It would appear that the only way the Government's promise to recruit 20,000 more classroom assistants by 2002 will be achieved is at the expense of nursery nurses. While Unison has rightly pointed out that classroom assistants are one of the lowest-paid groups in the public sector, and many earn less than Pounds 9,000 a year, what about nursery nurses? Where indeed is our future?
Local education authorities are able to recruit more classroom assistants for their schools because they are cheaper to employ than nursery nurses - but they don't have our skills, training and qualifications for working with children in their first years at school.
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