§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what national standards his Department(a) sets and (b) recognises for the employment of teaching assistants in schools, with particular reference to (i) pay and (ii) training. [137578]
§ Mr. MilibandPay for support staff including teaching assistants is a matter for local determination: the government believes that this is the best way of ensuring a flexible system that can respond to local needs and circumstances. It is also for employers to decide what skills, experience and qualifications are needed for teaching assistant posts and the training of support staff is the responsibility of local authorities and schools.
353WIn October the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services published guidance on the employment and grading of school support staff including examples of job profiles that can be used to support job evaluations and advice on training and development. The development of this guidance has been recognised by all signatories to the National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload as an important step to support the implementation of the agreement.
My Department supported the development of the National Occupational Standards for Teaching Assistants by the Local Government National Training Organisation, published in September 2001, which awarding bodies have used to develop NVQs at levels 2 and 3 available from September 2002.
We have also supported the development of standards for the new higher level teaching assistant (HLTA) role by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA). These were published in September 2003 and link to the standards for qualified teacher status (QTS). We continue to support the TTA as they develop an HLTA assessment and training programme which will be widely available from April 2004.
The Department has in addition, for the first time, introduced regulations which define the conditions under which school support staff can undertake specified work under the direction and supervision of a teacher. The new Education (Specified Work and Registration) (England) Regulations 2003 emphasise the importance of headteachers satisfying themselves that the member of support staff has been adequately trained and refer to the HLTA standards.