Assistants regularly teach pupils

Assistants help teachers, but they can also take classes

Pupils in Wales are regularly taught by staff who are not fully qualified teachers, according to BBC research.

Weekly timetables in more than a quarter of 172 schools who responded include lessons which are taught or supervised by teaching assistants.

One Swansea school uses supervisors for 150 hours of classes per week, the BBC's Politics Show Wales has found.

The assembly government said that support staff and teachers were not interchangeable.

Unison, which represents teaching assistants, said the extent to which some of its members were being asked to stand in for teachers was a concern. The Politics Show Wales asked schools throughout the country about the way they use teaching assistants.

A lot of our skill-based learning takes place in the outdoors and for that purpose we have a Higher Level Teaching Assistant who is well qualified Ruth Davies, head teacher, Waunarlwydd Primary School, Swansea

At Bryn Celyn Primary School in Cardiff teaching assistants are never put in sole charge of a class. The headteacher, David Pedwell, said his preference would always be to use a teacher.

He said the the "qualifications, the training, the knowledge, the understanding" of a qualified teacher were broader and deeper and would "meet the wider needs of children in the class," he said.

However, Waunarlwydd Primary School in Swansea has two teaching assistants timetabled to take whole classes. "A lot of our skill-based learning takes place in the outdoors and for that purpose we have a higher level teaching assistant who is well qualified in the use of the outdoors for promoting these specific concepts," said the head teacher, Ruth Davies.

"Teachers can perform these roles but I think the question is more why can't higher level teaching assistants and level 3 teaching assistants run those roles because they can perfectly well," she said. "I think sometimes the argument about whether we use teachers or "non-teachers" as I've heard them referred to elsewhere really denigrates the skills and capabilities and experiences that these very valued members of staff bring with them to the working environment."

RESEARCH RESULTS Of 172 schools which responded, 28% use teaching assistants to take whole classes regularly Another 8% do so only in emergencies or to cover unplanned teacher absences 64% only use fully-qualified teachers or supply teachers to take whole classes Two primary schools in Swansea use assistants to take whole classes 40 hours a week A Swansea secondary school uses cover supervisors to take classes for 150 hours a week Source: Politics Show Wales

According to national guidelines, head teachers can ask some teaching assistants to take whole classes if they have the necessary skills and experience.

But Jessica Cromie from Unison said some teaching assistants were being used inappropriately.

"We're concerned that teaching assistants might be put under pressure to take classes that they're not qualified to do so," she said.

"Teaching assistants should only do this if they're employed at a certain level but we are aware that teaching assistants at a lower level are being asked to to this and they're not being paid accordingly."

'Cost-cutting exercise'

Statutory guidelines also allow for teaching assistants to step in for teachers, at the head teacher's discretion, when they are released for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time, which amounts to 10% of a teacher's timetable.

However, the majority of the schools who responded said they only ever used teachers or supply teachers for this kind of cover.

"All the PPA time in this school is undertaken by teachers," said Mr Pedwell.

"It's about the type of work that's being undertaken during that time, we feel it's more appropriate that qualified teachers take the class and deliver the lessons to the children accordingly," he said.

But at Waunarlwydd Primary, teachers released for PPA time are covered by teaching assistants.

"The suggestion is that they're not part of some overall plan, that it's almost some sort of patch up job to support cost-cutting exercises," said Mrs Davies.

"All I can say is that's not the case here.

"We don't employ teaching assistants because they're cheaper; our use of associate staff is very much about enhancing pupil provision, it's very much about raising standards," she said.

The Welsh Assembly Government said: "Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: a National Agreement clearly states that support staff at any level and teachers are not interchangeable and, ultimately, it is the duty of individual head teachers, working with their governing bodies and wider school teams, to determine the best way to deploy staff in their schools.

"Each school will adopt strategies that suit its individual character and circumstances.

"The agreement encourages schools to deploy support staff more flexibly, but accountability for the overall learning outcome of pupils will always rest with qualified teachers."