Teaching assistants quitting schools for supermarkets because of 'joke wages'

[noblegiraffe]

Finally getting some mainstream press attention:

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/09/teaching-assistants-quitting-schools-for-supermarkets-because-of-joke-wages

The article is very clear that schools cannot afford to pay higher wages for support staff. The DfE comment at the bottom says it is up to schools to improve support staff pay.

The education sector is falling apart. Teacher redundancies mean bigger class sizes. Fewer teaching assistants means zero in-class support unless your child has an EHCP. Recruitment issues mean that even if your child has an EHCP, they might not be able to hire anyone to support them.

The way provision for the most vulnerable students has been eroded over the last decade of school underfunding is devastating.

We had residentials at primary school in the 60s, I lived in a very working class area of London and I still remember a week away in the Scottish Highlands with much fondness. It must just have depended on the school or area as to whether this was available.

I think again from my observation the new TAs will actually say no. They will not take on a small class if its not been approved beforehand and they have all the resources and lesson plan.

When I was helping train them I used to say you will be expected to take certain students out of a group and out of the class and teach them. Its at the teachers discretion. I still ask the teacher which student/ students do you want me to assist or take out of the lesson? But this is not common practice anymore in my school I think.

No, you’re wrong, I’m afraid. I come from exactly that background and area.

Im sorry? Did I give you my address? Did you live on my estate? They did not happen. Not for me, not for my siblings.

For clarity, that’s referring to primary. General multi-day trips only started in secondary. Overseas trips were offered in mid-secondary, but only the rich kids went on those.

I lived in Batley in West Yorkshire as a child and you couldn't get more working class than that! I have worked in Primary schools in the north for over 25 years and every school I've known sends their year 6 children on some sort of residential.

And you did not have to be 'very rich' to afford a week in the Costa del Sol or similar in the 80s- it was fairly commonplace amongst ordinary working families and the middle classes.

Oh stand down, you said my working class northern region. As someone from a region that could be described as the same I think you are wrong to dismiss ‘working class northern’ parents as a homogenous group who wouldn’t let their dc go down to That London
You made a sweeping statement about residentials being some new fangled idea and you won’t admit you got it wrong. Fine

The policy across our entire trust is that for the first 3 days of teacher sickness, TAs will cover the class. It's terrible. Children aren't getting qualified teachers and TAs are expected to be able to teach and have responsibility for peanuts.

Same with nursery workers too sadly. Very concerning. To retain staff they need to be paid more (and deserve it) but that pushes more cost on to parents.

Bet the kids don't. What about when you are teaching 30 5 year olds and one is crying because the miss mummy, one has hit an other child, another has lost their pencil so not done anything and another is complaining the work is too easy!!

So much happens in schools which is based on the goodwill of the staff. After Covid I noticed a massive sea change in what the support staff were willing to do.

Like I mentioned in our school, the TAs were not given a choice during Covid- we had to come in and teach the resource provision students. Despite if we were vulnerable or not we had to come in.

Many of my colleagues caught Covid in the first lockdown and many never came back to school. They took early retirement. Schools senior management have to now deal with a lot of vacancies.

From what I hear the TA vacancies are not being filled because the candidates are not suitable. Again that's just their opinion. From my perspective I think they were able to take advantage of a generation of women's problems with finding both affordable and suitable childcare.

Not to derail but my neighbour is on maternity leave, her employer, a major private corporation has accepted her request for extra maternity leave and she can come back on a phased return of 2 days a week.

More employers are offering flexible working arrangements. This will affect support vacancies in schools. For a long time it was only schools who offered flexibility in work patterns, that's not true anymore.

No TAs at all- how????

There must be about 15 TAs at our school. Half have degrees and are ex teachers. I’m one and my timetable is rammed. I’m doing SEN interventions, EHCP support, maths/Eng groups,physio, the new gov phonic intervention (that says to use TAs), playground/lunchtime duty, administering medication, sorting injuries, admin……

How can any school manage without a single TA?🤔

Same in my school.

