School Support Staff Survey 2014 summary of results

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1 School Support Staff Survey 2014 summary of results Introduction UNISON is the largest union in education in the UK, with almost 350,000 members, around 250,000 of whom work in schools. UNISON members are critical to the smooth running of all sections of the education system and have a vital contribution to delivering improved education outcomes for children and young people. The whole school team is a range of professional, technical, managerial and site staff. UNISON carried out a survey of school support staff in Autumn 2014, which aimed to monitor workplace issues and highlight their key concerns and priorities. This was the biggest ever survey of school support staff, receiving over 15,400 responses representing the whole school support staff team. The majority of respondents worked as teaching assistants or classroom assistants (60.6%) but other roles were also well represented, including administrators; art technicians; audiovisual technicians; behaviour management practitioners; caretakers and janitors; catering staff; cleaning staff; cover supervisors; design and technology technicians; examinations staff; finance staff; ICT staff; invigilators; learning mentors; librarians; library assistants; midday supervisors; nursery nurses; parent support advisers; pupil well-being management officers; school attendance officers; school business managers; science technicians. 59.5% of respondents worked in community schools, with 23.7% working in academies and 7.7% working in trust/foundation schools. A small number of responses were received from free schools, (3.3%), interesting in itself as many of these new schools have not yet recognised unions. The majority (88.0%) of respondents were women, highlighting how low pay and lack of professional development continues to affect sectors where workers are predominantly women. The survey results revealed a dedicated but demoralised workforce. Our survey showed very high levels of concern about pay, closely followed by levels of workload and stress. While they loved their job, they also felt very undervalued.

2 Key Findings Job Satisfaction To help children achieve something they once thought impossible. I love my job. The pay might be rubbish but the job satisfaction is one in a million. 80.6% (11,642 respondents) either agreed or strongly agreed that they loved their job. But when asked if they felt valued, this drops to 48.1% (6,934 respondents). In fact, 28.2% either disagreed or strongly disagreed that they were valued. Pay The pay will never equal a living wage due to the part-time, term-time only nature of school contracts. Job security will always be an issue until school support staff are valued by society. Pay was the biggest issue, with 89.0% saying they were concerned. 58.0% were on term-time only contracts. 16.3% (1,981 respondents) said they were dependent on a second job to make ends meet. Some respondents explained that pensions or a partner s income meant they could do a low paid but rewarding job. 17.2% (2,257 respondents) of respondents told us that they supplemented their wages with benefits. We asked if they were carrying debt and 13,090 answered: over half the respondents to the question said they had debts. 20.5% were carrying significant levels of debt, ranging from 5,000-20, % (880 respondents) said they had debts of more than 20, % (2,920 respondents) told us they had had to borrow money from friends and family over the past two years. 17.3% (2,273 respondents) said they d had to take out a bank loan in the past two years. 3.9% (510 respondents) had resorted to a payday loan to make ends meet in the past two years % (1,816 respondents) also told us they were the sole provider for their family. Many comments referred to the impact of the pay freeze, downgrading and term time only contracts. Frustration was expressed that they were expected to take on additional responsibilities without any financial recognition for their hard work and professionalism. Respondents explained the effect this was having on their lives:

3 Long term, I will be unable to remain in my job due to the pay being so little and the lack of possibilities for career progression in my role and my school. I feel the pro-rata pay that support staff receive is insulting. Over half my salary now goes on just rent and as a single mum it doesn t leave much to live on. Having spent last summer under redundancy, job security leaves a lot to be desired. I have taken new jobs twice on a reduced salary in order to secure work in the current financial climate. I am unable to meet my financial responsibilities and have exhausted my savings. My situation and outlook is now very grim. I ve not had a pay rise for years yet the cost of living has gone up year on year. I am taking a pay cut to keep my job. I have had no training or development opportunities and my workload increases monthly. It bothers me that without my husband s earnings I could not manage financially. I love my job. It s what I do well. I have always worked in education with the more vulnerable youngsters. I feel that something is amiss when people like myself who are committed to the role, with years of experience and qualifications, are not rewarded financially. I earned more when I was an apprentice. Pay just above the minimum wage is just not acceptable for the amount of work and responsibility undertaken every day. Second jobs Those respondents who told us they had to work second jobs told us about the additional work they undertook. They included: working in a supermarket and other customer assistant retail jobs; computer technician; bar work; hotel work including as a night manager; working as a waiter/waitress; call centre operatives; delivering free newspapers; road sweeper; delivery driver; direct sales; residential care worker; youth worker; child minding; domiciliary careworker;

