Support staff face too many obstacles

Support staff are passionate to assist great teaching and learning, but their quest to be treated as professionals and paid accordingly is an uphill struggle. Rose Northcott reports.

Key points
-    Support staff are paid from school operational grants, but the model doesn’t work.
-    Pay is too low and job insecurity too high.
-    Student learning will benefit if support staff are recognized as professionals.


In August, after four months of negotiations, most support staff secured a 4% pay rise over 29 months. It will lift the bottom pay rate to just over $15 an hour. As one commentator said, “They have got more money and in this climate it’s the best settlement across the public sector, but it’s still a little bit added to not very much.”

Flawed funding model
Support staff play a crucial part in the running of schools, but Briar Associate’s research Valuing the Work of Support Staff in Schools (December 2010) found that their low pay means they are too often a part of the “working poor” – people who are in employment but find it difficult to make ends meet.
The biggest obstacle is the flawed funding model which sees most support staff paid out of school operational grants, unlike teachers who are directly employed by the Ministry of Education.
Support staff have to compete for funds from an already stretched resource against claims such as cleaning or building repairs. Frequently, when schools have to find money for a support staff pay rise, they simply cut their hours.
Support staff pay can be supplemented by allowances, but that system is flawed, says NZEI’s Geraldine Ryan. “And job insecurity is another big obstacle - most support staff don’t get paid in the holidays, and some don’t know if they’ll have a job to come back to.”

Lack of recognition
Financial recognition for relevant qualifications is another hurdle.
Donna Dry of Nelson Park School has been a teacher aid for almost 11 years. She has worked at three schools, providing classroom assistance for teachers and supporting children with a variety of needs, ranging from severe behavioural and learning difficulties to cerebral palsy.
In 2005 she spent about 12 months attaining her Teacher Aide Certificate through Massey University. At the same time, she worked as a teacher aide for 15 hours a week for no pay, and in return her school paid the course fees.
“Undertaking the training while working for no pay was emotionally and financially challenging,” recalls Donna, who says the certificate enables her to do her job not only with passion, but with understanding and purpose. She is now paid just 29 cents an hour extra for the qualification, and calculates it will take about 13 years’ work to pay for the earnings lost while studying.
Passionate professionals
Vicki Signal has worked at Rhode Street School in Hamilton for 23 years, progressing from two hours a week working with a correspondence student to working 30 hours as IT/Media Centre Manager.
Over the years she has undertaken librarian studies (travelling to Auckland every second weekend), followed by a Graduate Diploma in Information Technology & Education. As she comments, a teacher gets an extra $10,000 annually for a diploma, the most she can get is $1000.
Vicki is passionate about seeing support staff taken seriously as a profession, with decent pay and conditions. She is the support staff representative on NZEI’s National Executive.
“I want to know that all support staff are getting due professional recognition for the work they do,” says Vicki. “I’m lucky I’ve got a really supportive principal who tells me he values the work I do, but research shows a lot of support staff feel undervalued.
“Schools need to at least ensure all support staff have up-to-date job descriptions and yearly appraisals.”

School relationships
Research shows there is also room to improve teacher and teacher aide working relationships. “Support staff themselves also have an important role to play in being taken seriously as professionals,” continues Vicki.
“They need to speak up and be confident about the role they play in supporting teaching and learning. They need to be proactive. If there is PD relevant to them at their school they should be asking to go along. I’m passionate that one day there will be a strong, robust professional development career path for support staff to undertake.”

Speak up campaign
NZEI is planning a campaign to help support staff “speak up” with school colleagues and each other about the work they do and the contribution they make to supporting teaching and learning.
Work will also continues apace to get a fairer resourcing model for schools so.

More resources available for schools on support staff at – www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Managing-your-school/School-support-staff

 


Support staff fact sheet:
•    In 2009 there were approx 21,679 support staff employment in New Zealand schools 
•    About three-quarters are employed as teacher aides, others roles include librarians, science technicians, career advisors, office managers, school secretaries and administrators .
•    Most are aged over 40.
•    Average earnings are lower than the average for their age group.
•    Many are paid as part-timers, often not through choice, and most are paid for only part of the year. Many are on fixed term contracts.
•    Over 90% are women
- from Valuing the Work of Support Staff in Schools