Teachers and TAs!

But I don't do most of that. My small, indie secondary school has SEND plans written by the Send dept which we read and incorporate as needed. Broadly, classes are similar year on year and the vast majority can access the materials the same as their counterparts the year before. Half term grades or reports are not that onerous when you've been doing it for thirty years. Parents evenings are max 7 nights per year. I have three meetings per fortnight and run clubs twice a week. My own.kids are teens now so it's a bit easier. It all gets done. Again, it's one of those jobs for which there is no.one 'truth' about what it's like.

So would I. It was more manageable years ago, especially when I didn’t have children. But now it’s just too hard. You might get the holidays, but it’s not a family friendly job.

I loved teaching, but that’s such a small part of the job now. It’s endless marking and assessing and adapting and attending meetings that should have been an email. It’s having every part of you drained so that there is nothing left of you for your own family. It’s working ten hour days and still having to work at the weekends. It’s exhausting and if you work it out properly, very badly paid.
I enjoyed being a TA but it’s just not worth the money. The hours are good and it can be fun but, depending on the school, you’re often spoken to and treated like crap and you get the brunt of the challenging behaviour.
I wouldn’t advise anyone to go into either job.

English teacher.

It's the best job in the world and I absolutely love it ❤️

You have to find the right school and you have to genuinely like the kids- they will know if you don't!

Honestly, I would tell my younger self not to do it. I loved teaching for a few years but the behaviour of pupils and parents has made it a nightmare.

TAs are underpaid for all they do. I work with some incredible TAs and they are paid a fraction of what they deserve. It's just not worth it.

@beeble347

I used to be good and then I started acting my wage 🤣. Pay peanuts, get monkeys!

Not sure why I should bust a gut to be honest. The whole sector is run on martyrdom.

I've just come back part time after mat leave, in my sixth year of teaching and I do enjoy it. I feel good at my job, it's interesting, rewarding and (most) interactions with the kids are brilliant. Lots of funny, ridiculous and heartwarming moments.

However, I am working every day including my days off when my baby naps, doing marking. Workload is relentless, it's not possible to do the job in the hours given, and schools squeeze as much out of you as they can within those hours. Constant pile on, you think you're on top of everything if you don't take a break all day and work at a ridiculous pace, then they'll surprise you with a book look, observations, new CPD that's useless but time-consuming.

Being part time I can go in for parents evening as it falls on a non working day or I can phone the parents of every single child I teach in that year group in my "free" time (could be 90 kids).

It gets easier if you can stick it out through the training year - I did School Direct in a very tough academy in London - and the ECT years. My current school is much better in terms of wellbeing but it's still tough and my health has suffered, I'll be honest. If I left my current job, I wouldn't look for another in teaching.

Edit: I should add, I've worked in the private and charity sectors and did an intensive law course before training as a teacher. Teaching on a good day - work relentlessly, no meetings after school and kick work to other days, can mean in this school that I can leave at 3pm. Hard to do in other jobs/schools even. And I appreciate the holidays with my child. I didn't need firebreak holidays like this in previous jobs though.

TA - the brilliant ones are completely underpaid for what they do. Others seem to act their wage. A real shame when there isn't sufficient funding for them (or if you get a lacklustre one) as a good one can be game-changing for children. There's much better paid jobs tbf

Secondary head of department and been teaching 20 years. I do like the kids, but the job is just absolutely insane now. It was always busy, but it’s off the scale now. I’m good at my job, most popular option choice, some of the best results in the school, but I’m absolutely exhausted. I can never sleep a full night without waking up, just too many things in my head and all of it school related. I work in a good school, but the expectation to be perfect all the time is unrealistic. There is always too much to do and the parents are getting less and less supportive, having to justify even the tiniest things. I’ve seen 7 different classes today which is about 200 pupils. 200 different wants and needs, all while remembering everything SLT want.

Nonsense.

It is a lot more than that. Why are you not believing people who are telling you the truth?

You can't imagine how tiring five hour days in front of a class are, followed by planning, prep, meetings, marking, duties, report writing, data entry, parents evenings, twilight inset (marking particularly if in a secondary subject, heavy on the writing i.e. English or History)

Anyway, go and give it a whirl. It may suit you.

I also am grateful I got out before peri/menopause hit!!

Described as being ‘put into a washing machine early morning, spun round all day and pulled out at the end of the afternoon, when the programme stops’.

I've been a primary school teacher for 12 years. Yes it is tiring but I love my job and cannot imagine doing anything else.

Longstanding TA here who worked on supply for many years working in different settings. Primary ☑️ secondary ☑️ SEN ☑️ semh ☑️

I also a graduate. Remaining as a TA because I value my sanity too much and I don’t fancy the colossal workload.

I would now never return to work as a TA in a primary school for all the tea in China. I’ve worked in loads and that role is now unrecognisable in comparison to what it was years ago. You’ll need to be able to teach at some point, even just for the odd lesson or sickness cover. Schools don’t like to rely on supply anymore due to a lack of funds. You will not be paid extra.

Additionally, you will have responsibility for high needs SEN children in mainstream who need a 1-1. They don’t all get a 1-1 in the real world and you’ll probably have a group in each class. They will all have differing needs and you will not be able to meet them all.

