Other education staff or staff working in schools

The educational action comprises many activities, apart from teaching, which are carried out by staff holding a diverse range of qualifications.

Thus, educational institutions may count with professionals responsible for support in the fields of education and/or health, depending on the specific needs of the students enrolled in each institution.

The Educational authorities establish the necessary specialists in each educational institution. They are specialists with specific qualification for the tasks they take charge of, such as:

• registered nurses: They monitor and take care of pupils who fall ill and supervise the administration of prescribed medication;
• speech therapists: They provide specific treatment for speech disorders or problems related to the articulation of language in coordination with other professionals involved in each case;
• physiotherapists: They provide specific treatment to pupils with physical problems and are responsible for their health care in the absence of registered nurses amongst the staff; they monitor and evaluate the treatment pupils undergo in coordination with the rehabilitation physician, as appropriate; and provide advice and instructions on how to handle and use any equipment or aids adapted to their needs;
• occupational therapists: They provide specific treatment for the functional recovery of students, by instructing on the handling of aids and prostheses, by training on different activities and by designing or making adaptations which help pupils to carry out their activities. They are also responsible for monitoring and evaluating the treatment pupils undergo, in coordination with other professionals working at the institution;
• clinical auxiliaries: These are professionals who have completed Intermediate Vocational Training in the field of health care. They perform the tasks entrusted to them by a physician or a registered nurse who supervise their work;
• educators: They cooperate with the School Teacher in the planning of leisure and free time activities. They are responsible for carrying out such activities and assisting pupils during these periods. They also coordinate and monitor extracurricular teaching and cooperate in monitoring pupils’ schooling, facilitating contact between the school and the families;
• advanced technicians in Social Integration: They carry out socio-educational interventions. Their work is aimed at dealing with marginalised students and/or those at risk of social exclusion (ethnic minorities, disabled students, pupils with chronic diseases, pupils suffering from child abuse, etc.). They are in charge of programming, organising, developing and evaluating activities for the prevention of such adverse situations by promoting social integration, taking into account the information derived from the evaluation to determine which strategies and techniques are the most adequate for the development of the pupils' autonomy and their occupational integration under these circumstances;
• specialist technician in Education: They provide additional support and education to pupils with disabilities, assisting them on the school bus, helping them with their daily personal hygiene and also at the canteen, at night and in other everyday situations. They also monitor hallways during classroom changes, pupils’ toilets, supervise classrooms when the teacher is absent and school playgrounds during breaks in coordination with the teaching staff, who are responsible for such activities;
• infant Assistants: They take care of Pre-primary Education pupils, focusing especially on their diet, well-being and personal care. They are specifically in charge of pupils’ hygiene during lessons. 

Article 118 of the Organic Law 2/2006 of Education (LOE) establishes that the Educational Administrations will promote, within the scope of their competence, the effective exercise of the participation of personnel administration and services in educational centres. Each institution can have one or more of these professionals as part of its staff, depending on its needs. In public schools, Administrative and services staff (PAS) includes all professionals providing general services at educational institutions:

• administrative staff: They are engaged in administrative work at different levels (administrators, clerks and administrative assistants, bursars and telephone operators);
• service staff: Janitors, security guards, canteen employees, cleaning staff, kitchen assistants and managers, drivers, gardeners, staff in charge of sewing, washing and ironing);
• IT technicians: They hold different types of professional qualifications and are responsible for programming and data management, computer maintenance, error correction and document filing;
• library staff: Made up of librarians, assistant librarians and documentalists.

In publicly-funded private schools, Article 10 of the VII Collective agreement of private education companies supported totally or partially with public funds defines that the PAS includes the following:

• administrative staff: heads of administration or secretary, heads of business, officers, accountants, receptionists, telephone operators, assistants and caretakers;
• general services staff: Janitors, security guards, canteen employees, cleaning staff, kitchen assistants, maintenance staff and general services, and additional qualified staff.

In non-publicly funded private schools, according to Article 12 of the XI National Collective Agreement of private education centres of general regime or regulated education without any concerted or subsidized level, the PAS includes the following groups and professional categories:

• administrative staff: Administrators, clerks and administrative officers, telephone operators or assistants, intendant and apprentices;
• general services staff: Janitors, housekeepers, kitchen assistants and workers, cooks, drivers, porters, care takers, security guards, staff in charge of general services and kitchen helpers.

Conditions of service

In public educational institutions this type of personnel may be, in accordance with the Basic Statute of Public Employees, the following:

• career civil servants: they have an indefinite contractual relationship with the educational administration;
• temporary civil servants: they are appointed as such on a temporary basis to carry out the functions of career civil servants;
• indefinite or temporary employees. 

The planning and supply of the services of the non-teaching staff who perform educational and/or health support tasks and the administrative and service staff is the responsibility of the different Educational administrations of the autonomous communities.

The Basic Statute of the Public Employee regulates the professional career and promotion, remuneration, representation and participation, working hours, permits and vacations, the provision of positions and mobility and the administrative situation of the workforce that provides services paid by the Public Authorities. The categories and working conditions of non-teaching staff in public schools related to educational, administrative and of services action fall under the Collective Agreements that the Autonomous Communities can establish.

Employed staff fall under the Workers’ Statute and their Collective Agreements applicable, as for their work contract.

In private schools and publicly-funded private schools all personnel is contracted. The categories corresponding to these non-teaching staff appear under the Collective Agreements of these educational institutions enforced at State level around Spain. However, within the Autonomous Communities Collective Agreements and other regional agreements may be negotiated to be enforced in their territorial scope.