School assistants in Lower Saxony are demanding higher pay. The wages are still based on a decree on the use of school assistants from 1994 – this must change, said the Education and Science Union (GEW) in Lower Saxony and the Lower Saxony-Bremen regional branch of the Verdi union. The unions want to draw attention to this today (8:30 a.m.) at a rally in front of the state parliament in Hanover. The Ministry of Education wants to address the issue.
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Among other things, school assistants support teachers in preparing lessons or school events. At the time of the original decree, they mainly made copies or procured and repaired overhead projectors, said a Verdi spokesman. Nowadays, the assistants set up digital boards, among other things, or take care of the students’ tablets and school administration systems. “Those who carry out such demanding tasks must also be paid better,” said the deputy state chairwoman of the GEW Lower Saxony, Isabel Rojas.
Ministry of Culture is working on a solution
Teaching or looking after technical equipment should “of course not be part of the range of tasks” of the assistants, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education. The institution is currently working on a new definition of the field of work. It is being examined which tasks school assistants could take on in the future, also with a view to digitization. The remuneration should also be examined “with a view to possible new areas of activity”. The aim is to adapt the tasks to the current requirements of the schools and “to create a practical framework for both the employees and the schools”.
According to the Ministry of Education, there are currently around 660 school assistants employed at public general education schools in Lower Saxony. According to a survey recently conducted by the GEW and Verdi, they are highly valued in schools. According to the survey, 92 percent of the teachers surveyed in Lower Saxony said that it would be an additional burden if the school assistants only took on the tasks that were originally intended for them. 84 percent said that the students would then hardly be able to learn with modern work equipment.