I wonder what will happen with the upcoming industrial action? I’m sure the government passed legislation in the summer to say that agent staff can cover for striking staff members. If the teachers strike, can heads use TAs to cover and keep the schools open?

If Unison and the NAHT strike on the same day, it would be a different situation, but that’s getting into ‘coordinated strike action’ territory which the government don’t like either!

They didn’t happen in the 80s where I was. Nor in the early 90s.

To quote myself - where I was. And no it was not common for working class people on my estate to go abroad. In fact, on my estate it was not common for working class people to go on holiday at all, and my family were sometimes viewed as posh on my estate for this and other reasons.

Of course nowadays the definition of "working class" has expanded to include people who would have been considered "middle class" by us back then. the English language has changed to the point where it is remarkably difficult to communicate sometimes face-to-face, let alone over the internet.

I certainly did a residential trip at primary school in the 1980s. To the Isle of Wight. It was staffed by three teachers (the headteacher took lessons for one class all week so an additional teacher could go on the residential) and a couple of retired teachers who agreed to go along. Goodness knows what was in it for them!

A family of four in a 2 bed council flat, coal fires, meter for the leccy, dad a factory worker who despite working his arse off all his life was really badly paid, mum a dinner lady to fit round us kids with family allowance available for the second child only onwards as the only state benefit, no family car, in Clapham in saaf London in the 60s - no matter how much you think might get ‘lost in translation’ over time 🤣, we were definitely working class!

What did your parents do for a living @ParsleySageRosemary ? We were a family of four in a 2 bed terraced house, I shared a room with my brother, my dad was an engineer in a factory and worked full time and my mum was a part time cleaner. We wore second hand clothes, went on holidays to blackpool in a caravan, and were firmly working class. My primary school was largely full of a mix of kids from the adjacent council estate, a few from a more middle class private housing estate, and some, like me from the terraced houses in the older part of the area. Just because your school didn't offer you a residential trip doesn't mean that other similar schools weren't offering residential trips or that it wasn't 'a thing' bak then. As other posters have pointed out- residential primary school trips have been a happening for decades, even in deprived areas.

Anyone family who has financial difficulties will be offered financial help from school.

Oh goodness. Last time, and only because I have lots of things better to do. @Theskyisfullofbirds I wasn't talking to you in previous post. I was talking to @Saucery, who declared that I had said something I hadn't. If @Theskyisfullofbirds wants an answer to their last comment, 'saaf London' was not the north, London has always had more opportunities open to it than where I came from.

All clear now? Only this is very boring.

Sorry for typos- too much wine!

the working class area I grew up in and the one oh lived in didn’t have the variety of school trips there are nowadays but all seemed to do an outward bound trip for y6 to a hostel in the Lake District Im guessing that the vast majority did something similar

Eh? Some London boroughs are some the most deprived areas in the country. How did they have more opportunities for school trips than anywhere else?

🤣

This is an open forum and people can comment on any of the posts without being policed by you.

As others have said previously, London has, and always has had, some of the most deprived boroughs in the country. In the entire country.

But just you keep on digging.

I didn't read it as that and took it to mean those that shout loudest get the most leaving some with higher needs who don't get support as the pot is finite. I think SEN is a bit of a postcode lottery. Our LA has good central support and the schools I know have very experienced and well qualified SENDCOs. There is also a very clear process for applying for an EHCP which are issued if threshold is met.

I used to be a teaching assistant with special needs and quit as my pay did not cover child care so will be lost financially more if I will work.
The pay is terrible for what we do as was almost minimum wage and pro rata so holiday not paid.
What was my role
Dealing with challenging behaviour:
Violence both verbal and psychical
Being kick, hair grabbing, bitten, spat on, throw thinks, etc
Medical needs: gastro feed, emergency medication, epilepsy medication, asthma, oxygen, and first aid,

Other teaching assistant training which is many like autism, salt, ot, physio.

Personal care :
Changing student without capacity of understanding make very hard for some student how make this more difficult.
Feeding

If anyone thinking of volunteers without having experience doing the job in the school then take it and go yourself as this is much harder than some people think