Teaching assistants and other school support staff will be able to join the Chartered College for Teaching (CCT), with a new associate membership.
It comes at a time of insecurity for classroom support workers, with some schools struggling to fill vacancies due to low wages and others considering cutting teaching assistant numbers amid squeezed budgets.
The professional body said the extension of its membership would offer “recognition of the important role of TAs, while providing a community of professional support”.
Support on offer from the CCT includes online short courses, access to “extensive professional development” and research, and access to consultations, surveys and events to “shape the profession”.
The organisation currently represents serving and student teachers and has more than 45,000 members. Associate memberships for teaching assistants and other support staff will cost £1.25 a month, slightly less than the fee for early career teachers.
Membership recognises TAs are ‘on the front line’
Dame Alison Peacock, the Chartered College’s CEO, said constrained school budgets meant TAs’ need for professional development “are often the last to be met”.
“Yet they are increasingly on the front line of supporting pupils’ learning and emotional needs as we move from a pandemic to an economic crisis where children and families are struggling,” she said.
The CCT would be in a “unique position” to raise “public recognition of the significant contribution and impact” support staff had in supporting the education of children, added Peacock.
Earlier this month, unions accepted a pay offer that will see support staff, including teaching assistants, paid an extra £1,925 this year.
The offer means a 10.5 per cent hike for the lowest-paid and just over 4 per cent for higher earners covered by the agreement.
But Unison said the offer meant the bottom three points on the pay scale would still fall below the Foundation Living Wage rate of £10.90.
Is the Chartered College a “Union” or a “Professional Assoiation” that has to register under the Trade Union legislation ? If not then – it just another body – I’m not sure if it can represent teachers or support staff – i.e. in negotiations or even on individual casework ?
Unions – NEU, NAS-UWT, NAHT, ASCL Unison, Unite etc – do this already in England – Others like EIS in Scotland -and others in NI and Wales . and they actually provide “represesentation” already – so whats the point of a new body?