Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what she is doing to increase (a) retention and (b) recruitment rates of teaching assistants in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in England.

The government’s education reforms gave schools the freedom to make their own decisions about recruitment, pay, conditions, and use of teaching assistants. Schools should have the freedom to make these decisions, as they are best placed to understand their pupils’ needs.

The term ‘teaching assistant’ may refer to a range of roles, including classroom assistants, learning mentors, and learning support assistants. Most teaching assistants play a role supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), whether or not SEND is in their job title.

The number of teaching assistants in schools has increased year on year since 2017/18, reaching 281,100 full time equivalent (FTE) teaching assistants working in state funded schools in 2022/23. This is an increase of 5,300 (1.9%) since 2021/22 and is the highest number since the School Workforce Census began in 2011/12.

The number of teaching assistants increased in both primary and secondary schools. There were 185,000 FTE in state funded nursery and primary schools in 2022/23, an increase of 3,500 (1.9%) since 2021/22, and 49,000 FTE in state funded secondary schools in 2022, an increase of 800 (1.7%) since 2021/22.

For schools that have teaching assistant vacancies, the government’s Teaching Vacancies service is a free, national job listing service that is saving schools money and delivering quality candidates. This service can help schools to list vacancies for both permanent and fixed term teaching staff, including teaching assistants.

Schools can also access up to £7,000 in levy funding to train and upskill teaching assistants through the recently revised Level 3 Teaching Assistant apprenticeship.