Harsh lessons on pay and conditions

The row over the pay and conditions of teaching assistants demonstrates that "big ideas" must be thought through (Morris faces furore over classroom assistants' pay, January 5). I do not know how the government envisaged the role of TAs in 1998 but DfES's Guide to Good Practice for Teaching Assistants, published in 2000, makes it clear that by that time they saw the role as far more than photocopying and hearing children read.

The TA portrayed in the guide needs a wide range of skills, from understanding the processes of learning, particularly of children with special needs, to behaviour management. TAs in all schools must have a very good level of general education, particularly at secondary level.

When the original idea was announced in 1998 a salary of about £10,000 pa was mentioned. It was enough to attract people and probably seemed about right for the rather vague role envisaged. But the reality has been very different. The £10,000 has been craftily whittled away by a process of pro rata-ing, ie payment for term time only, which removes eight weeks' pay from the initial sum, then payment for hours worked, based on a 37-hour week. As teaching time rarely amounts to more than 25 hours the salary is even smaller.

Without a proper national agreement on pay and conditions for TAs and a clear vision of their role from the outset it was inevitable that the present unsatisfactory position would develop.
Maggie Downie
Crook, Co Durham
maggidow@globalnet.co.uk

· My partner teaches at a further education/higher education college run by a Midlands university. She teaches 14 hours of FE and six of HE per week, gets no paid preparation or marking time for the FE and 30 minutes per contact hour of HE. She sets and marks classwork, homework and exams, and writes schemes of work at all levels. She gets no pay in the holidays or if a class is cancelled, say for bad weather. At the end of last term she was told to spend the holiday writing a handbook for a new HND course. She would get no additional pay. She has an HND, a BA and a PGCE, is one of the most highly qualified people in her department, and earns £9,000 pa - less than a classroom assistant.
Chris Wallis
Stockport