Schools: Teachers

(asked on 28th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the January 2019 survey of members of the National Education Union, what steps he is taking to respond to concerns raised in that survey on the effect of reductions in the number of teaching assistants and learning support assistants on the quality of teaching.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 1st February 2019

The number of full time equivalent teaching assistants in state funded schools in England was 262,800 in 2017. This is 48,900 more than reported in November 2010, and 30,500 more than reported five years previously. This data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.

The figures above include learning support assistants, who report under this category in the school workforce census.

Schools are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their pupils, including making decisions about the recruitment, training and deployment of teaching assistants. The Government recognises appropriately skilled and deployed support staff can make an important contribution to the development of children and the support of teachers in delivering teaching and learning.


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