School technicians are an undervalued resource in Scotlands schools.With numbers ever decreasing due to financial implications of councils dwindling budgets. It’s a slide that needs to be reversed and soon.The moral is at rock bottom due to covid implicated extra duties,remits expanding,and stagnant pay and conditions. School technicians cover the practical subjects. Science,IT and Design Technology, there is also a case for Art and HE although that has never come to fruition.Without these teams practical work cannot take place in these departments. Technicians alleviate the load of teaching staff on a daily basis and provide constant support. Without the knowledge and experience of these teams the learning experience of the pupil suffer . There is more to a technician than just setting up equipment,cleaning equipment and delivering equipment.The health and safety aspects of every experiment a pupil does is scrutinised, so that it can be done safely.The organisation of the department is down to the technician staff.The concerns of junior teaching staff,experienced staff all pass through the technicians prep room.They are the problem solvers in each school.Their advice can be sought from most departments. Teachers dont have time to research the experiments they have in their curriculum. The technician tries these out before it goes to class. Refinining and altering so that the lesson for our young people goes as it should . With the proper results and an enjoyable lesson most of all. The numbers of technicians have been in decline for the last ten years with no sign of a recruitment drive.Their pay and conditions have stalled and stayed at the same level for at least the same period. Temporary contracts and term time contracts in some councils are not the most enticing to recruit quality candidates. Experienced personnel are lost due to retirement or better job prospects ,pay and conditions elsewhere. The career path is non existent. You can be either a technician or a senior technician.Thats it, no clear path to further your career. The qualifications are not structured they are wide and varied depending on your further education path .Very few technicians have the same qualifications although they may have the same level be it HNC or ONC,some have degrees some have SVQs. There has to be a review of the technician post from the remit to the qualifications and find a career pathway to entice new recruits. Technicians in education are a necessary resource that cannot be lost or allowed to dwindle even more in numbers.Without them the pupils experience of practical work is very poor and not conducive to attainment. As teaching staff do not have time to research and resource like a technician. Especially at advanced higher level. Support staff in schools the janitors,cleaners,kitchen staff,ASNstaff and our office staff,with the technician staff are all vital cogs in the school machinery .A school deos not function without them. However when people think of schools they only think of teaching staff . It is a community of people ensuring our young people get the best school experience possible.The support staff in school are always in the background making sure it functions properly.That is why instead of numbers decreasing they should be increasing. It’s a false economy to reduce their numbers.They are not highly paid neither, any time they have been cut it saves only a paltry sum.The economics dont stack up. The value of the support staff in schools to the pupil isn’t measurable.
James Cairney
Senior technician
Stem for life 