One in Five Class Assistants Asked to Cover for Teachers

By IAN SWANSON Scottish

ONE in five classroom assistants is routinely asked to cover for fully-qualified teachers in Scottish schools, a survey has claimed.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) found 20 per cent of assistants questioned said they were asked to take whole classes in place of absent teachers.

The union said the situation amounted to exploitation of classroom assistants, and demanded education authorities should ensure children are only taught by qualified teachers.

Classroom assistants were introduced in Scottish schools in 1998 to support pupils and teachers. There are about 15,000 across Scotland.

Tasks typically include preparing displays, photocopying materials, playground monitoring, supporting children with educational and practical tasks and encouraging pupils to work together.

But SSTA general secretary David Eaglesham said: “Our members have reported to us with increasing frequency that in a number of schools, classroom assistants are being deployed to cover for absent teachers.

“While it is clear that classroom assistants do an excellent job and are a valuable asset to schools, they are neither trained nor paid to be substitute teachers. Their role is to assist in classrooms, not to be alternate teachers.”

Councillor Isabel Hutton, education spokeswoman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, denied classroom assistants were being exploited.

She said: “We value classroom assistants for the job they are employed to do.

“I agree that they are not teachers. Only teachers can teach and we are very clear on the roles of a teacher and the role of a classroom assistant.

“No-one has the authority to ask classroom assistants to cover for teachers – if there are any abuses we would want to know.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said classroom assistants should not be standing in for teachers.

She said: “We value the important contribution classroom assistants make in schools, but our guidelines are clear – they are not substitute teachers and should only be working under the guidance of a teacher.”

* Another teaching union today claimed school league tables were harming pupils’ education and warned children faced too many exams.

Ronnie Smith, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said both issues were leaving pupils and teachers “demoralised”.

He said: “Many authorities seem unable to cure their addiction to excessive testing in schools and continue to favour the flawed ‘league-table’ approach to measuring school success.

“This is in direct contradiction to current national educational priorities and has a negative impact on learning and teaching in schools.

“This tick-box approach to measuring school success is of little value, and serves only to provide figures for education authority statisticians to crunch while simultaneously demoralising pupils and teachers.”

He said the EIS believed local authorities should end the collation of national assessment data because it did little to support quality teaching and learning.

Originally published by IAN SWANSON Scottish Political Editor.

(c) 2008 Evening News; Edinburgh (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.