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Stars in our Schools: Recognising the contribution of support staff

Support staff
The work and dedication of our support staff can often go under the radar. Joanna Parry urges schools to recognise the contribution of their support staff during Stars in our Schools on November 24
Image: Adobe Stock

“I provide the ‘safe place' where children can talk about their worries. Sharing their problems with me helps them to be ready to face the school day with greater confidence.”

“I’m really good at getting grants/free stuff for the children such as theatre tickets, so they have really good educational visits. I may work in the office but am part of a team of people who are committed to making a difference in the lives of our children.”

“I provide a healthy nutritious meal, which sadly might be their only meal for the day.”

“I oversee the safety of equipment used and the experiments carried out in science lessons, make science inclusive and fun, and develop scientific skills. I clean equipment, provide resources, and give advice to teachers.”

“I help pupils to understand maths and improve their progress towards obtaining a qualification at GCSE. This in turn improves their chances of being able to follow the study/career path they choose.”

 

The words of a breakfast club leader, an administrator, a school cook, a science technician, and a HLTA, when they were asked about how they contribute to life at their school.

As the largest union for school support staff, UNISON aims to give a voice to the 50% of the school workforce (even more in special schools) whose roles are often not widely recognised or understood.

School leaders and teachers will be well aware of the range of essential roles that support staff play in our education system, from cleaning the school, securing the site, and cooking meals to managing attendance, providing pastoral care, and improving attainment.

Indeed, research looking at the role of teaching assistants during the pandemic found that they were absolutely vital in allowing schools to keep functioning when Covid hit (Moss et al, 2021). Of course, this was true before Covid struck and remains the case today – schools simply couldn’t run without support staff.

Sadly however our regular surveys show that only around 50% of our support staff members feel valued. Comments in our research make clear that such feelings are nuanced, with many respondents distinguishing between feeling valued by some colleagues and not by others. Or by the school but not by the government. Or by parents but not their employers.

What can be done about this?

Most importantly, better pay. School support staff are some of our lowest paid public sector workers with levels of pay exacerbated by term-time only contracts for many.

While doing crucial work supporting the education of young people, our members were hit by pay freezes, which were followed, for many, with below-inflation pay increases – all resulting in a fall in living standards for staff across the education sector.

UNISON continues to lobby the government for a fair pay system, backed by a national framework for setting pay for school support staff. We welcome Labour’s recent commitment to re-establishing the School Support Staff Negotiating Body should they win the election next year.

But it is not just about pay. In research from the University of Portsmouth, teaching assistants reported that the most effective actions schools took to make them feel valued were including them in the school community and school processes, such as lesson planning, and investing in and supporting their development as classroom professionals (Hall & Webster, 2022).

To this end, UNISON has a range of learning opportunities for our support staff members working in schools (see further information).

The same research also found that “feel-good” gestures such as wellbeing days can contribute to boosting morale – and this is where our Stars in our Schools campaign fits.

Stars in our Schools is our annual celebration when we encourage schools to take a moment to acknowledge the huge contribution of support staff in creating a positive learning environment – and to take the time to say thank you.

This year, Stars in our Schools runs on Friday, November 24, although we encourage schools to join in anytime around that date.

Across the UK, schools are planning events to recognise the contribution of school support staff and we would love for you to join in.

A full list of ideas for schools is available on the resources page of the Stars in our Schools website (see further information), where posters and graphics are also available as well as a guide aimed at school leaders.

In previous years schools have held a breakfast for support staff, held celebratory assemblies (there’s a template on the website), or arranged a visit from the local MP to mark the day.

This celebration day is for the whole school community – parents, carers, teachers, headteachers, as well as the support staff themselves of course. We would love your school to get involved in any way that you can.

Let us know your plans by email (see below) or by using the hashtag #StarsInOurSchools on social media.

 

Further information & resources