"Gold dust" school jobs

[Smartsub]

I am currently trying to recruit for support staff in school. I need kitchen, staff, admin and TAs. All term time only and all school hours. The jobs I've previously seen referred to on here as "gold dust".

We are getting hardly any applications and those we do get a poor. Admittedly the money is poor, but that's always been the case. Until a couple of years ago the difficult part was sifting through the 100s of applications we'd get for such jobs, now we rarely get more than a handful.

What's changed?

Wfh has meant more options for work/life balance.

It's interesting because it's perceived responsibility. We've recently done re evaluations of the job descriptions for these roles, with our external HR consultants, to check they are in the right grading bands for the skills and responsibilities.

I appreciate staff feel responsible, but they aren't and we are at pains to tell them that. Obviously I don't know what happens in other schools, but SLT absolutely does take responsibility here.

Anyway, I can't change the LA grading structure. The jobs pay what they pay and we have to try and work with that.

@Smartsub do you mind me asking what the pay is and whereabouts approximately the role is based ? I'm curious as I've often thought I'd like to do this type of role when I return to work in a few years (currently sahp) but haven't looked at applying for this type of role before. Is the money really that bad ?

It's been all over the news that that vacancies presently outnumber the number of people seeking work:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61475720

It's also been all over the news that inflation is at a 40 year high and there's a cost of living crisis.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61483175

Those two things taken together are clearly going to mean that low-paid jobs are not presently gold dust.

You say your TAs are paid as unqualified teachers when they cover - missing the point entirely.
When did TAs become supply teachers?
No official training, no status as teachers, not the same pay as teachers but expected to work as a teacher ? When did this become the norm? ( and it may happen rarely in your school but I bet it happens far more now than it did 5/10/15 years ago )

🙌

Hopefully this means they’ll start paying TAs more!

Insulting and not at all true.

It’s not “perceived” responsibility - I’m not the only person this thread who has walked out of TA jobs for this reason. Also why bother starting the thread if you just wanted to say you were powerless to adapt to the reasons you are given?

Isn't it remarkable how being positive about change and other such millennial guff only applied for as long as it meant workers got worse deals than before.

FTE will be about £23k, for an admin officer or TA, but because support staff aren't paid for holidays the actual pay is even worse.

Does the pay reflect inflation?

I'm an ex School Business Manager and feel that all roles in schools have responsibilities attached to them, whether it's feeding children, helping them to learn, working in reception or being an SBM. I think it's important to be flexible, pay a decent rate and offer added benefits such as subsidised training. It is much harder to recruit now but you will only attract good staff if you up the pay.

My (Special) school is experiencing the same problem. Years go when I started there there were many applicants for TA posts.. most of them excellent and technically over qualified too..most of us held degrees.

But.. the pay is shite, and sorry but the responsibility is huge, especially as the teachers left and couldn't be recruited and TAs end up leading the class for months on end, but without the pay .

I left in March after 17 years... tired of managing challenging behaviour, profound medical problems (tube fed, epilepsy etc etc) with not enough staff, no bloody fun since Covid hit... it's not very appealing to be trapped in one classroom for two years, unable even to play with other classes, and paid near minimum wage, while other people work from home!

I finally burnt out, and left for an adult support worker job. The pay is no better but the conditions are VERY different...and we are treated decently.

Mine WAS a great school, but budget cuts, lack of funding, lack of moral support let alone recognition for what we do...

There are easier, nicer jobs out there now, even if you need to work around children. Until school support staff ( and teachers for that matter) are paid better and treated better the crisis will only get worse.
'

Erm that’s crap, I know plenty of TA’s that work 2 jobs to make ends meet, how could you possibly make such a blanket statement

I nearly applied for an admin role in my son’s school- this would be a significant pay cut for me BUT the term time only nature of it appealed to me. However I then realised that it would just create another headache for me in that I’d need wrap around care for him after school, which we don’t need currently because my corporate role is flexible. And the pay cut plus added childcare costs made it suddenly seem like a really stupid idea.

It’s become the norm in most schools. The difference in pay is teensy.

I'm interested to understand the reasons. I can't change the system for these current vacancies, but if I understand I might be able to influence things for the future.

I'm not dismissive of these staff at all. I know how important they are and I have been one. They're very skilled in many cases, but they don't hold responsibility personally.

