CLASSROOM ASSISTANTS' CONFERENCE SETS OUT CAMPAIGN PLANS

Undervalued, underpaid but now they're organising!

by Jennifer McCarey

Classroom Assistants are undervalued, underpaid and at times undermined, chair Jackie Gilchrist told a special UNISON Scotland Conference last month.

The first conference of classroom assistants in Glasgow attracted 44 delegates from as far apart as Stornoway and Dumfries and Galloway to map out plans for career development and organising and campaigning.

This was the first event organised by the new Education Issues Group and it discussed the implications of the Equal Opportunities Commission's (EOC) Valuable Assets report on the role and status of classroom assistants in Scotland.

Midlothian Branch's Jackie Gilchrist, herself a classroom assistant from St Andrew's Primary, told the conference, "I work in a unit attached to a mainstream provision supporting children with autism.

"My job is not typical but this applies to all classroom assistants as every head teacher in Scotland uses staff differently, resulting in a complex and varied role." Jackie pointed out that the issues of classroom assistants are similar to all our members in schools.

"We must address the issue of low paid women in soft skill jobs," she said.

"If we do not, our children will deem our valuable input as worthless, cheap and demeaning, especially when some of them can earn more or the same as we do."

The main speaker was Laura Hutchison who produced the EOC's recent research on the undervaluing of classroom assistants. She reassured UNISON members that the report recommendations are not the end, and that further action is being targeted at local authorities who continue to undervalue the job.

Christina McAnea UNISON Head of Education brought support from UK level and outlined the UK strategy to highlight UNISON as the education union.

Workshops were held on: job roles, qualification and career development; job evaluation results, and organising and campaigning.

The recommendations of the conference will be circulated to participants and form the basis for UNISON's campaign against the low pay and lack of status that classroom assistants and many other education members' experience.

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