By Gavin Mackintosh And Sheila Mckenzie-
British schools are axing more support staff under budget squeezes, according to new government research .
Research based on the view of school leaders, and researchers reveal a slash in the number of teaching assistants in the face of falling retention of main teaching staff in many of Uk mainstream primary and secondary schools. Researchers admitted that more research is needed to capture the views of teachers and teaching assistants for a wider range of date on the issue. Almost two-thirds of primary schools had cut teaching assistants to save money, according to a survey by The Sutton Trust.
Over 50 % of the 60 schools that participated in a study commissioned by the Department Of Education reported having slashed the number of teaching assistant’s they employed over the past three years, or expressed plans to do so. The finding adds to existing concerns that thousands of school pupils are facing a compromised standard of education in a period of history where the standard of exams are at its highest for many years. The higher expectations of academic progress puts more pressure on responsible parents and interested students to perform well .
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Teaching assistants are employed to help main teaching staff help students achieve the highest possible academic experience possible, by attending to the individual needs of various students. The rising number of students in state school classrooms, highlights the demand for teaching assistants in schools.Schools responsible for the cuts have defended their positions by claiming to have done this to ensure they were being used “efficiently and effectively”.
CHANGES
The report added: “However, a majority of schools reported that they need to make further changes to their teaching assistants as a result of funding constraints, and expressed concerns about the impact of this.” Many teaching assistants were brought into schools to fill in a teacher shortage, a lot of which was caused by extreme stress of teachers who were over burdened and subjected to nuisance pupils who are either very verbally abusive, violent, or both.
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A recent rise in teacher’s wages this year, was believed to have led to a rise in teacher recruitment which many schools said require a cut to teaching assistants. However, researchers suggest that the numbers of main teaching staff has also fallen, leading to growing concerns for the future of pupils education. Expressing concern about the statistics from the Department for Education, Russell Hobby, Chief Executive of Teach First said:
“It’s hugely concerning to see a fall in the number of secondary school teachers, despite pupil numbers set to rapidly rise. If we don’t address this head on more children will simply not get the fair education they deserve – and it will be pupils in the poorest communities who will suffer the most.
“If the next Prime Minister wants the country to thrive, they must urgently address this by increasing teacher starting salaries to make the profession competitive with others. Great teachers are crucial to the future of our country and if we want to see more join, they must be fairly rewarded for the incredible difference they make each and every day.”
COMPLEX
The study also found that teacher assistants were being deployed for a “wide range of complex and interconnected functions” to support teaching and learning in mainstream schools. Respondents were also “aware and concerned” that the responsibility for supporting their most vulnerable learners was often given to the “least educationally skilled and lowest paid members of staff”.
”Teaching staff are instrumental in aiding pupils beyond the help teaching staff can provide. When students ask questions, the teacher who teaches in front of the class cannot on their own effectively satisfy the needs of every pupil. The teaching staff can delegate duties to a teaching assistant to assist with those questions, using their general understanding to attend to the details of student’s questions.
Teaching assistants also help collect test papers from pupils, execute discipline in class, and help in several other ways. Some teaching assistants cover subjects outside their areas of expertise , and may not even even have a degree in that subject, but their overall resume would have been considered by the school in determining their suitability to be useful as a teaching assistant. Cutting the number of teaching assistants will be detrimental to the interest of students”.
Ongoing research by The Eye Of Media.Com shows that even before the cut in teaching assistants, an increasing number of primary and secondary school students have taken private tuition in the last two years than they need in the decade previous to that, in order to meet the higher level of academic requirement reflected in primary school Sats exam papers, and secondary school G.C.S.E and A level exams. Those who take private tuition are still altogether in the minority, leaving the majority of students without any tuition to struggle on their own.
Reducing the number of teaching assistants will only worsen the learning outcomes for a lot of students in mainstream schools.
This contents of this article was contributed to by the two named authors.
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