Support staff
This area of TeacherNet is for school support staff. Depending on your role, you may also wish to visit TeacherNet's dedicated teaching assistants area, or the bursars' area written for bursars, managers and senior administrators.
There is also information for ICT technical support and ICT technicians and all other support staff, their line managers and trainers.
You may find the list of frequently asked questions about support staff useful.
Cover supervision
The change to the teachers' contract to limit teachers'
hours of cover took effect on 1 September 2004.
Guidance has been developed for schools to consider when deploying
staff to carry out cover supervision.
Guidance on the employment and grading of school support staff
In October 2003 the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local
Government Services issued guidance on the employment and grading of school support
staff, including examples of job profiles that can be used to support job
evaluations and advice on training and development. The pay and
contractual arrangements of school support staff are determined locally by
LEAs/schools.
The National Agreement
On 15 January 2003, Ministers signed a National Agreement with
key partners including the local authority employers and school workforce
unions. Key features of the agreement include contractual changes for
teachers to bring about a progressive reduction in teachers' overall hours,
a concerted attack on unnecessary paperwork and bureaucratic processes,
additional resources and a national 'change management' programme, and
reform of support staff roles.
Latest developments on workforce remodelling and guidance, including full guidance on The Education (Specified Work and Registration) (England) Regulations 2003 which clarify the roles of teachers and support staff, can be found on the National Remodelling Team's website and TeacherNet's cutting burdens area.
A one-page summary of the Regulations is also available.
Guidance on the roles of school support staff beyond the
classroom
Guidance on the roles of school staff beyond
the classroom which reflects both the principles of school workforce
reform and relevant health and safety legislation has been produced by the
Department.
School Support Staff: Training and DevelopmentThe Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and its national partners on the School Workforce Development Board (SWDB) have published a three-year strategy for support staff training and development.
Developing people who support learning: a skills strategy for the wider school workforce 2006-09 sets out the way in which the SWDB partners will work together to:
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Support schools as they develop new ways of training and deploying their support staff
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Create a framework of standards and qualifications to enable schools to develop the potential of all support staff
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Extend training opportunities to meet the development needs of all support staff
The strategy builds on the SWDB's interim one-year plan, Building the school team, published in March 2005.
The three-year strategy is designed to provide strategic direction for all SWDB partner organisations and networks, including local learning and skills councils, and local authorities, who will use the document to set the context for their own planning and delivery.
The electronic version of the strategy on the TDA website contains links that give details about specific programmes, and training and development opportunities mentioned in the document.
Vocational Qualifications
Two new Vocational Qualifications (VQs) for school support staff
— Level 2 Award in Support Work in Schools (Pilot) and Level 2
Certificate in Support Work in Schools (Pilot) — are now available in
England. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has given
pilot accreditation for 2 years. A flexible qualification structure has
been accredited to allow schools and candidates to select units to match
specific job roles. To achieve the Award two mandatory units plus a
minimum of one optional unit must be completed. For the Certificate two
mandatory units plus a minimum of two optional units are required. For
further information visit: www.openquals.org.uk.
Funding and recruitment
In 2004-05, £279 million was included to contribute
to Support Staff salaries and £51 million for their training
and development in a new single grant for schools, the School Development
Grant, worth £647 milliion in total. For 2005-06 the total grant has
been increased by 4 per cent. Schools will be free to spend their School
Development Grant on any purpose to support improvement in teaching and
learning. Details are available on the Standards
Fund website.
Further information
If you have any questions about training, development or
qualifications please contact the TDA at supportstaffenquiry@tda.gov.uk.
