NEU: Special needs support assistants leaving schools to work in supermarkets

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said special needs support assistants are leaving their jobs in schools to work in supermarkets. He told reporters outside the Department for Education: “Our members are really concerned that special needs support assistants are leaving jobs in schools to work in supermarkets, so children with special needs are losing that support. “We can’t recruit specialist teachers for many subjects and … we can’t hold on to permanent teachers.”