School support staff lose out on pay
Cathy Wallace
Monday, December 3, 2007
School support staff are often not paid fully for the job they actually do, a study from trade union UNISON has found.
The survey of more than 1,000 members working in schools found just four in ten support staff were given more pay for taking on extra responsibilities, even though two thirds had reported a change in their job content.
According to the union the problem lies with the interpretation of staff cover for lessons - which can be simply supervising a class during a teacher’s absence, but could also include preparing, teaching and assessing a lesson.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of UNISON, said: “We know support staff take on a far wider range of work and responsibilities.
"Most staff back the changes, but the minus side is that all this extra work and training does not always add up to better pay for support staff.”
