THE quality of education in Gwynedd will “suffer” should cutbacks be made a trade union has warned.

21 schools in Gwynedd are cutting the amount of assistance students receive in the classroom, according to UNISON.

Hundreds of support staff have been told their working hours could be reduced or they could be made redundant because the council does not have any more money.

Gwynedd Council has claimed it is considering “all possible saving options” before jobs are lost.

Support staff undertake vital but unheralded jobs which make schools the success they are.

They assist Special Educational Needs children and those in need of extra support; help teachers to cope with big classes; release teachers for preparation time and help those with English as an Additional Language.

School support staff are organised by UNISON and the trade union has warned inevitably the quality of education for Gwynedd students will suffer.

In some cases, secretarial staff face redundancy too.

Geoff Edkins, UNISON regional organiser said: “When a factory makes 100 plus people redundant, there’s an almighty stink in the media and politicians are quick to intervene with an action plan.

“There’s no doubt whatsoever support staff contribute to a school’s success, but because they are low paid women, spread over Gwynedd’s schools and often on precarious contracts, there’s a feeling the council can simply get away with it.

“We would question how classroom teaching remains viable when schools are losing support staff in this magnitude.

“Morale is rock bottom because the situation is similar each year.

“Imagine every September not knowing whether you’ll have a job the following year, whether your hours will be reduced and your take-home pay cut but that is the lot of the school support assistant. That’s no way to run our school’s or children’s education.

“Support workers are professionally registered and they regularly go way beyond their duties to help students and teachers every day. They don’t deserve to be treated in such an off-hand manner.”

UNISON has called for Gwynedd schools and the local authority to make good any shortfall in budgeting from their reserves.

The trade union has said seven years of UK government spending cuts have robbed Welsh local authorities of the money needed to invest in schools and other local public services.

Responding to the call for additional support, a Gwynedd Local Education Authority spokesperson said: “Demographic changes and a reduction in the funding for local authorities has led to a real terms cut over the past seven years in the funding we receive to pay for local services.

“However, as an LEA, Gwynedd has protected the county’s schools from the full impact of these cuts and the budgets for Gwynedd schools are delegated under an agreed formula so that school governors and head teachers are free to plan and undertake effective management of the resources available to them.

“Council officers support schools to identify savings as and when required.

“All possible saving options are considered in detail and implemented wherever possible, before a school considers the need to reduce support staff hours or posts.

“When changes to staffing levels must be considered, the process is carried out in full consultation with relevant unions. If, at the end of this process, a decision is taken that impacts on staff, every effort is made to identify possible alternative employment for the individuals concerned.”