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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

How do you feel about parents acting as TA's?

32 replies

Orinoco · 08/10/2008 21:56

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slayerette · 08/10/2008 21:58

This is quite usual I think. We had a parent who volunteered as a TA to get the necessary experience she needed to go on and get her qualifications.

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andiem · 08/10/2008 21:58

we have a lot of parents working as tas at our school I have mixed feelings about it as 2 of them are awful gossips and some confidential information has been spread about the playground
otw I don't think it is a good idea I think they should employ non school parents but that would be discrimination so they can't

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robinpud · 08/10/2008 21:59

We have loads of parents working as mid days, TAs, trainee TAs, teachers etc.
It doesn't matter what their role is, there shouldn't be any conflict of interest if they are properly briefed about expectations of professionalism and confidentiality. Being a parents then becomes irrelevant; how good you are at your job is what matters.

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MadBadandDangerousToKnow · 08/10/2008 22:03

As robinpud says.

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GivePeasAChance · 08/10/2008 22:05

IME There is a hint of these types being the nosey pushy ones and that makes me feel uncomfortable with them. I agree with andiem.

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Orinoco · 08/10/2008 22:07

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Shitehawk · 08/10/2008 22:08

My daughter's school couldn't function without the (many) parents who volunteer to help out on a regular basis - they don't have the resources otherwise to listen to children read as often as they need to, or to help out with practical tasks in the classroom.

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andiem · 08/10/2008 22:09

ime the tas in our school don't get that much training have a very good friend who is a ta and she has had negligable training
we have mums who help out with reading but that is the only voluntary help allowed in school

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slayerette · 08/10/2008 22:09

but I thought you said they were working as TAs? Surely they are by definition assisting rather than teaching? I'm assuming your child has a qualified teacher as well as a TA...

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Shitehawk · 08/10/2008 22:11

And I can promise you that I am neither nosy and pushy, nor do I attempt to teach the children; that is the teacher's job. Parent helpers are there to support, not to teach - but most of us are quite intelligent enough to listen to children read or help with an art project.

I'm quite pissed off with some of these comments, actually. Most of us who help out in school do so to support the school and the teachers there, not to massage our own egos or gossip about the children.

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Sanctuary · 08/10/2008 22:12

At our school the TAs are mostly mums and are not trained then you have parents going in to read extra

I don`t have a problem till and it has happened at our school .The teacher is off ill for a day or two and the TAs take the class.

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Hulababy · 08/10/2008 22:12

As I do this myself it would not bother me.

I help in DD's school 2 days a week (did one day a week last year) and someimes 3. I am a qualified teacher (although secondary) and I am considering becoming a TA at primary level. I don't want to teach anymore due to the stresses and worklad. Being in school so much, int he 3 infant classes, is excellent experience for me.

I believe I am very professional at work, and although I do spend a lot of time in DD's class, when in class I treat her the same as every other child, despite her calling me mummy and her closer friends calling me by my first name.

I am also pretty well qualified for the role, even if not paid, IMO and certainly in the eyes of the teachers I work alongside.

Fortunately no parents in the 3 classes I help in seem to object to me being there.

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andiem · 08/10/2008 22:12

shitehawk I am talking about the experiences at my school I am on the PSA so help out a lot as well just not in the classroom
maybe you are not like that but ime many of the tas at our school are

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Orinoco · 08/10/2008 22:13

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Hulababy · 08/10/2008 22:14

Oh, and I am actually qualified o take a class too if a teacher was absent. I am CRB checked as well. Infact I am going through the process of being on the school's supply teacher list as well so I can actually step into teacher mode if a teacher is absent, and get paid for it

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Orinoco · 08/10/2008 22:19

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wannaBe · 08/10/2008 22:20

I help out one day a week and I also go in for an hour 4 days a week to listen to specific group of children who need to read daily.

I am not a TA neither could I become one (as the fact i cannot see makes literacy work for eg very difficult ) but I resent the inference that all parents who go into school are nosy pushy types who are just there to get on the inside as it were.

Of course there are parents like that (there was one in ds' class who I ended up speaking to the teacher about as everything she said in class made it back to the playground), but imo it's the minority that give the majority of us a bad name.

I have never and will never speak out of class - I won't even discuss friends' children with them as I am not a teacher and it is just not appropriate.

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Hulababy · 08/10/2008 22:23

I do love helping out. It's great fun. So much nicer than my "real" job in the prison tht is for sure!

It depends on what they are actually doing. Sre they working under the guidance of the teacher? Has the teacher asked them to do specific one to one or group work activities with the children and guided them before hand as to what she wants them to do? I assume the teacher is leading the session and checking what they are doing. I can't imagine any classroom teacher just passing over work for any helper to get on with unless they had checked they were competent enough to do it. They may not have formal qualifications, but the teacher may have assessed them working in class before deciding whether to give thm more activie rols in the classroom.

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shivermetimbers · 08/10/2008 22:24

I volunteer as a TA but not in my dds class, I am doing this as part of an OU degree in primary education. I think if you are educated to a reasonable standard you are more than capable of assisting a young child with their work.Provided you are aware of teaching strategies.

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Hulababy · 08/10/2008 22:24

I am definitely not being nosey or pushy. I am there to gain experience for myself, and I do feel I offer benefits to the school and pupils too, I take my role seriously and don't "talk out of school". I know about confidentiality, etc.

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wannaBe · 08/10/2008 22:25

Orinoco a parent at our school went in three days a week on this basis but it was part of her college course and she had to provide evidence of certain things for which she needed practical experience, so she went into the school to do it.

She has now finished her course and has actually got a job as a TA at a different school altogether.

The reality is that parents who can give a lot of time to the school are invaluable as schools just don't have the funding to be able to recruit as many TA's as they would like.

If there are parents who cannot keep their mouthes shut then they would probably be like that regardless of whether they were qualified or not.

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Sanctuary · 08/10/2008 22:25

There are a lot of reader volunteers in our school but this school year we are not allowed to read with our class or year
cos some mums had been reading the "parents to teacher books" which are private.(LAST SCHOOL YEAR)
Then telling others and in some cases laughing about other kids ability or trouble they had read they had been in at school
These were not the TAs but volunteers

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unknownrebelbang · 08/10/2008 22:28

The TAs at my son's primary are all mums who started by helping out, but have gone on to train as TAs (or HLTA in a couple of cases) and get paid work.

I have no problem with this, and the only confidentiality leak I've witnessed in the last ten years was from a parent-helper. Had it been my child she was talking about I would have had no hesitation in going to the Headteacher about the breach, and I told the parent involved she should do so.

Apart from this parent, none of those I know are pushy or nosy, they just want a change of direction and/or to work in education.

Confidentiality issues should not arise with either staff or volunteer helpers and I would always recommend going to see the Head about such matters.

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wannaBe · 08/10/2008 22:28

that's just wrong.

They're at a distinct advantage with me then as I cannot read the reading records.

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unknownrebelbang · 08/10/2008 22:31

Our school has a general policy of parents not helping in the same class as their child wherever possible, and I know of only one instance where this occurred, and there were good reasons behind the Head's decision.

Different for the paid TAs (small school, only four classes, and at one time one of the TAs had a child in three of the four classes).