When Nottinghamshire became the first county to agree a salary and careers structure for teaching assistants (TAs) two years ago, school support staff from neighbouring Derbyshire crossed the border in search of better paid and more valued jobs.
The introduction of three grades in Nottinghamshire, with their own job descriptions, meant staff could earn between 10,500 at the unqualified grade one to 18,500 for the most qualified and experienced on grade three. Until then nursery nurses, now absorbed under the general title of TAs, had reached a dead-end in career development, unable to progress beyond a salary of around 13,000.
Now, with the Government pledged to increase the number of TAs by 50,000, to give them greater responsibilities through the teachers' workload reduction agreement, and other local authorities in negotiations on deals modelled on Nottinghamshire, the issue of their status and pay is highlighted again.
But, ironically, while the career prospects for TAs appear brighter than ever, a funding crisis - with the DfES and local authorities accusing each other of withholding cash from schools - is threatening many of them with cuts in hours or redundancy.
As Mandy Steel, Nottinghamshire County Council education officer and architect of the deal, concedes, 'There is a massive funding issue in schools at the moment partly as a result of National Insurance increases and extra payments into pension funds. A number of schools in this authority have had to make reductions in the hours of teachers and TAs.'
Morale boosted
The landmark Nottinghamshire deal had an immediate impact when it was finalised in 2001, with Nottingham City Council forced to make a similar agreement with the TAs' union, Unison, or risk an exodus of staff to county council schools.
Mike Scott, branch organiser of Unison's Nottinghamshire branch, says the new deal raised morale among TAs. 'It was not just about money - although it did mean some TAs at the top end of the scales earning more than some teachers - it was also about status. There is a tendency to see schools just as teachers with everybody else tacked on at the end. Now our members feel intrinsic to the way schools operate.'
John Peck, head of Peafield Lane Primary in Mansfield, confirms that morale among Nottinghamshire TAs soared as some received pay rises of up to 30 per cent. 'There is widespread approval that the value of TAs is recognised and for them to be placed on appropriate grades and given appropriate training,' he says.
It's a view shared by Sally Bates, Albany Infant and Nursery School head.
'It was a successful pay deal because it recognised the tremendous effort and commitment that TAs bring to schools,' she says.
A key, and expensive, element in the Nottinghamshire agreement is that it covers 52 weeks, unlike the term-time contracts which councils have tended to enforce elsewhere.
Ms Steel has given seminars to local authorities on the agreement and Unison sent out more than 100 packs to its branches around the country to bolster its drive for fair pay for TAs.
However, the consensus on the importance of the deal is not matched by agreement on the effectiveness of its implementation.
Patchy implementation
Mr Scott says that out of 350 primary and secondary schools in the county only two have refused to implement the agreement and they now face legal action. While there has been 'a protracted battle' with some schools over placing staff on the correct grades, he believes the original guidelines stating that 20 per cent should be on grade one, 70 per cent on grade two and 10 per cent on grade three have been 'broadly met'.
However, John Peck, National Association of Head Teachers local officer, doubts whether school budgets in the county have been able to accommodate moving many TAs on to grade three, especially when newly-qualified teachers can earn less.
Sharon Vaughan, Professional Association of Nursery Nurses professional officer, says in the early stages of implementation, her organisation was inundated with calls from school support staff concerned that their grading did not match their responsibilities. While nursery nurses generally welcomed the agreement, they felt aggrieved that their job title was 'being eroded under the new structures'. She adds, 'Senior nursery nurses, with 12 years' experience, found themselves being put on the same grade two as fairly new staff.'
Ms Bates had one TA on grade three, but when she retired she could not afford to move others on to that grade. With all her TAs now on grade two, she says, 'It's a shame that for financial reasons we are unable to allow more staff to take on aspects of the grade three position.'
At the Jesse Gray Primary School in an affluent area of West Bridgford, head Sarah Law says her desire to move TA staff up the gradings is constrained by 'a poor budget'. She argues the Nottinghamshire structure 'needs continued investment to make it work'.
Few of her pupils qualify for free school meals, the yardstick used for determining 'a heavy percentage of funding'. She explains: 'We haven't got some of the inherent difficulties that come with a high free-school-meal area, but we have up to 20 per cent of the children on the special needs register. We still have a special learning need that requires support staff.'
Threatened reforms
Ms Steel believes the Nottinghamshire agreement provides 'a good framework'
for the Government's planned reforms of the school workforce which involve recruitment of additional teaching assistants. However, she is cautious enough not to predict a smooth passage for the reform programme, 'as it is not a local initiative, but a national one, and we are waiting for it to be drip-fed to us'.
But headteachers Sally Bates and John Peck are adamant that the workload reduction agreement, which will mean TAs taking on extra duties so that teachers can have more non-contact time, will founder unless the Government resolves the funding crisis.
John Peck says he has only managed to stave off redundancies this year by using 57,000 in reserves. 'That money won't be there next year and the most vulnerable people are the TAs, the very people who are supposed to be the bedrock of this workload agreement.'
Mr Peck says that for all its benefits, the Nottinghamshire agreement has proved costly for schools and costs will escalate as TAs move through the pay scales. And with the introduction of a higher level TA under the workload reduction agreement, Unison has said that it will be seeking a new grade four pay scale to match the heavier responsibilities the new post entails.
Unison national officer Bruni de la Motte says that unions who signed up to the teachers' workload reduction agreement are calling on the Government to ensure that sufficient funds are in place to implement it this September.
She says several authorities, including Oxfordshire, Tower Hamlets and Liverpool, have renegotiated pay and careers structures for school support staff. Liverpool Council has pledged to introduce full-year agreements for school support staff by 2005. Unison is organising a lobby of Parliament on 5 June to demand an end to term-time only contracts.
Nervousness among local authorities over the financial implications of these changes has been reflected in neighbouring Lincolnshire which looked set to introduce a new TA pay and careers structure. Unison's education and culture convenor Carol Brown says that negotiations between the county council and the union were reaching a conclusion earlier this month when the authority suddenly declared that money for the term-time only agreement was 'a sticking point'.
This does not augur well for a smooth implementation of the Government's planned reform of the school workforce. While TAs nationally may aspire to Nottinghamshire-style pay scales and a career ladder to climb, the reality is that the budgetary crisis facing schools may leave them languishing on the bottom rung or a victim of cuts.
Further information
* See Special Report, by Mary Evans, Nursery World, 28 June 2001
CASE STUDY: CAREER PROSPECTS
The Nottinghamshire agreement has brought a dramatic change in Karen Kanalas' career prospects. She has more money, more responsibility as a teaching assistant at the Peafield Lane Primary School in Mansfield and is more closely involved with parents.
Karen now takes on additional responsibilities such as helping the school SEN co-ordinator and she says other less experienced teaching assistants feel they can approach her with any problems.
Above all, she insists, 'I feel a valued member of the team. I feel the pay scales that have been introduced give you something to aim at. I started out on grade one, I am now on grade two and I would love to go on to grade three. Unfortunately the financial situation is difficult at the moment and a head teacher can hire a teacher for almost the same salary as a grade three teaching assistant.'
Nottinghamshire pay scales for TAs
Grade SCPs* Pay range
1 unqualified 8-13 10,554 - 12,390
1 qualified 11-17 11,817 - 13,500
2 unqualified 16-19 13,188 - 14,283
2 qualified 18-23 13,764 - 16,203
3 qualified 22-27 15,741 - 18,417
* Spinal column points on pay scales