It’s time to recognise the changing roles and expanding professionalism of education support staff, writes Will Brodie.
The work of most categories of education support staff has changed dramatically over recent decades.
These days, support staff develop tailored learning plans, contribute to the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) for students with disability, liaise with specialists and much more. Many have specialised qualifications and extensive practical experience.
At Galen College, a secondary school in Victoria’s north, a small team of non-teaching assistants are crucial to the learning outcomes of students.
Asked what her role entails, Learning Mentor Linda O’Donohue lists:
- follow the teacher’s direction and
work collaboratively with them - grow rapport with all students to gain their trust
- support teachers and students
- undertake behavioural management
- support students emotionally
- work with students with learning
difficulties - work with students in class who need
extra support - provide weekly mentor notes
- help students set goals.
IEU Victoria Tasmania Organiser Tracey Spiel is not surprised by the length of Linda’s list. For classroom-based support staff, “gone are the days when they were volunteers and helped students with, in the main, reading”.
She says new technology and changes to curriculum and community expectations have had an effect, but support staff have also been “heavily impacted” by the extra loads besetting teaching staff.
“Work intensification across the whole school community has meant that tasks done by others have been redistributed to support staff more and more,” Spiel says.
“This is not necessarily a bad thing. Support staff are capable, smart and, above all, adaptable. Many of the tasks allocated to teachers are not tied to their teaching practice and can be productively performed by support staff.”
Spiel believes schools should audit the tasks allocated to teaching staff and administrative leaders and consider whether support staff could take on some of the non-teaching tasks.
“For example, a daily organiser role could be done by support staff. The same goes for the Victorian Assessment Software System (VASS) Coordinators, Learning Support Officer (LSO) coordination roles, and interpreters and translators,” she says
Support staff can also are also taking on some administrative work that has fallen to teaching staff.
Rethinking the roles
“Support staff need schools to think outside the box,” Spiel says.
“Many support staff members are taking on more and more complex tasks. It’s already happening with collecting data for the NCCD, but there are very few schools giving preparation time for this to occur within working hours, with many staff forced to take work home.
“Risk assessments for excursions and camps are another example. While some input from staff who know the students involved is essential, this doesn’t need to be the teacher. If curriculum-based support staff do risk assessments for their classes and consult with teachers and leadership, this would enable teachers to relinquish this responsibility.”
At Galen College, O’Donohue plans her timetable around the classes of the students she is assisting rather than teachers, but she says it is vital to develop a rapport with teachers so they all work as a team in the classroom.
“I am a strong believer that if you have a good relationship with your teacher in the room, then working together with the students will come easier,” O’Donohue says.
But the relationship building goes further than that, she says.
“Sometimes the student you are in the room for may not want you to help them, as they feel they are ‘different’ to everyone else. I always find getting along with the whole class is a huge benefit to help overcome that student feeling like you are there only for them.
“I often work with different students in the class or have a chat with the students. I don’t just pick out the students I’m in there for, as students work off their peers a lot.”
O’Donohue says schools can best utilise support staff by “giving them the opportunity to grow and allowing them to be a part of meetings that are relevant to the students they support”.
“I also think mentors need to be trained before they are thrown into a classroom for the first time,” O’Donohue says. “Some mentors go to classes and are unsure what to do, or don’t have the skills to allow them to be a part of the classroom.”
Spiel agrees that education support staff require more training and “PD in areas of need within a school”.
“This is not routinely readily available to staff unless it is online and outside of work hours,” Spiel says.
Support staff need more ways of advancing their careers within a school or sector – there is too little flexibility written into awards and agreements.
And, Spiel says, “they deserve more respect and recognition for the important roles they perform”.
“In some schools this is part of the culture and it engenders a great feeling among all staff,” Spiel says. “Sadly, it is lacking in many more.”
And the changing roles of support staff also need to be reflected in their salaries, which haven’t always “kept up with the changing complexity of roles and higher education requirements”.