The Undervalued Profession: Why ESWs Deserve Far More Than They Get

I want to tell you about a woman I will call Sarah. She arrived at school every morning before the first bell, not because she had to, but because she knew that one particular student needed twenty minutes of quiet settling before the day could begin. She had worked out this strategy herself. Nobody trained her for it. Nobody paid her extra for it. She just knew, because she paid attention.

Sarah is an Education Support Worker. She earns less than most people who read this article. She has almost no formal career progression available to her. She receives professional development as an afterthought, if at all. And she is, by any honest measure, one of the most important people in that school.

What the role actually involves

The public image of an ESW is someone who sits next to a child and helps them with their work. The reality is a person who manages sensory crises, interprets behaviour that the classroom teacher does not have time to decode, builds relationships that take months of quiet consistency, and often serves as the emotional anchor for some of the most vulnerable students in the school.

They do this without adequate training, without recognition in most school leadership structures, and without a salary that reflects the complexity of the work. In many settings, they are not included in staff meetings where decisions about their students are made. They are informed, not consulted.

What needs to change

None of this is radical. All of it is overdue. And until it happens, we will keep relying on the Sarahs of the world to subsidise inclusion with their expertise and goodwill, and wondering why the system is struggling.