People who described themselves as teachers when they’re actually teaching assistance or cover supervisor

When it's acceptable for nurses to call themselves doctors or cabin crew to call themselves pilots, then I'll think it's okay for TAs to tell people they are teachers.

The difference is those examples could have life and death consequences, and doing a one year PGCE is not equal to the difference in training in the other examples.

I hope your nursing assistant colleagues didn't introduce themselves to patients as a 'Nurse'.

I find that quite demeaning to registered nurses, who have to pay and go through the rigmarole of maintaining their status on the register.

I am a registered veterinary nurse, and as much as I love and value my ANA (animal nursing auxiliary) colleagues, if I heard one of them introducing themselves (to a client) as a RVN, I would be having words!

Im a lecturer part-time. It sounds too grand in some company so I say I teach part-time lol!

This is the point thougn, they often work as teachers but because they are not qualified they are not paid. Many though are better at actually teaching than the teachers. I also think admin work should be done by admin people not teachers. This is true for doctors and nurses too. Let them do their bloody job not admin.

Thing is, these are roles within the school. Staff are employed as Teachers/ TAs/ cover supervisors. Also, TAs are not all working at the same level - there are TA1, 2 or 3. HLTAs are more highly qualified and so can be asked to take a higher level of responsibility.
What's wrong with people giving their actual job title?

I agree with certain comments around professions especially medical professionals. However the title of Dr for a majority of medical staff is honorary, they do not necessarily have PhD’s.

I have been a TA. During this period I had higher qualification than a your average teacher. I have a Masters in Education a level 7 qualification which requires180 credits. QTS is a Level 6 qualification and is only 60 credits towards a Masters. The difference between my Masters and QTS is that I have not studied pedagogy (how you teach) in depth, I am still an education expert, I focus on theory of education than the practice although, I believe both are valid and equal.

I am highly qualified in Education policies and can tell you in reasonable depth how education became mandatory and the start of teaching being a career. Very few teachers I know can tell you the political and social history of education and how teaching became a profession in its own right. Teachers were initially any adult who was appointed by their employer to govern the children. They then became the social class equivalent of a Weaver.

When I started my professional doctorate in education, the first assessment was a discussion of profession, and professionalism in your current employment. I wrote on the profession and professionalism of TAs, it has developed into a profession in its own right similar to how teaching became a profession in its own right. Rising from a upper working class profession to a middle class profession. Therefore, I would leave your elitism behind and maybe actually do some learning yourself, do make assumptions that just because an individual has not completed a qualification that they cannot teach. Plenty of teachers have a piece of paper with a QTS, it does not necessarily make them excellent teachers.

Claiming you have a higher position than you have is a bit pathetic tbh. And you look a complete t*t if you’re outed.

Unfortunately you have this wrong. All qualified teacher have a teacher registration number, TRN which is issued by the department of education. If a qualified teacher falls short of teaching standards they can be struck off.

i have no issue with TAs etc calling themselves teachers, many TAs decide to become qualified teachers. The teaching bit is the easy part, it’s the ‘outside the classroom’ part that’s the difficult part of the job.

They should just take a teaching job then to be paid the same. Oh. Wait…

Would you think it right if unqualified assistants in a legal office called themselves lawyers?

But not equal pay. It's an abuse of the system and the predominately female workforce are chronically underpaid for what they do.

How do you know they are qualified?

Absolutely this, I think TAs are just massively underpaid teachers. Whole class planning and teaching is now normal for a TA. It really needs looking at.

I think the point is, if they have the professional qualifications they are a teacher. If they don’t have the professional qualifications, they are not. I’m retired now, but I was a qualified teacher for over 30 years. I worked and studied to get the educational qualifications to call myself a teacher. Those who fail to mention that they are teaching assistants, etc, are willfully misleading.

@KarlWrenbury I am a Nurse!! yes, a fully qualified nurse! but hey, all those care assistants are auxiliaries, they are not nurses!!

I've just started as TA but have volunteered for quite a while before this role. The head herself calls everyone, even the dinner staff (shock horror) 'teachers' and this is what she encourages the children to call all adults who work in the school. The ethos is that we all in some way will be teaching the children. She is very vocal about all staff being allowed in the staff room...my previous school I volunteered at the staff room was for 'real' teachers only and TA's were not allowed in. I would not describe myself as a teacher if someone outside of school asked me , nor would i have any desire to be one the stress is unbelievable, but maybe some do because so many people, including teachers, seem to look down on the role. I feel valued within the school environment because of the heads stance on it. I also would say that TA's are not just sitting twiddling their thumbs waiting to be told what to do by the teacher. In one instance I have known a TA to have two classes at once on their own with the door open between the two when staff illness took sway. We take the children out and teach on our own and have responsibilities within the classroom setting that go beyond just behaviour control. Often passed from pillar to post expected to take a lesson at the drop of a hat if needed. Ta's may not be classed as teachers but should certainly be classed as 'teaching staff'. Some teachers really got a bee in their bonnets and seem to be downplaying exactly what their TA's do. The pay is crap for what a TA does especially HLTA.

I meant why would you recommend getting an accountant etc to do it rather than a teacher.
But yes OP comes across as very snobby

I think it’s mainly TA’s that think they work as hard as teachers. They really, really don’t.

The mental load of a teacher, let alone the planning, assessments, reports, meetings, being a subject lead, to name just a few, is very different than taking or supporting lessons that have been planned for you.

I’m not saying some TA’s don’t work hard or do a great job, but it’s not the same as being a teacher.

I think all the teaching assistants I work with are amazing. They work hard and in challenging circumstances for relatively low pay. However, to be a teacher, I spent 4 years at university so do feel a bit miffed when teaching assistants say they are teachers.

Exactly. Many do the same job as teachers on half the salary. At least let them use the professional title they've studied for four years and racked up tens of thousands of pounds-worth of student debt for. And in many cases, are doing the job anyway.

I'm in a non-teaching Leadership role in a school. If kids or parents refer to me as a Teacher I politely correct them, because I don't want to misrepresent myself. But most parents and kids don't care, they just call everyone who works in a school, from TA's to Admin staff to the Finance Manager, a "Teacher" for the sake of simplicity. So I can understand why some support staff might use the word "Teacher" to describe themselves rather than explain their specific role to someone who probably isn't interested. We have 4 TA's who are qualified teachers working for us and I couldn't really get worked up about how they describe themselves.

Because they need to work. And they love teaching. And if they carry on doing what they're doing, there may be the opportunity to progress in the school as and when teaching posts becomes available.

why do you care? why does it affect you?

I think there is a big difference in the expectations and role of a primary school TA and a secondary school TA.
In primary, TAs are often working very closely with a teacher and will be asked to teach whole classes, as well as small groups and 1:1.
There are guidelines as to what each level TA can be asked to do but in many primary schools most TAs are working over and above this regularly.

I’ve taught as a teacher in both primary and secondary (I was initially secondary trained and taught in secondaries for years first before changing direction.) and I’ve been a TA, HLTA and teacher in primary.

Ok but some TAs are also teachers with the same professional qualifications.