GMB survey reveals Teaching Assistants feel more like nurses
GMB London survey reveals that teaching assistants are called to do more medical duties following decline in school nursing jobs.
Since schools lost their nurses and the number of children requiring support in this area has increased it has been down to support staff to take on this huge responsibility, sometimes with little or no training says GMB London.
GMB London, the union for school support staff, say the results from a recent survey show that school support staff are expected to do more and more to support children with medical needs.
Those who responded said they were supporting children with a range of medical conditions, from type 1 diabetes to cerebral palsy. Support staff are regularly monitoring insulin levels and treating the child according to those readings. They are emptying catheters and carrying out physio exercises. They are supporting children with complex conditions such as methylmalonic acidemia and heart conditions.
40% of those who responded said they carried out these tasks unsupervised and 78% said that their increasing medical duties were not included in their job descriptions and they were not paid for undertaking them. 20% said they had received either inadequate or no training. Some commented that the child’s parents had shown them what to do and some had completed online training. Many commented that they were just expected to do it.
Anna Lee, GMB London regional organiser said: “This recent survey demonstrates just how much is being put upon already over worked support staff.
School support staff are the backbone of our schools and without them schools simply could not function. Since schools lost their nurses and the number of children requiring support in this area has increased it has been down to support staff to take on this huge responsibility, sometimes with little or no training.
School support staff have replaced qualified medical professionals such as nurses and physios as schools can no longer afford to employ them. GMB London concerns are with further damaging school budget cuts to come, supporting children with medical needs is going to become an even greater role with fewer support staff to carry it out. They do an amazing job ensuring that children are not excluded from school because of an illness or condition. It’s about time that they were recognised for the invaluable work they do.
What this highlights is the wider problem of how support staff are being treated. They should not have things continually imposed upon them because there is no one else to do it. One teaching assistant who responded to the survey had resigned her post because the stress of supporting four children with medical needs had become so great and taken her away from her teaching assistant duties.
We are demanding that proper funding is put into our schools so support staff can do the job they were employed to do and not be the jack of all trades.”
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Contact: Anna Lee on 07870 176720
