Teaching Assistants... Do You Enjoy Your Job?

[NoMudNoLotus]

Hello

I am a mental health nurse and i have been for 20 years now ( i have worked with teens in this role ).

I am now looking to leave and would love to be a teaching assistant or work in a pastoral or behaviour support role.

I have lots of transferable skills , I really need to improve my quality of life , and i think this would help.

If you work in one of these roles do you enjoy it ? What do you enjoy about it ? And what experience/ qualifications did you have ?

TIA 

I was a TA for 9 years in a primary school.
I loved it. Previous to this I was a Nursery Practitioner.
I started out in Reception 1:1 with a child with Downs, then worked throughout KS1 and 2.
I have an NVQ Level 3 in Early Years.

I was a learning support assistant a long time ago. The kids were great but the pay was horrific.

Level 3 in Early Years qualified. Used to work in a nursery/pre-school. I'm now a TA in a primary school. I'm in the nursery class, there are 53 children in the class. 3 member of staff.

Other than the planning work, the day to day duties is split between the 3 of us. It's an incredibly loud, noisy, stressful and often overwhelming situation. Our duties are constantly being pushed to expand. What else can we do? What else can we offer? Run a dinner time club? Become a first aider? Etc etc. Being a TA sadly doesn't seem to be enough these days.

The pay is shocking for the level of workload and responsibilities. And I mean really bad.

Honestly, I would think long and hard about getting into it. Back in the day, it was very much that, an assistant role. Not so much anymore.

Sorry to be negative. I've had a awful day.

I love it!
The pay is rubbish but when you take into account that you only get paid for 39 (?) hours of the year and really only a part time amount of hours (I’m 27.5), actually I don’t mind the low pay.
Of course if someone wanted to pay me more, I wouldn’t complain!! I often end up buying things for the class or for experiments etc, have bought PE kits and school shoes for children, things like that.
But I love skipping out at 3pm and knowing that my working day is over.
No weekend working, no work based things in the evening. My work:life ratio is as it should be, and I can spend the evenings with my dc or doing whatever takes my fancy.
It’s not perfect, the lack of money in education means we are all being stretched thinly, and there aren’t enough hours in the day realistically to cover what I’d like, but i do my best and genuinely look forward to going to work every day.
I love building a rapport with the kids and watching their minds work to solve problems, and seeing the sense of pride and satisfaction they get from persevering. It’s a fab job!

39 weeks of the year, not hours!

I love my job but agree with Dorunjon that more and more is expected these days.

I have done yrs 3-6 (KS2)

I booster children in the afternoon (in small groups) through interventions which I am expected to plan myself. I am based in the classroom in the morning (core subjects).

I think which teacher you are working with can make or break you tbh. That said, I have been very lucky in this respect.

3 members of staff to 53 children? Are all the children there at the same time?!

hmmwhatatodo Yes. Full time, all in one class.

I have been a TA for ten years and the only things that has increased is responsibilities. Its not a career unless you use it as a stepping stone to train as a teacher.

I would look into fam support work or pastoral care at a secondary school, more pay & more prospects.
Or specialist behaviour schools such as Mulberry Bush school which do amazing work by amazing people.

I can’t get my head around 3:53. Is it 2 qualified teachers or something? Sounds awful anyway.

No, not 2 qualified teachers. Hate to say it, but yes it's as awful as it sounds. I'm seriously considering leaving. Few years ago we had an intake of 59. Sadly it's nothing new and nothing is going to change in the foreseeable future either

Dorunjon - the ratio with a teacher responsible for the group is still 1:3 for Nursery age children. So 39 dc should be the max. Surely OFSTED would be interested in that?

Thank you so much everyone its really interesting to hear everyone's experiences.

The 3.30ish finish and the holidays would be a big bonus for me as i have a family.

I genuinely am frightened that nursing at the level i am doing will most probably put me into an early grave and i need to act.

I cant explain how intolerable the stress is - yes i will be earning a lot less , but its quality of life im looking for now.

@dojonrun
That ratio is shocking. There should be 1:13 if there is a qualified teacher leading the class, and 1:8 if not.

Sorry, my post missed a '1' off the 13, (though I hope it made sense when I said 39 for 3 adults)