The role and experience of support staff in schools - February 2026

A new Department for Education report offers one of the clearest insights yet into the pressures facing support staff in schools and highlights an urgent need for HR leaders to rethink workforce strategy. With rising pupil complexity, increased SEND needs, and expanding operational demands, support staff - particularly teaching assistants (TAs), pastoral teams, and school business professionals - are carrying an ever‑growing burden. Yet this group often experiences some of the lowest job satisfaction, inconsistent training access, and limited professional recognition.

Teaching assistants, who make up almost half of the support workforce and play a pivotal role in special schools, report the highest workload strain. Many regularly work beyond their contracted hours and undertake tasks outside their job descriptions simply to keep provision functioning. These issues mirror wider system pressures but are exacerbated by the relative lack of structured frameworks, career pathways, and professional identity compared with teaching roles.

Pay dissatisfaction is a major risk: 72% of support staff are unhappy with salary, and many do not fully understand their pay scale. Workload pressures are similarly acute, with pastoral and business staff among the most stretched, while TAs absorb the impact of rising SEND complexity. Training inequity is another significant challenge, particularly for those working most closely with pupils with additional needs. This limits effectiveness, increases burnout, and contributes to attrition.

Flexible working remains inconsistent and often informal, disproportionately disadvantaging TAs. Add to this the fragmented nature of support staff roles across schools and trusts, and the result is a workforce with limited progression opportunities and insufficient professional coherence.

Crucially, addressing these issues is not only operationally necessary - it directly supports the ambitions of the Schools White Paper and the SEND & Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, both of which place strong emphasis on early intervention, inclusion, and high‑quality support for pupils with additional needs. Support staff are central to these national reforms: without a stable, skilled, and valued support workforce, schools cannot deliver the consistency, accessibility, and improved outcomes the reforms demand.

The report therefore presents a pivotal opportunity for HR leaders to reshape support staff workforce strategy. Priorities include establishing clear pay and grading frameworks, building structured career pathways, embedding systematic SEND‑focused training, creating fair flexible working models, and elevating professional recognition.