If you’re based in early years you can have severe SEN needs as it often takes time for the child to be placed in a special school, and this doesn’t always happen. I’ve been bitten, kicked etc over the years. Just before Christmas I was working 1-1 with a year 5 child who 💩 himself and it went all over me. Genuinely.

I am now back to what suits me the most and that’s a secondary, mainstream TA. No expectation of teaching and I enjoy different teachers. If you get a teacher in primary who you do not gel with, it’s grim, as you have to work with them all year.

You have to REALLY want to do this job.

It’s very different to an office job because you are “on” all the time. It’s non stop because you have thirty children to manage and teach all day, it can be very tiring in comparison. I’ve done both, and teaching is far more draining emotionally and physically. It’s hard to explain, I’d suggest a couple of weeks working in a school. Some people love it.

I love teaching but must admit you have to find the right setting for you. I've worked in some shocking schools with poor senior leaders and ended up going off sick. Fortunately now I'm at an amazing setting and feel totally valued- good luck
I also trained whilst 3 dds were 6, 8 and 11 to no ill consequences.

I found teaching nigh on impossible with young children. I managed just about, on a .6 timetable and working in a PRU that taught academic subjects only in the mornings so I could spread the hours across the week and manage drop off/pick up around it. Went to .8 once they were early secondary and then ft once youngest was Y8. I’m 25 years in.
It’s safe money and pension but barely worth it. I had a serious kidney infection last term that resulted in hospitalisation as I wasn’t going to the loo enough. Behaviour is getting worse. Kids could not care less about school sanctions. Parents are often unsupportive. Huge rise in formal complaints since ChatGPT/Gemini can write the letters. I can manage (generally) but I don’t like seeing my colleagues struggling and it makes me so sad to see young staff who show huge promise and who I have helped train, leave.

Don’t be a TA unless it suits your purposes for some particular reason. It is extremely low-paid, and extremely disrespected (not by teachers, but by the administration). You’re just exploited and squeezed more and more and more.
That’s my experience anyway.

@Showmetomyslippers I take my hat off to you! How on earth do you manage those hours with children of your own?
My eldest kids are now 18 and 16 and one of my biggest regrets is I was never the."present" mum I wish I could have been due to the hours I worked.
My youngest is 5 and now I'm not a teacher I get to enjoy her so much more (I'm a tutor now).

Yes I'm a mum in my thirties. I have to be honest I'm not sure, I love it but it's a lot.

@Showmetomyslippers May I ask how old you are and if you have children of your own? I was once a keen 20-something new teacher but things naturally change, one has a family of their own etc.
How long do you feel working as much as you are is going to be sustainable for?

Forgot to mention parents, some are absolutely lovely, others make you want to quit on the spot and seem to relish doing so.

Tweaking from year to year really isn't the case, every child and every year group is different. Nevertheless, it is all the extras that take up the time, just planning and traching would be just about doable. Leading a subject (no extra pay), data collecting, inputting and analysing, marking, SEND MyPlans, Early Intervention Plans, Behaviour Plans, extra curricular 'voluntary' clubs after school, pupil progress reporting and monitoring, adapted materials for SEN/D children.

Also the meetings - termly meetings with all the MyPlan parents, parents evening, behaviour meetings, subject monitoring, cpd, safeguarding training, reporting and follow-up, ATS meetings, S&L meetings, social worker meetings...never ending!

Yesterday I was in school from 7:20 until 5:45, when the school closed. I did another hour in the evening and will then need to do a little over the weekend. In the holidays I always spend at least one day per week reviewing MyPlans, planning the next half term, timetabling etc.

Then there's the things TA's used to have time to help with, but now can't as they are so overloaded themselves with preparation and implementation of interventions and in class support for those with SEND. So printing, chopping up, photocopying, displays, laminating, certificates etc also all need to be done.

I actually do love it, I'm in the second ECT year and being with the children is amazing, but my pay is at the very lower end of your estimate and per hour is way less than I got previously as an HLTA because of the hours needed. Other, more experienced, teachers at my school work just as many hours, though obviously they do earn more.

It's a fantastic job and has been a really positive experience, but it is exhausting and takes over your life!

TA is not good pay due to the pro-rata thing. All of our TAs also do lunchtime duties and before and after-school club too to boost their pay. And holiday clubs too.

I've been a teacher for nearly 30 years. It's a lot harder and more involved a job now than it was when I started. And lots of things determine how long you'll have to spend doing the job.

I've been at my school a long time, so know all the systems. And we have worked hard to lighten the load for things like marking and other paperwork.

I'm new to my yeargroup this year and teaching everything for the first time so often it's taking a lot longer to plan and prep resources. Next year will be quicker. We never teach everything one year the very same as the previous year, but a lot of things can be re-used.

Behaviour isn't horrific in my school, although occasionally we can have some very challenging pupils.

@Jk987 Not at all. It really is horrific for so many. Totally different now to when I started out 22 years ago - very often no respect from parents and relentless work loads. Huge demands from SEND pressures too which is forever increasing.
It may sound "minor", but things were often particularly bad when I was on my period because I was unable to visit the bathroom when I need to and would bleed through. That's not unusual.
Experienced teachers are frequently being
"managed out" simply because they are too expensive. I was regularly doing 12 hr plus days which was unsustainable with a young child of my own. The demands of the job now is breaking so many incredibly talented teachers - just look at the recruitment and retention crisis.
What is your experience in education?