Technician Provision

(You can download this as a separate document here)

The level of provision of technicians is a constant battleground.

Many years ago, the ASE carried out a survey and did some calculations and came up with the concept of linking the level of technician support to the amount of science teaching via a factor known as the ‘service factor’.

Technician hours = total science teaching hours x service factor.

Initially this was set at 0.85 but further studies have shown that very few if any schools were reaching this. ASE now suggest 0.65 as the service factor but it should be noted that this is a very rough guide.

A great deal depends on the amount and type of practical work carried out in the school, as well as whether the technicians are employed during the holidays as well.

CLEAPSS have come up with a slightly more flexible algorithm to help calculate an appropriate level of technician support.

A figure of 0.65 is the minimum level of support that SSERC thinks adequate.

That said, there is nothing in law that sets down what level of technician support there should be. SSERC will always try to champion the role of the technician and we would hope that in individual schools or colleges senior management will do likewise and resist any reduction of provision.

One thing we would warn against, though, is that diligent technicians should not overwork themselves to meet the needs of the teaching*. Start and finish at the times you are meant to and take the breaks you are entitled to. If that level of support is not sufficient then it is your employers problem to employ sufficient staff and you should not help them avoid this.

* Though there will obviously be busy periods where you will want and need to do extra.