Classroom assistants have a valuable contribution to make to schools, and not just by sticking plasters on knees and taking children to the toilet.
I see my role as supporting the teacher in the classroom and assisting in raising standards by offering individual and group support to children who need extra help. But some classroom assistants are used as special needs auxiliaries or clerical staff, which is unacceptable.
Sometimes classroom assistants are asked, en route to an assigned class, to undertake a task, such as photocopying for another teacher, 'because she needs it right away'. The implication is that our time is less valuable, and that it doesn't matter if we let down the teacher and children to whom we are timetabled.
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