Teaching assistants in Wales set for pay rise

The Welsh Government has announced it will fund a salary increase for level 1 teaching assistants to move to level 2, subject to local consultation. 

Future teaching assistant roles will also be recruited at a minimum of level 2.

Alongside increased pay, the move will ensure consistent teaching assistant role descriptions and will support improved recruitment and retention.

The announcement comes as the Strategic Education Workforce Plan for Schools is published, which sets out a range of actions to ensure the quality of teaching and learning, address workload issues, and ensure access to support through a specialist and pastoral workforce.

The plan also aims to ensure that the education profession is attractive and ensure effective use of data and evidence to inform workforce planning.

The well-being of staff is addressed under each theme and is central within the plan.

Actions outlined within the plan include a commitment to establish career-long national professional learning pathways for teachers, leaders and teaching assistants working closely with Dysgu. The initial teacher education incentives and pathways into teaching will also be reviewed to support recruitment of future teachers.

There’s also a commitment to understand alternative models for supporting teachers with time away from the classroom, and to support the appropriate use of generative artificial intelligence in learning and to reduce workload.

The plan also recognises new challenges the school workforce is facing in supporting learners outside of their day-to-day teaching duties. This includes strengthening multi-agency collaboration to support the school workforce to respond to wider societal changes. It also commits to investing and supporting non-teaching pastoral roles including Family Engagement Officers and the work of Community Focused Schools Managers.