Classroom Assistants and Their Role

Author : Mary Anne Winslow
Each year the number of students in schools increases which rises workload of teachers accordingly. A major cause of concern is also the deficit in the number of qualified teachers, which has been estimated as high as 40,000 teachers by the year 2006. On average a
teacher during term time spends 52 hours working, including 20% or
roughly ten hours a week on tasks not directly involved with their
teaching role, such as photocopying and preparing worksheets for
classes. It is widely accepted that if there are going to be
improvements within the education system, this problem needs to be
addressed, reducing the amount of non-teaching work for teachers and
encouraging more people into the teaching career. A recently proposed
method of modifying the education system in order to help achieve
this is to increase the responsibilities and levels of work carried
out by classroom assistants.Classroom assistants are members of the school staff who support fully
-qualified teachers, doing non-teaching tasks within the classroom
such as preparing materials, photocopying or listening to children
read. They undergo the same vetting procedures as all staff working
with children, and generally earn between 9,531 and 12,444 a year
based on a working week of 32.5 hours, however they generally do not
get paid for the school holidays so wages average at only 8000 a year
once this is taken into account. The existence of classroom
assistants is not a new idea; they have been involved in classrooms
for many years, especially when considering the role played by
volunteer parents.A traditional role of the classroom support assistants is also to work
closely with children in mainstream schools who have special
educational needs (SEN). This is often done on a one to one basis
within the class. This provides SEN children the additional individual
support that they need, whilst not affecting the education of non-SEN
children within the class as far as is possible.The proposal made by the Government concerning classroom assistants,
was that their role should be expanded. That not only would they do
basic administration such as photocopying and work with individual
pupils (e.g. reading), but that they would take on many of the
non-teaching roles of the qualified teaching staff, such as
registration. They are to be used more in the assessment of pupil's
literacy and numeracy skills, working with individual pupils that may
be struggling. It has also been perceived that classroom assistants
will be available to assist qualified teachers in lessons such as
physical education and ICT. Although these proposals have been largely
met with approval, there is another side to the proposal that has not
been so widely accepted as a possibility. This is that classroom
assistants would be used to supervise classes involved in project work
set by a teacher, and also to teach lessons according to teacher's
lesson plans. This is largely seen as undermining the role of the
professionally qualified teachers.There are obviously advantages of having a more effective level of
support in the classroom, though the use of assistants. New proposals
could enable new qualified teaching contracts to be drawn up
eliminating 25 administrative tasks such as photocopying and the
collection of dinner monies. This would enable a guaranteed time of
10% of the school day, for qualified teachers to be involved in the
preparation and marking of work. It will also involve the introduction
of a level of training steps for classroom assistants depending upon
the tasks that they will be undertaking, and possibly lead up to the
classroom assistants reaching qualified teaching status (QTS) and
becoming teachers themselves.The Government foresees the need for 50,000 additional classroom
support staff in order for the new proposals to be implemented.
Considering that the anticipated shortfall of teachers is expected to
be 40,000 over the next 4 years, and to gain QTS, it is necessary to
be a graduate of University. The idea of introducing classroom support
on a larger scale seems to be a more economically viable proposal,
freeing more money for the schools themselves. This however has also
been viewed, (and such accusations have been made by several teachers
unions), as the Government trying to solve the problem "on the cheap".Using classroom support staff as cover for absent, sick or holidaying
teachers would seem to be an economically viable step. In many cases
it would solve the problem of having to use expensive supply teachers
when qualified teachers are absent from schools. However, if a
classroom support assistant familiar with the school, was able to
teach a class based on the notes of the regular qualified teacher,
then this too would be a method of saving money from a school's
budget.There are also considered to be distinct disadvantages of having
assistants working with such a high level of involvement in schools.
They are not qualified teachers, and regardless of the amount of
in-house training they may receive, it is argued that it will not
compensate upon the level of training that a teacher has gained
through University. They would not have the same amount of knowledge
with regards to subject matter as teachers who have studied to degree
level have. To gain QTS, a student teacher undergoes all manner of
different units of study, including psychology and understanding
children's personalities, as well as the obvious teaching skills.
Consider the idea that a classroom assistant be able to teach a class,
based upon a teacher's notes. It is very rare that a teacher can
complete a lesson, where there are not several questions from their
pupils about the subject matter. A teacher has the relevant
information to be able to answer those questions due to their studies.
A classroom assistant may not be able to answer such questions and it
may lead to pupils being confused and demotivated, they may be put off
the subject and not learn anything. The idea of classroom assistants
teaching has also been seen as undermining the role of the qualified
teacher and their level of responsibility within the school.Another problem that may be encountered, should classroom assistants
be supervising a class whilst a teacher is absent is the level of
respect, especially with the older children. The difference in
authority of a teacher, and that of a classroom support assistant,
although it should not be an issue, will pose problems on the ground of
discipline where there are unruly children in a class who acknowledge
that the person teaching them is not directly qualified to do so.The problems of the lack of teachers in the education system and the
workload they have, does have to be addressed. Teachers in the current
system are regularly stretched beyond their professional capabilities
and many are reluctantly leaving. A recent study showed that of all
the occupations, teachers had the third highest incidence of stress
related sick leave. Utilizing classroom assistants to alleviate some
of the problems would be a positive step through the profession.
However, when it comes to teaching the students, whether through
teaching plans or not, it could be argued that this should be left to
the qualified teachers. Absorbing the administration and leaving the
teaching to the teachers, is likely to be the best way forward for the
teaching profession at the moment, without further damaging the
standard of education. Allowing classroom assistants to have a role
within the school which involves more than providing support and
assistance to the qualified teachers and moving towards teaching, may
in the short term provide a certain amount of relief, but it seems to
be a short term measure based more on saving money than addressing the
real problem.In conclusion, many people within Education argue that one way to
address the problems permanently is to encourage more people to study
and train to become qualified teachers. Using classroom assistants to
reduce the problem with the lack of qualified teachers in the teaching
profession, and the problems of pressure associated with this, is
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Keyword : education, classroom, assistant, importance