Go ahead for national pay structure plan

The government has given the go ahead to trade unions and employers to come up with proposals for a new national body to set pay and conditions for school support staff in England.
Trade unions have been pushing for a national system of pay and conditions, to include all schools including voluntary aided church schools.
Employers too are concerned that the current ad hoc arrangements mean a teaching assistant can earn hugely different rates of pay in different local authorities, and even different schools in the same authority.
If more primary schools become independent "trust" schools the problem could get worse. Attempts over recent years to professionalise the school workforce through a massive increase in training could be undermined without some consistency in expectations, pay and conditions.
Education secretary Alan Johnson said,"I am extremely grateful to the Support Staff Working Group for their report and I look forward to hearing back from them on the possibility of setting up a new negotiating body to look at how we can better align pay and conditions of employment for support staff throughout the country."
The SSWG includes representatives of church bodies as well as local authorities, the government, and trade unions. It has been looking at employment issues for school support staff, and today's announcement follows a report to the minister from the group examining optionsfor introducing more consistency to support staff pay and conditions.
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Ethnic minority children "still poorer"

Around two in five ethnic minority children live in poverty - twice the rate among white people.

Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation also shows that people from minority ethnic groups who have higher educational achievements do not receive the same rewards as those from white British backgrounds with similar qualifications.

Children experience even more poverty than adults in their communities. Over half of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African children in the UK are growing up in poverty.

Poverty among ethnic groups in Great Britain

ICT safety worry

Pupils and staff may be at risk from wireless computer networks in schools, a trade union has warned.

Professional Association of Teachers' leader Philip Parkin has written to the government calling for an investigation into the safety of "wi fi".

"I am concerned that so many wireless networks are being installed in schools and colleges without any understanding of the possible long-term consequences. The proliferation of wireless networks could be having serious implications for the health of some staff and pupils without the cause being recognised."

"I am not saying there is a danger, but I have enough concern to ask for it to be investigated.
There are huge commercial pressures which may be why there has not yet been any significant action."

Meanwhile the man who chairs the government's committee on mobile phone safety has warned that children should not use wi-fi linked laptops on their laps.

Retired physics professor Lawrie Challis told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that children are much more sensitive than adults to dangers such as pollutants like lead and UV radiation.

"Since we advise that children should be discouraged from using mobile phones, we should also discourage children from placing their laptop on their lap when they are using wi-fi."