Nursery World - Assistants 'left out' of hours project

The public service union Unison is concerned that headteachers involved in a Department for Education and Skills project to explore ways of reducing teachers' workload may not have fully consulted teaching assistants over the part they are to play. The 4m 'pathfinder' project to try out ways of cutting teachers'

The 4m 'pathfinder' project to try out ways of cutting teachers'

hours involves 32 schools in England, some of which have been awarded as much as 300,000 to take part, and kicks off in September.

Participants will explore options such as having teaching assistants supervise small groups or even whole classrooms. Some schools have expressed an interest in using teaching assistants to provide cover for absent teachers.

Christina McAnea, Unison's national officer for school staff, said, 'We are planning to monitor this very closely. We are going to send out a questionnaire to the branches that cover the pathfinder schools, asking whether the schools are planning to recruit new support staff or change their existing staff's terms and conditions, and whether schools have consulted the support staff and the union.

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