Barnard Castle rallies over teaching strike

STRIKING teaching assistants in Teesdale who took their protest to the streets of Barnard Castle have been moved to tears by the support of many parents.
Teaching assistants in County Durham face a change in their contracts next year which they say will slash their pay by about 23 per cent.
Durham County Council says a change in contract is necessary to bring them in line with other staff. But parents say teaching assistants play a vital role in the classroom and should be paid more. Andrea Wardle, one of five teaching assistants from Green Lane Primary School who walked through the town on Tuesday, November 9, said the change would have a massive impact on them.
She said: “We feel very disheartened, very let down and very under-valued.
“Durham County Council wants to do this so we are equal to everyone else. They say this is not about the money, so why can’t we be re-graded so we are equal? We are the lowest paid in the country.”
She added that teaching assistants elsewhere in the country had their posts re-evaluated when their contracts were changed and a re-grading saw their pay increase. Teaching assistants in nearby Darlington earn as much as £3,000 more than those in County Durham, she said. The county council said the change is about equality and not about austerity or cuts.
John Hewitt, Durham County Council’s corporate director for resources, said: “(The county is) bringing teaching assistants into line with all other staff at the council. We appreciate this is an emotive subject but it is not one that we can ignore.
“The legal advice is clear that the status quo is not fair and we cannot continue to pay people for hours and weeks they do not work.
“However, just because we have to do this, does not mean that we do not value our staff. We have worked extensively and consulted and negotiated for 14 months to try and minimise the impact on them by offering compensation and increased hours.”
The teaching assistants say the offer boils down to them being paid less for more work.
Ms Wardle added that teaching assistants in Teesdale have the backing of teachers, parents and governors at their schools and had been overwhelmed by the response they had received while walking through town.
She said: “It has been very positive and people have been very nice. People have been coming to us to offer their support and we have had a lot of hoots from passing cars.”
The striking staff collected messages from people in the town which were to be handed to strike coordinators the following day during a picket at County Hall, Ms Wardle said. She said some of the messages had moved them to tears. One message read: “I’m in full support of this strike. If it wasn’t for the help of Andrea (Wardle) and Jo (Foster) my son wouldn’t be where he is today, as a teacher would not have been able to give him the time and support he has needed over the years.
“Thanks to them he has been able to move forward slowly. We as a family would be lost without our teaching assistants and my son would be so far behind.”
Another parent of a child from Green Lane said: “I fully support the teaching assistants. It is absolutely terrible what Durham County Council is doing to them. How they can be expected to lose such a large portion of their wage overnight beggars belief. Even worse, it is a Labour council that is doing this to the lowest paid teaching staff in our schools.”
While all of the schools in Teesdale remained open during the strike, some classes, particularly reception and nursery, were closed at some of the larger schools for the two days. Durham County Council said 80 per cent of schools throughout the county remained open.
Mr Hewitt said: “We appreciate and are grateful for the work of headteachers, governors and staff who kept most schools and classes open at what is clearly a difficult time, helping to minimise disruption for children and parents.
“Looking ahead our pupils’ education remains of paramount importance and we will work with schools to mitigate any further disruption.
“And though we are clear that our two-year compensation offer was final, the deadline has passed, and the offer withdrawn – with those who didn’t accept receiving one year’s compensation from January 2017 – should Unison and ATL wish us to put it back on the table then we remain willing to discuss that with them.”