Best Practice

Cost of living crisis: Conversations with colleagues

CPD Support staff Whole-school issues Teaching staff Staff wellbeing
The cost of living crisis is biting hard. Pupils, families, and school staff are all suffering. In two articles, Sean Harris considers how to support both pupils and school staff. He concludes here with a focus on how we might respond with colleagues who are struggling


The cost of living crisis continues to impact families and children across our country.

In the first of these two articles last week, I considered how we might respond to and support pupils and their families who are in crisis. But the crisis is also affecting our colleagues working in schools and here I want to focus on them.

According to a survey by the GMB (2022), only 23% of teaching assistants reported being able to afford basic necessities. The survey revealed that one in three school support staff have used food banks or think they will need to access one in the near future. Furthermore, some teaching assistants have spoken of not being able to afford to drive to work because of the cost of fuel (Hall & Webster, 2022)

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