Teachers on social media have rallied behind school technicians amid concerns over their falling numbers.
Technicians have been described as “underpaid heroes”, “worth their weight in gold”, “the backbone of any successful science department” and praised for giving teachers “the confidence to do a practical that they might not otherwise try with a class”.
When Tes Scotland asked on Twitter why technicians were important to delivering practical science in school, the response was a deluge of positive comments.
However, the early indications from a survey by a Scottish organisation which trains teachers to give pupils hands on experience in Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) are that their numbers are dropping dramatically.
The figures compiled by the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC) show that school technician numbers have fallen by over a third since 2005, from 1,431 to around 900 today.
SSERC chief executive Alastair MacGregor said he feared for the future of the profession.
Mr MacGregor added: “Practical work plays a really important role in relation to enhancing the learning experience and bringing on skills like taking accurate observations and carefully recording results.
“School technicians provide the back-up and preparation that allows experiential learning to take place. They are the unsung heroes that facilitate good, practical Stem opportunities. I fear for their future as a profession.”
Teachers on Twitter were clear about the essential role technicians played, but echoed Mr MacGregor’s comments about the role being grossly undervalued.
Andrew Bailey, a teacher in Angus who tweets @andrewkbailey13, said: “Without technicians there would be reduced expertise for practical work. Kits for experiments particularly chemistry ones would have to be made up by teachers and due to time practical would be significantly reduced. Takes time and expertise to make solutions and chemicals needed.”
Paul Cochrane, a chemistry teacher at Port Glasgow High in Inverclyde, said it was technicians’ “expertise” that was so vital. They spent long hours preparing equipment and had an encyclopedic knowledge of health and safety, he said.
Mr Cochrane, who tweets @mrdissent, said: “We are amateurs compared to them.”
For Irene Gemmell, who tweets @GemmellMrs and teaches chemistry at Renfrew High, technicians provide “invaluable support and expertise, time, dedication, awareness of health and safety, risk assessment, practical knowledge, order, a listening ear and is the voice of calm and reason when we need it most!”
Another Scottish teacher, @MrRossStewart, said of technicians: “No department can function properly without them, especially given the amount of materials that need prepared before a practical lesson even starts. Worth their weight in gold.”
The Scottish government’s Stem strategy, published last year, recognises that experiments and investigations “should be an integral part of Stem learning across all ages and stages” and that professional learning should be available for school technicians. However, it does not address the falling number of technicians.
A spokesman for local authorities body Cosla said budgetary decisions were “rightly and properly” a matter for individual councils, adding: “Obviously such decisions are taken against a backdrop of tight financial settlements for councils.”
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