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Written question asked by Helen Hayes (Labour) on Friday, 2 September 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 September 2022 (named day). It was answered by Jonathan Gullis (Conservative) on Monday, 26 September 2022 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Special Educational Needs: Classroom Assistants

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the current vacancy rate for teaching assistants for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools.

Answer

Schools have the freedom to recruit teaching assistants according to their own circumstances. Schools have recruited an additional 10,000 teaching assistants in the last two years, according to the school workforce census. There are now 275,812 teaching assistants which is the highest on record. The Department does not collect vacancy numbers as part of the census.

The Department committed to help schools with their recruitment, use and training of teaching assistants in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, and refresh of the school resource management guidance. The Department will work with schools to understand how best the Government can help.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
45468
Session
2022-23
Related items
Special Educational Needs: Classroom Assistants
Monday, 24 October 2022
Written questions
House of Commons
Schools: Vacancies
Monday, 24 October 2022
Written questions
House of Commons
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Classroom assistants Special educational needs Vacancies
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk