Voluntary School Class Assistants To Share Extra Cash

There was some good news on education this week as Northern Ireland Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane announced extra cash for those school classroom assistants employed outside the education board structure.

She said that up to 750 classroom assistants will now receive a share of £1.3 million as a result of the implementation of job evaluation.

The assistants involved are employed in voluntary grammar schools and grant maintained integrated schools.

Agreement on a job evaluation exercise was first reached in November 2007 between the Education and Library Boards, as employers, and their classroom assistants, but this agreement did not cover classroom assistants in voluntary grammar schools or grant maintained integrated schools.

They are employed by the schools Board of Governors.

The funding is to ease the financial pressures schools may experience in implementing the job evaluation.

The Minister said: "I am pleased that this anomaly is to be put right. I have listened to the concerns raised by grant maintained and voluntary grammar schools about the potential financial implications to them of implementing the 2007 agreement and am now able to make this money available.

"All classroom assistants carry out invaluable work in schools with our most vulnerable children.

"It is only fair that all are rewarded on the same basis and I hope any monies due can be distributed quickly," she said.

"The establishment of the Education and Skills Authority from 1 January 2010 will see it become the single employing authority for the education sector.

"This important move will help ensure staff doing similar jobs are on similar terms of employment."

(BMcC/JM)