial support so that teaching assistants can meet rising costs exacerbated by the cost of living crisis and schools can retain their teaching assistants. Failure to do so is likely to have serious implications for SEND provision and teacher workload.
- A national strategy for teaching assistants should be developed including funding for pathways to upskill teaching assistants, and more resourcing to support the wellbeing of all school staff.
- Treating teaching assistants as part of a community of professionals may be an effective way of encouraging them to stay in post as the cost of living crisis continues.
So while there are things schools can do to boost morale, action is needed from the government to support and retain teaching assistants. Unbelievably, the “recovery year” of 2021/22 saw four different education secretaries. This lack of continuity, at a time where stakes have never been higher, has been extremely unhelpful.
We begin the new school year with a new prime minister and education secretary, to whom UNISON has written requesting a meeting to take these issues forward.
In Wales, UNISON has been working in social partnership with the Welsh government to improve the role of teaching assistants, looking at pay, deployment, professional development and the standardisation of roles. Progress against these areas is moving swiftly and we would welcome the chance to engage in a similar programme of work with the Department for Education.
- Mike Short is head of education at UNISON. UNISON offers support for its members facing difficulties with the rising cost of living via its welfare charity, There for You. Visit www.unison.org.uk/get-help/services-support/there-for-you/
Further information & resources
- Hall & Webster: From Covid to the cost of living: The crises remaking the role of teaching assistants, Education Research, Innovation and Consultancy Unit, University of Portsmouth, September 2022: https://bit.ly/3BL2eMJ
- Moss et al: Unsung heroes: The role of teaching assistants and classroom assistants in keeping schools functioning during lockdown, UCL Institute of Education, March 2021: https://maximisingtas.co.uk/assets/unsung-heroesfinal.pdf