4 market trader; private tutoring; swimming instructor; taking in ironing; probation worker; gardening; clerical assistant; and warehouse distribution, including packing internet orders. Working unpaid hours and increased workload 80.4% (10,804 respondents) said they were concerned about workload. The majority of respondents, 74.0%, said they regularly worked unpaid overtime. 81.0% of those doing so said they were forced to do so as a result of increasing workloads and the rest said they voluntarily did unpaid overtime. If everyone worked just their hours, nothing would be completed and pupils would suffer. Too much goodwill is given for very little pay. Schools are demanding environments with increasing pressure to work beyond just support. Many responses highlighted the pressure of expectations, pupil needs and job insecurity as driving unpaid overtime. The effect of cuts on schools was also identified as a significant factor. Since all the job cuts over the last 5 years we have lost 50% of our support staff and we now have children coming into school with all sorts of special needs and difficulties. Workload has increased over the years although pay and paid working hours have not! The work I do and the level of responsibility I have in respect of ensuring the administrative running of the school is hugely underpaid. There is a relentless workload and it is assumed that I will do that work in the limited hours I have or additional hours that aren t paid. My workload has trebled since the cuts. Before the cuts I was covering one school full time for five days. Now, in five days I am covering three schools during term time and line managing two library assistants, so I m being paid less money for a lot more work. The same service is expected but this is an impossible task. Workload is ridiculous 1 caretaker for 820 students and 80 staff. Spend thousands on training teachers and virtually nothing on support staff.

5 Workload has increased since the last round of redundancies. The financial situation means there will probably be redundancies soon and it will be support staff. Work related stress 53.3% of the school support staff who responded to our survey felt significant levels of stress in the job (29.3% said they felt stressed half the time they were at work and 23.4% said they felt stressed most, or all the time ). More than 11,000 comments were made explaining the significant levels of stress staff were experiencing. The most widely cited reason was the pressure of workload and lack of time to complete their tasks. I feel stressed by sheer Workload and expectations, and working unpaid overtime Extra responsibilities are always being added, with more complex duties being passed down from managers than before. The ever increasing workload is very stressful. Other significant causes of stress included being asked to carry out duties without appropriate training or support, pupil indiscipline, lack of support and job insecurity. Nearly 70% of respondents were concerned about job security, with cuts to budgets making being felt in schools. Training and development opportunities Lack of access to training and development remains a significant concern for school support staff, with 64.4% of respondents saying they were worried about training and development opportunities. If I am being asked to supervise children with special educational needs during breaks/lunch, surely I should be appropriately trained. 49.3% of respondents said they d only had 1-3 days of training in the past year and nearly a quarter, 24.4%, said they d had no training at all. When asked what kind of training they d like to access, a wide range of responses relating to specific skills underlined the variety of jobs undertaken by support staff. The desire to receive professional development, to broaden their aspirations and that of the pupils in their care was striking. A job they valued Despite the high levels of dissatisfaction with pay, workload and stress reported to us by school support staff, they also made it clear why they persisted: the difference they made to young people. This is a small sample of the comments they made to us:

6 Sometimes we are the only stable influence in children s lives. We make a difference to them, by supporting them both academically and emotionally. We give them unconditional care. We listen to them, give encouragement, build up their self-esteem. We are good role models and mentors. We teach children to respect themselves, each other, their school and community. We encourage them to think for themselves, to make good choices and to take risks. I love helping children achieve something they once thought impossible. I love my job. The pay might be rubbish but the job satisfaction is one in a million. I enjoy creating brilliant science demonstrations and practicals to help learning and inspire future scientists. We teach children how to use and knife and fork. Encourage them to eat their lunch. Clean them up when they get grubby. Clean tables, benches and the floor so they are not sat or stood in someone else's mess. Sort out their problems and squabbles. Watch over them to keep them safe. We deal with children who become ill at lunchtimes, carry out First Aid and record it with stickers so parents and teachers can see they have received first aid. Play with the children when there is time to do so. We also watch out for safeguarding issues. I run a well-used and well- resourced (despite budget cuts) library, providing students and staff with appropriate resources that enhance the learning and engage the interest of the pupils, as well as running clubs at lunchtimes, and activities during lessons. Children seem to be so happy to come to school and look up to me as their safety net, as home can be so difficult. I did not realise the impact until I meet them away from school and even some as adults later. They still remember my name and all the help I gave them. Great feeling and reward for me. I think of myself as a scaffold in children's learning. I am here to support them, challenge and direct them. I feel a teacher cannot reach every child individually every day- it s physically impossible. This is when I come into action. I am the teacher's right hand and reach out to children. Then I share my observations with the teacher and therefore promote a rich, caring and stimulating environment for children. Without the support staff, our special needs children could not come to school as they need personal care and one-to- one support in the classroom. We give them the opportunity to access an education they are entitled to. I am around for students to approach throughout the day. I talk to students on their level and try to support them to maintain their well-being. I also put things in place to support their ability to learn. For more information about the survey, please contact education@unison.co.uk.