The money has always been poor, but until recently the jobs were still easily filled. I remember when I applied for my first school job the business manager phoned me to make sure I understood the pay, as it was such a pay cut. Even in my current role, I don't earn as much as I did in the private sector a decade ago. I am happier though.

Yes, we have a mixture of the two. Some are former SAHMs whose salary is for "extras" in their households.

Some are single parents who need school hours because they have no support with childcare. Often that group don't have the qualifications or experience to earn more for the same hours elsewhere though.

Term time only is an issue for single parents because it doesn't pay enough to get the Job centre off your back so it's pointless. I'd love to work term time only but it's not enough money or hours so I couldn't do it.

I couldn't be a TA as I'm not keen on children other than my own.

Do a FOI request for your local secondary academy to find out how many "teachers" are unqualified. My school isn't an academy and almost all teachers are qualified or working towards qualifying, but I'm close to the business manager at our nearest secondary and they have c. 20% of teachers unqualified. It's really very common, parents won't know.

It's not right, I agree, but it's much bigger than TAs being used for cover.

I’m intrigued to know what TAs do in your school that means you don’t think they have any responsibility.
At the minute, our school wouldn’t function without them. It’s exam season and so the vast majority are being used to provided access arrangements in the exams. This is a huge responsibility…I’m an experienced teacher and head of department and whilst yes, the results ultimately come back to me, the responsibility for that pupil with access arrangements on the day lies with the TA.
Don’t forget that they are often tasked with working with the most vulnerable of children in schools. I have a pupil in my class who regularly leaves the room (runs away) when they become overwhelmed. I cannot leave the room to find them as I have the rest of the class to teach so it falls to the TA to ensure the safety and safeguarding of that pupil.
Our TAs also provide extra literacy and numeracy lessons for pupils who have fallen behind (more than ever recently) during form time. I would say that’s a big responsibility trying to get 16 year olds past their current 8 year old reading level.
And whilst schools budgets are as they are there really isn’t much wriggle room for their pay (appalling) but the recognition of the responsibility they have each day might help them feel more appreciated. My local area is currently getting through TAs like water and the majority of the ones who have left that I have spoken to site too much work and work (responsibility) above their pay grade.

It will almost certainly be due to many parents now having more flexibility in jobs since covid. So can drop off / pick up and have kids at home in the holidays. And earn a lot more money

Because schools have historically taken the absolute piss out of women.

Offer a fraction over minimum wage, then you lop off 20% for TTO and another 20% for every hour less a day, give them too much responsibility, no breaks, hefty guilt trips about working for free 'oh, but the children!' and 'teachers work unpaid, too', give them far less favourable contract terms or pension provision - and then to add to that, they get spoken to like dirt by SLT.

75% of the admin staff at mine have either left, handed in their notice or have threatened that they will walk if they are ever spoken to in that manner ever again over the last month. At this rate, they will find themselves with two cleaners and a TA to run the entire place come September.

You don't have a captive workforce anymore. You're just going to have to treat them better and pay them better.

TA used to be a good job if you wanted family-friendly hours and a bit of extra money. TAs are now treated appallingly. They are constantly used for cover so the school doesn't have to pay supply teachers and in my school are paid just £1 an hour on top of their usual rate for this, even if they end up covering for a week.

I do wonder if Heads are sufficiently imaginative in filling these roles. I was a parent and governor in a school where the Head was cleaning toilets and supervising lunch time. I would have happily volunteered to help had I known the situation; she just didn’t communicate the staffing need to parents at the time.

16 hours on the living wage is the threshold for an extra 15 hours of nursery place. Do you have a nursery? Is there one nearby? Can you approach mums who are stuck in the Catch 22 of not getting 30 hours of nursery because they can’t find the childcare to do the work to cross the 16 hour threshold and solve the problem for them (by giving them 16 hours of work)….

Can you fund a crèche for lunch times or share across schools?

where are you advertising? Do the parents in your school know that you have vacancies? If yes, how do you know? Are there parents who are wrongly discounting themselves? Can you directly approach them (and tell them the story of how you started).

what about A level students who are about to take a gap year - get enough on rotation and you could help fund their travels and build a cv … same with uni grads and so on.

also, is a hot lunch included? Are there any other ways that you could show your appreciation such as support for training, professional development etc.