Three in four headteachers are struggling to recruit teaching assistants, with most secondary and special school leaders anticipating needing more to cope with rising SEND demand.
A government-commissioned report also found low pay was a “key reason why some TAs considered leaving the role”, and that a lack of opportunities for progression is a bugbear for around half of them.
The Department for Education commissioned the report from CFE Research, which includes surveys of school leaders and TAs by pollster YouGov in May and June 2023.
Seventy-five per cent of leaders surveyed found it fairly or extremely difficult to recruit TAs. This was higher for secondary school leaders (82 per cent).
Retention was “less of a concern, but still difficult for under a third (29 per cent) of leaders and the challenges were again greater for secondary leaders (47 per cent) compared to those leading primary schools (25 per cent)”.
Eighty-nine per cent of leaders said they struggled to recruit TAs with the desired level of skills.
Low pay is driving TAs away
The survey found low pay was a “key reason why some TAs considered leaving the role”.
“Those TAs interviewed emphasise that they remain in the job despite their pay and cite the satisfaction they achieve through making direct impacts on pupils’ lives.
“However, several leaders stated that they lose TAs to a range of other less challenging roles that offer higher salaries. Aside from the principle of fairness, not paying TAs much more for their wider responsibilities could also affect retention.”
But leaders “note that they would struggle to find budget to pay TAs more based on their current budgets”.
Only half of TAs surveyed were satisfied with their opportunities to progress, with secondary schools even less satisfied (40 per cent).
Limited opportunities to progress and low pay “were the main reasons given by those TAs who were thinking about leaving the role”.
A third of primary heads expected to slash teaching assistant numbers last year amid concerns over “financial pressures”, but secondary leaders say they need more to cope with rising SEND demand.
Secondaries need more TAs, while primaries cut numbers
The survey found 53 per cent of secondary leaders and 51 per cent of special school leaders were planning to increase TA numbers “in the next academic year” – which would have been 2023-24.
The “main reason to do so was the increase in the number of pupils with SEND” (93 per cent).
But a third of primary leaders expected TA numbers to fall. Ninety-seven per cent of those predicting a drop blamed financial pressures.
Primary pupil numbers are falling nationally, but only 12 per cent cited this as a reason they were planning to reduce numbers.
Some schools relied on Covid cash
Schools use multiple funding streams to pay TAs.
Eighty-nine per cent use core funding, 87 per cent use extra high needs funding from councils, 75 per cent use pupil premium cash and 26 per cent used National Tutoring Programme, which has been cut entirely this year.
Twenty-five per cent used Covid recovery premium funding, another scheme that has come to an end.
The findings also “indicate the roles and responsibilities of TAs have increased significantly in recent years”.
TAs now perform tasks outside “what might be thought of as traditional activities, such as maintaining classroom space and preparing resources”.
This “frequently includes whole class, one-to-one and small group support delivered both in and outside of the classroom to pupils with identified needs”.
TAs given admin tasks
Asked how often they provided different types of support, 70 per cent said they worked on classroom tasks like general teaching and learning support most of the time (70 per cent).
They also said they provided one-to-one targeted support for children with SEND or other barriers to learning (56 per cent).
Fifty per cent spent cited delivering interventions for pupils with additional needs, while 36 per cent said they worked on administrative tasks most of the time.
The research found administrative tasks “are often activities traditional to the role such as preparing resources, sorting out classroom displays and materials, and general administrative duties”.
Pre-school, break and lunch duties “are fulfilled by some primary school TAs on a rota basis”.
Forty-five per cent of TAs surveyed said they were paid overtime, while 45 per cent were not.
