Teaching Assistants (Hansard, 3 March 1999)

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, this information is not collected centrally. However, between January 1997 and January 1998 the number of teaching assistants in schools increased by about 6,500. There is no target for the number of teaching assistants appointed. The employment and training of these staff are determined by schools and local education 1658 authorities. However, funding for the recruitment of an additional 20,000 teaching assistants will be provided over the next three years.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that at present, when there is much understandable concern about the shortage of teachers, the importance of teaching assistants tends to be forgotten? I am somewhat disappointed by my noble friend's reply although it is better than responses from the last administration. I welcome what has been achieved. However, since much more needs to be done, have the Government any objective or formula to achieve their aim?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I cannot tell my noble friend that the Government have any formula. But we recognise the importance of teaching assistants, in particular supporting teachers in the teaching function in schools. The value of teaching assistants is their contribution in its own right; they are not substitutes for teachers or a response to problems of teacher recruitment. The Government have measures in place to deal with that issue. I acknowledge the value of teaching assistants and the work they do.

§ Lord Tope
My Lords, is the Minister aware of the extent to which this welcome funding initiative is likely to be undermined by the cost of implementing the single status agreement which harmonises working conditions between manual and non-manual staff, not a penny of which is being funded by central government. For instance, my honourable friend Phil Willis tells me that for his local education authority in North Yorkshire the £2.25 million cost of implementing the single status agreement is being met by a 24 per cent. pay cut for non-teaching staff, a loss of holiday entitlement and loss of other benefits for staff who are already among the lowest paid. Does the department monitor the effects of implementing the single status agreement? If so, can the Minister tell us about that? If it does not, does the noble Lord think that it should?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, the noble Lord asks rather a lot of questions. The context in which this must be taken is both in relation to the extra resources which the Government are putting into education and also, I acknowledge, the single status agreement—the harmonisation of terms and conditions between manual and non-manual workers—which is having an impact on teaching assistants in some parts of the country. The department is aware of that issue and officials will shortly be meeting with the local government management board to discuss it further.

§ Baroness Perry of Southwark
My Lords, will the noble Lord assure the House that in the drive to recruit more teaching assistants, the Government will not replace teachers in schools where there is a shortage of teachers? In particular will he tell the House what the 1659 Government are doing to try to reverse the shortage of teachers and to recruit more bright young people into the teaching profession?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I have referred to that. I am absolutely clear that teaching assistants are not to be seen as substitute teachers. They are there to support teachers in the important function of teaching in the classroom. As regards teacher recruitment, the Government announced a short-term package of measures in October of last year to deal with recruitment difficulties. Our Green Paper on the future of the teaching profession is designed to deal with many of those issues and to attract high-quality people into the profession.

§ Baroness Uddin
My Lords, will my noble friend the Minister tell the House how many teaching assistants recruited in the past year have been bilingual? How many of these assistants are in place in areas like Tower Hamlets, Newham, Manchester. Oldham and so on?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I cannot give my noble friend that information although I shall inquire to see whether the figures are available. I take on board the import of what she puts forward; namely, that particularly in the areas she mentions such people have an important contribution to make.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, will the noble Lord kindly confirm that teaching assistants have no qualifications? If that is right, what sort of assistance do they give besides carrying books, making the tea, or whatever?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I do not believe that the noble Lord is right. Many teaching assistants have qualifications. If one takes nursery nurses as an example, at least 80 per cent. have the relevant qualification. Many other teaching assistants have qualifications. However, a more general issue is that some do not have those qualifications. At present, there is a lack of co-ordination in terms of qualification requirements for teaching assistants. Certainly, the Government believe that we need to develop a national framework to ensure that we have the right training and qualifications for teaching assistants. I should say that notwithstanding some limitations in that area we owe an enormous debt of gratitude for the work that teaching assistants do at present.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, perhaps my noble friend will have a closer look at the need for statistics in this regard. He and other noble Lords today have stressed the importance of assistants. There is no doubt about that. In those circumstances the Government should examine what LEAs are doing in relation to this matter. Some may not be appointing many, or any. If these people are so important, we should know what is happening.

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I agree with my noble friend. It is important that all local education 1660 authorities recognise the value of teaching assistants. I shall see whether there are any statistics which can be made available to noble Lords. We believe there is much to be gained from looking at the experience of both LEAs and individual schools which have developed very effective systems for the training and support of teaching assistants. Over the coming year, we hope to publish good practice guidance designed to encourage all schools and LEAs to take account of the work being done in the best schools.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the Minister said that information is not held centrally but gave a specific figure of 6,500. That seems rather odd. How is it known there are 6,500 if there are no central statistics? Will the noble Lord say also what is the pupil-teacher ratio so we can work out the ratio of assistants to full-time teachers?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I said that I did not have the statistics available to answer my noble friend's question about bilingual teaching assistants. In relation to the collection of statistics there is an annual census; it is from that census that the figure of an increase of 6,500 teaching assistants was made available. It is my understanding that at present there are 103,800 full-time equivalent teaching assistants in schools.