School support staff don’t have enough hours
in the day
Scotland’s Carol Ball, Vice Chair of the Local
Government Service Group Executive, called for support
staff in schools to be properly recognised for their
contribution to the wider education team, as delegates
backed a campaign to reduce school support staff workloads
alongside a campaign for increased funding and decent
pay.
Carol said that a UNISON survey has shown that 80%
of school support staff members are worried about workload.
Numbers have reduced leaving more work for those left
behind, compounded by a lack of cover in some authorities
for absence or maternity leave.
“Support staff are being asked to complete tasks
where quite frankly, there are not enough hours in the
day, leading to increased stress levels and demoralisation,”
warned Carol.
“Most of our members choose to work in schools
because they want to support all aspects of children’s
learning, a job they take great pride in, but employers
exploit this fact and are constantly looking for work
to be completed within unacceptable deadlines, knowing
that their dedicated staff will do all that they can
to do this because they care about the children and
young people.”
This results in many doing work at home, and levels
of stress have increased, she added.
“We need to convince our members to stop doing
unpaid overtime as this impacts on both their home and
their work lives. It hides the problem and employers
are happy to get work completed on the cheap.”
Carol welcomed the commitment from the Department of
Education in England to produce a report on support
staff workload. However, “They need to recognise
that education cannot and is not delivered by teachers
alone. It takes the whole team and we need to keep up
the pressure on all UK Governments for our members contribution
to be recognised and properly resourced which means
increasing support staff numbers not reducing them.”
15/6/15
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