Classroom Assistants: Special Educational Needs

(asked on 21st March 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that teaching assistants working with children with SEND are rewarded for studying for qualifications specifically to support children with SEND.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 29th March 2023

The Government values and appreciates the dedication, professionalism and hard work of teaching assistants. The Department knows the valuable contribution they make to pupils’ education alongside excellent teachers and particularly the role they play in supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

The Government’s education reforms gave schools the freedom to make their own decisions regarding recruitment, pay, conditions, and use of teaching assistants. Schools should have the freedom to make these decisions, as they are best placed to understand their pupils’ needs.

Many schools pay teaching assistants according to Local Government pay scales. These are set through negotiations between the Local Government Association, which represents the employer, and Local Government trade unions (UNISON, Unite, and the GMB), which represent the employee. The Government does not have any formal role in these matters.

The Government believes that headteachers are also best placed to identify and fund training for individual staff that is relevant and of maximum benefit to them, the school and its pupils.

Teaching assistants that have a degree can already choose from various routes to become a teacher, including School Direct (tuition fee) and School Direct (salaried). Both routes carry the award of qualified teacher status and some may lead to the award of a postgraduate certificate in education. An alternative route into teaching is through an apprenticeship. Currently there is one live apprenticeship at Level 6: the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship, which would enable anyone with a degree, including teaching assistants, to receive a salary while they train to become a teacher.

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