Birmingham city council's chief education officer, Tim Brighouse, has sent out a letter to heads outlining short-term measures they could take to fill in for teachers who are absent, one of which was to ask learning assistants to cover.
A Birmingham city council spokesperson was unable to confirm whether teaching assistants would be in sole charge of classes and whether they would be in a teaching or a supervisory role, although she said they would be paid at a special rate for the work.
At least five headteachers have reportedly acted on this advice, prompting concern that more may follow, particularly if shortages are exacerbated by industrial action currently being taken by the National Union of Teachers and NASUWT, which involves teachers not providing cover for unfilled vacancies or if colleagues are absent.
As Nursery World went to press, teachers in Birmingham were voting on whether to join the industrial action. The council spokesperson said she could not comment on whether the same advice would apply if Birmingham teachers began to work to rule.
The tactic of using learning assistants to cover for teachers was condemned by unions. Unison national officer Bruni de la Motte said, 'We are appalled by this. It's an obvious attempt to fix the problem in a cheap way. They need additional staff who are qualified and paid at that level. Classroom assistants should not take on responsibilities that are not in their job descriptions and this is clearly beyond their remit.'
David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said, 'This is wholly inappropriate. There are serious questions about the delivery of the curriculum, if you are simply using classroom assistants to supervise children to prevent them being taken home. This is conning parents into believing that their children are being provided with nursery education when they are not.'
He added that if classroom assistants were asked to cover for teachers taking industrial action, it would be even worse than asking other teachers to cover.
