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

Just to say, DD, who is a qualified teacher but works as an LSA because there are no teaching jobs here, does absolutely all of this. Her day starts at 7.30 and some evenings she doesn't get home until gone ten if there's been a parent's evening. She never leaves work before 6 and when she gets home she has to lesson plan and prepare for the next day. Several of her colleagues who are LSAs but are also qualified teachers have the same workload. The unqualified LSAs don't - they work 8-4 daily and aren't expected to do any of the more 'teachery' stuff.

DD brings in about £1,600pm.

I was responding to all the silly comments that anyone can teach and anyone can call themselves a teacher. I work in teacher training and I’m not sure why anyone is paying £30k to train as a primary teacher and be registered with the DfE as a qualified teacher if anyone can do the job.

Not sure why you would care, I think you are over estimating how impressed people are with you being a teacher. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an important and difficult job but it’s not the same as someone masquerading as a more highly qualified medical professional.

Im a HR Director and studied for many years including a Masters Degree and a professional qualification. I wouldn’t care if anyone lied about their level in a similar job nor do I for a moment think anyone is impressed by it.

The only time I’ve ever heard anyone speak like this has been a teacher. Moaning that a senior specialist TA in her school was paid more than some of the lower paid teachers. She felt that as teachers had a degree they needed to earn more. I thought it was odd and showed a lack of understanding of the real world and how experience and specialism are more valuable than qualifications.

An ex teacher

Since I specifically stated Key stage 3 in my post, your point is irrelevant but the sports coach at my daughters Primary school regularly takes large groups out on sport’s trips.

A lot of TAs are qualified teachers. A lot of TAs also cover whole classes when the teacher is away.

Lots of teachers, both primary and secondary have completed all the required training and more, and are still absolutely appalling at their jobs.

Well the teachers’ pension company paying my pension still class me as a teacher.

Our cover supervisor is a teacher. Has been a head of year and a subject teacher, now wants the shorter school day, so is a CS. She will teach if covering, but doesn’t plan, mark, write reports or do parents evening.

I am a qualified teacher. I currently work as a pupil support assistant. I tell people I’m a teaching assistant (because that’s terminology people understand rather than a PSA).

However I have a PGCE (S) so, whilst I don’t work as a teacher, I am a qualified teacher.

I’m a teacher. 50% of PGCE was on the job learning in school with a mentor. Incredibly hard work and a steep learning curve, but nothing a TA couldn’t also learn in a school.

The other 50% was uni lectures and essays and honestly that part was bullshit and most of it was completely irrelevant to classroom teaching. Also, I was 21 and often hungover so I can’t remember much about it. The pedagogy fashions come and go and the things we learnt in those lectures would now be considered passed it anyway.

I think having a degree is the biggest difference, although of course some TAs may well have a degree.

What do I have that a TA doesn’t? Hmm 30k of student loan debt!

https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/jobseeker-guides/return-to-teaching-in-england/return-to-teaching/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAC4TnoEyFJb_msmSg5JMh2sZSaJy9&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhMq-BhCFARIsAGvo0KfLWlKV5LhiwMX2nhFgN6ou-B9j165DGyKP5CPE8lD0HIrHHdssWs0aArFgEALw_wcB

Google “Get into teaching” and this comes up first.

TAs are amazing and it’s a scandal how little they are paid. However, time in front of the class actually teaching is just a small part of a qualified teacher’s role.

As a qualified teacher, I used to take 28 primary aged children on a bus to the local pool and they were taught swimming by me and the qualified swimming teacher at the pool. Then I would count them all back onto the bus and take them back to school. Are parents really OK with a teaching assistant with NVQ Level 2 doing that?

I think the difference is if you are doing it in a professional setting to pass yourself off as having a job role that you do not, or you are doing it in a social or non-professional context when you need an easily understandable shorthand for what you do for work.

I’m a clinical researcher who is trained as a social scientist to PhD level and I also lecture and supervise research students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. When I get introduced to someone’s partner at the pub and they ask what I do, depending on the context I’ll say ‘I do research in the NHS’ or ‘I’m a lecturer’. Neither of these really fully describes what I do nor would they officially be my job role, but people seem to not be very interested in the particulars and going into detail seems a bit boasty, so I try to keep it quite simplistic.

No, they might a good at coaching a sport which is entirely different to teaching Physical Education.

I know that a number of TAs at the school where I am Chair of Governors are teachers who no longer wish to work as teachers... so our children are really lucky to have them as an extended resource. I also have a friend who no longer works as a solicitor but as a legal secretary, for her it is better life/work balance.

Many years ago at one school, an Ofsted Inspector asked why we had two teachers in one classroom... we had to explain that one of them was a TA and he could not work out who was the teacher and who the TA.

I know a corpse that was exhumed, given the kiss of life and tasked with teaching GCSE classes in any subject going.
Honestly, you’d think that nobody on this forum had heard about the teaching understaffing crisis. Like ostriches with their heads in the sand.

Independent schools, academy schools and free schools can employ unqualified people as teachers. State-funded local authority schools can’t.

Bc it’s a lie.

I'm a lunchtime supervisor at a First school, and have never told anyone I am a teacher, because I am not. My usual stance is to say 'I work in a school in a non-teaching role', if I want to be generic. If I were to say 'I work in a school', most people just jump to the conclusion I'm a teacher. Any one coming into school to cover a class on a temporary basis, are always fully qualified teachers in my school. At my school all TA's are Higher Level Teaching Assistants, which mean they are qualified to a high standard to be able to teach a class on their own. TA's are not supposed to teach a class, unless they are a HLTA, but in some schools it happens. Children, especially at primary age, will refer to adults at school as a 'teacher', even if they're not. A child isn't necessarily going to understand the difference between a teacher and a TA or HLTA - they are all adults that teach them, as far as they're concerned.

Is it the adults or kids doing this? Kids always refer to their TAs as teachers IME

I agree it is disingenuous. I come across it a fair bit. I know TAs do lots of class cover these days, but teachers do this and loads.more.bits which fulfill the role of teacher. I never say anything but tend to assume that they are trying to sound more qualified/impressive than they actually are.
I should say that being a good TA is a really skilful role and when done well makes a.massive difference to a class/child. I also think they are given too much class cover and should be paid more.
I've also come across people who work in some kind of health care setting and insist on calling themselves 'a medic' as if they were a doctor.

Not all of them.

She’s taking early retirement later this year as she’s worn out.