Why 1 in 5 teaching assistant roles are unfilled

It’s time to address the elephant in the room of teaching assistant vacancies with Hannah Harris.

Around 82,900 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching assistants work in English schools.

Making up around a third of the school workforce, teaching assistants make education accessible and inclusive for pupils, despite being some of the lowest-paid workers in the country. 1

GMB Union recently revealed that one in five teaching assistant vacancies in local authority-maintained schools are currently unfilled, causing a negative knock-on effect for inclusion. 2

Why are 20% of teaching assistant roles unfilled?

As politicians continue to discuss strategies to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, a similar situation has been brewing quietly for years with teaching assistants.

Unlike teacher vacancies, most local authorities don’t monitor teaching assistant (TA) vacancy rates as they are not required to by the DfE. Yet, passionate, experienced and highly skilled TAs are forced to leave the profession they love because they can no longer afford to stay.

Many are forced out of the role because of the low pay and into jobs in sectors such as retail and hospitality that can offer more flexible hours, higher pay and less responsibility, scrutiny and stress.

Another concerning and rarely discussed factor is the lack of younger workers joining the workforce. Nearly 4 in 10 TAs are over the age of 50 and only 6.9% are aged under 25. 1

Let’s talk about pay

One in seven TAs rely on food banks. 3

Teaching assistant pay needs addressing to solve the recruitment and retention crisis.

Facts about teaching assistant pay

• Their pay differs from that of teachers because TAs are paid pro-rata and it is negotiated differently.
• TA pay is set by the local government and can only be negotiated by the three National Joint Council (NJC) unions – UNISON, GMB and Unite.
• The 2024 TA pay claim of £3000 or 10% was rejected and local government workers, including teaching assistants, were offered a ‘full and final pay offer’ of £1290 – just a 5.7% rise for the lowest paid.
• However, unlike many other local government workers, TAs will not receive the full £1290 as their one-off pay offer will be pro-rated.
• Typically, roles are advertised with annual pay of up to £25,000. However, due to pro-rata pay and term time-only contracts, their average earnings are actually around £12,600 a year, with some teaching assistants bringing home less than £1000 a month. 4

Despite their specialist skill set and wealth of experience, the Low Pay Commission classified teaching assistants as a low-paying occupation for the first time last year. While addressing pay would be a significant step in combatting the recruitment and retention crisis, workload also needs to be addressed.

Blurring the line between teacher and TA

The role significantly changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools ‘closed’ for many pupils, they remained open to the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils, often being taught in school exclusively by teaching assistants who spent the pandemic going above and beyond their job roles.

As a later report would go on to say, TAs were ‘pivotal’ in keeping schools open and keeping children learning during all three national lockdowns. TAs were labelled the ‘unsung heroes’ of the pandemic.

In a post-pandemic world, the lines between teacher and teaching assistant are more blurred than ever, yet their pay couldn’t be more different.

Currently, a newly qualified teacher will earn £30,000 a year – around £17,500 or 58% more than the average teaching assistant. However, a 2024 UNISON study found that 51% of secondary TAs and 25% of primary TAs now cover classes regularly – some without lesson plans and some teaching GCSE classes – because schools cannot recruit teachers or they have no access to supply teachers due to funding or lack of availability. 5

Time for change

The TA role will likely continue to evolve and change, as it has from its humble beginnings as a classroom ‘helper’ to the ‘assistant teacher’ role it is now. It’s time the role is seen as a profession in its own right, with pay that reflects the skills, expertise and specialisms each TA brings to their setting.

Schools need to be able to retain experienced staff members and continue to recruit talented new TAs into their teaching teams. Teaching assistants make a significant difference and the education community needs to ensure the system can support them, so they can continue to do the best for every child.

References

1. GOV UK (2024) ‘School workforce in England’. Available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england (Accessed: 23rd July 2024)
2. Twinkl Teaching Assistants’ Digest (2024) ‘Teaching assistant recruitment and retention: One in five roles unfilled’. Available at: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/news/teaching-assistant-recruitment-and-retention-one-in-five-roles-unfilled (Accessed: 23rd July 2024)
3. Unison (2023) ‘Stars in our schools’. Available at: https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2023/11/Stars-in-our-schools-2023.pdf (Accessed: 23rd July 2024)
4. Twinkl Teaching Assistants’ Digest (2024) ‘2024 teaching assistant pay claim rejected by local government’ Available at: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/news/2024-teaching-assistant-pay-claim-rejected-by-local-government (Accessed: 23rd July 2024)
5. Webster, R. (2024) ‘Teaching on the cheap?’ Available at: https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2024/04/Teaching-on-the-cheap.pdf (Accessed: 23rd July 2024)