The Highland Council has agreed that the budget for the service provided by classroom assistants in primary schools be reinstated in 2011-12 and that further work is carried out to redefine the role of classroom support needs to ensure that future support is child-centred and needs-driven.
The Council agreed recommendations of a cross-party Working Group, which received advice from a professsional task force. They agreed:-
i) that a generic post, at two levels, be established to provide support to
children in classrooms;
(ii) that a task force be established immediately to consider the details of job
descriptions for the generic post and to consider implementation issues;
(iii) that the Cross Party Working Group should continue its work and should
now monitor progress of the detailed work of the task group and make
recommendations to the Council on the revised classroom support
arrangements;
(iv) that implementation of the new generic post should be from August
2012; and
(v) that the £319,000 savings in the financial year 2011/12 be met from
funding allocated by the Scottish Government in relation to negotiations on
teachers' terms and conditions and that the funding implications of future
support arrangements be considered as part of the Council's ongoing
budget setting process.
Council Leader Michael Foxley paid tribute to the work of the task group and the Working Group for achieving such a positive outcome.
He said: "This is a good news story. We strongly value the role played by our classroom staff. However, the support needs of pupils have changed significantly over the past 10 years and I am certain finishing this review will give us a service that is based on our children's needs."