TA jobs

Also was thinking that I may do some TA work to get back into working and a possible career change.

It is unlikely that an agency would take on a random mum who was thinking about a career change and unlikely that a school would want an unqualified TA when there are qualified TAs on agency books.

It always makes me wonder what people think the reality is. Most schools don't have TAs now not because they are kept wanted or needed but because the budget doesn't allow for it.

Its not a high level of education needed. Its common for nvq to be asked for but the actual bare minimum is gcse eng and maths passes, thats it

I used to love being a TA as the work was so varied and fun. But now TAs are mostly only used as 1-1 with SEN children, often doing little more than babysitting if the child refuses to engage. There are some intervention groups you might work with and HLTA can cover for teacher sometimes. It's not as rewarding as it used to be.

Most of the schools I work with use agency TAs for two reasons. Firstly, it can be difficult to recruit high enough calibre staff, but sadly, when schools are facing ongoing budget pressures and are having to restructure to save money, it makes sense to employ agency staff where possible to save on redundancy costs when they have to cut jobs.

Yes. The agencies take a cut, so the schools pay more. But they don't have to deal with the HR, and can end the contract easily. So agencies are often used when schools need to take on TAs for a short time, such as for 1:1 support.

Yes they do have agency TA s . I know in my work we have never use them ( actually now I have said that I think we did get a lady in for mornings about 8 years ago when someone broke their arm 🤔)

tend to shuffle people around and make do for the day or so off sick .

I was actually talking to a lady who was a supply ta on bonfire night, and she did say she often ended up struggling to get work , and when she had it it was often quite Stressful ( ie phone call in the morning, can you get to this school however many miles away by half 8 , it’s just 3 hours pay until lunchtime) then nothing for three weeks .

I suppose there will be some people that it works for, but it seems hassle for such low pay to me …..

if you’re only wanting a few hours I would imagine that there was a local school somewhere that would want a TA permanently for a few mornings a week

Where are you that retail pays 16 quid per hour?

Yes I got paid more per day for agency work than when I was contracted by a council, but obviously agency work doesn’t pay holiday or sick pay.

Budget constraints mean that the number of TAs is much reduced. Not because they aren’t wanted or needed and not because no one wants the job, but because there is no money in budgets to pay the pittance they earn for fulfilling a vital role. Academy CEOs on the other hand………

There are agency TAs as well as teachers. Most (all?) supply agencies employ both.

It's a very low wage for a lot of proactive enthusiasm and a high level of education needed. It only appeals to people who want a pt job in school hours and the money is a bonus not the reason for the job. Otherwise they'd go work in aldi for £16+ph not just over £12.

There's always people who want to be TAs, it's less mums who want a job in school time and pin money with a wealthier husband like it used to be as there are lots of other jobs that can be WFH now and suit them and instead it's shifted to those interested in teaching or similar without dependents who supplement it with evening hours at Supermarkets / Pubs/sports coaching etc. but yes there are TA agencies and academy chains can ask for TAs / teachers at other local schools to fill in.

There are agency TAs yes. In my experience they cope by redeploying existing staff to the areas they are most needed while others go without support entirely, e.g year 1 has a high concentration of SEN pupils so year 5 TAs will be moved there while year 5 just has to get on with it. Midday Supervisors sometimes get additional hours too.

This will remain all the while TAs are overworked and undervalued, in terms of both pay and people's attitude towards them.

Completely different in my area as in our school we are always advertising for TA jobs and get little or no applications. My school have used agency TA’s regularly for years because of the lack of response the job adverts get.

I also used to work for an agency and never didn’t get a days work in the whole year I worked for them.

I’m a TA. In my county are hundreds of applications for every TA job posted. We don’t have enough TAs in the school but that’s because of budget, not because there aren’t people that would fill the role.