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.

The advertised pay for TAs is awful anyway, but when you take it as term time only but paid over the 52 weeks it is poverty levels of wage. My sister gave up her TA job to work as a band 3 and although the NHS has major problems, the salary, low end of NHS as it is, is "rock star" compared to her TA salary. Also TAs are only building up miniscule pensions too.

There are volunteers that do highly skilled and challenging jobs.
BUT volunteers are supposed to be an enhancement, not replace paid staff. Who would take on a job as a volunteer knowing the person used to get paid?
And charities in general are struggling with volunteers. Most people who volunteer are retired. Younger retired people do not seem so interested in volunteering.

I think what this ignores is the impact on those who potentially have employment prospects if they received the teacher attention they are entitled to. In an underfunded, overwhelmed system where teachers are managing classes with several higher needs children entirely unsupported, then the rest of the class do not receive the education or make the progress they are entitled to.

Schools do use volunteers. Loads of them. I did 9 years with my DD's primary school (I carried on after she left). I am ex-teacher and wanted to help a bit. Unpaid obviously. I took small groups of 5-10 kids. There were quite a few other parents doing the same - hearing kids read, helping with trips, morning break milk, that sort of thing. Not to mention all those on the PTA. The problem with volunteers is that you can get loads in middle class areas where there are lots of stay at home mums (and a few dads) but not where you really need them.

The schools with loads of kids needing extra help with literacy and numeracy tend to be in areas where there are fewer volunteers - this can be for lots of reasons: larger families so more likely to be looking after other kids at home, more likely to be shift workers so knackered in the day, maybe have literacy or numeracy problems of their own, maybe have bad memories of their own schooling so don't want to come in, ones that never engage and never come into schools anyway even for parents' evenings, ones with chronic health problems from deprivation type problems with housing or lifestyle problems such as smoking, drinking, other addictions (asthma, emphysema, etc., etc.) maybe meaning they don't leave the house much, etc., etc. (This was the sort of school I taught in when I did teach professionally - we hardly saw any parents).

And the number of middle class mothers who will volunteer is going to drop off a cliff as mortgage rates rise and fewer families can afford the luxury of one parent at home.

@outtheshowernow

TAs don't get 12 week paid holiday. Maybe check facts before spouting off shit?

Quite the dilemma. Maybe people on the new "work for dole" scheme could be allocated to schools.

Neither do TAs. They are paid a pro rata salary that is stretched out over the year. They only get the usual 20 days holiday plus bank holidays.

@toomuchlaundry every school in Ireland has a Special education teacher or team who’s sole purpose is to do 1:1’s, small group work etc etc. these are qualified teachers also. They could be in the SET group for 2-3 years and then the rotate back into the classroom.

I used to work at a SEN school. I remember the TAs having deep bruises and cuts on their arms, bite marks, etc. They very rarely got any kind of break from the beginning of the day until the end, and lots of them were serving breakfast at breakfast club or running the afterschool clubs as well. Several were older women. One of my own TAs had her finger broken by a student; another was kicked in the stomach while pregnant. I have no idea how they tolerated it. These people are heroes working for poverty wages.

Now you are having a laugh.
You are functionally illiterate? Go and work as a TA and a cover supervisor.
You have mental health issues and find it hard to control your emotions?
Go and work as a TA and tell that 14 year old with SEN to fuck off when they say you are a saddo.

@ AntlerRose All very lovely but actually it would be far better to have someone who is actually trained. I am a now a Specialist Teacher in secondary schools working with students with low literacy levels . I spend quite a bit of time trying to undo the poor reading strategies students have developed. Struggling readers and children with SEND deserve support from qualified teachers not from a TA or someone’s Mum/Nan/Dad who has done a morning’s training on reading. TAs should be capable of supporting the more able students in the class - they should be well-trained and paid accordingly. What is expected of TAs compared to their level of pay is a disgrace. It is also a disgrace that children with the most need are often taught for much of their school day by people with no teacher training.

I took small groups of 5-10 kids. There were quite a few other parents doing the same - hearing kids read, helping with trips, morning break milk, that sort of thing

This is great, but not what a TA does. Highly skilled, 1:1 TAs for children with EHCPs do a skilled, vital and hugely undervalued role that is SO different from anything a volunteer would or could do. Like the role of an NGS volunteer is not a replacement fir a GP or skilled practice nurse.

As a TA who is thinking of doing just that, I have to comment on the posters who think volunteers or different random people could do this job.

We build up a relationship with these kids - we spot the sad ones, the worried ones, the ones behaving differently. In my school we patch up skinned knees, ice bumped heads and find lost teeth.

We are a safe space, a sounding board and sometimes we get physically hurt by kids who don't understand their actions.

We take classes, take one to one sessions, nurture times, teach reading and maths to those that didn't get it first time round.

We are trusted and we love those kids like they're our own. And we do it all for minimum wage, which I can't afford to live on now. I'm degree qualified, trained in so many aspects of child care and I could earn more in lidl. Sad fact.

This is great, but not what a TA does. Highly skilled, 1:1 TAs for children with EHCPs do a skilled, vital and hugely undervalued role that is SO different from anything a volunteer would or could do. Like the role of an NGS volunteer is not a replacement fir a GP or skilled practice nurse.

Exactly. I volunteer on trips and at events too and I think things like readers coming in are great, but that's in addition to the trained staff needed. Not instead of.

I am one of those TAs who has left to work in shop. I worked in a SEN school, loved my job, was hard work and people really don't understand how much responsibility TAs have. But I loved it. However I couldn't afford to carry on, and my workload was getting bigger. I talk to my former colleagues all the time and they are understaffed, over worked and more and more are leaving. When I handed my notice in I cried, I miss the kids. And the head of the school is just at a loss what to do when she loses staff through no fault of hers, she just can't pay more!

I was merely highlighting that schools do use volunteers but it only works in a limited and specific way to counter the idea they could replace trained professionals if not least because we cant get volunteers to volunteer for more than the lenghth of time it takes to hear more than one reader. For the record, this isnt the only support the children get - its targeted at children who dont have send but who arent getting the opportunity to read at home at all. Its been really succesful. That doesnt mean i think it should replace either class TAs or SEN TAs because neither of those roles suit volunteering.

They won't get 12 weeks paid holiday a year in a supermarket this does not apply as in salary, but it does mean they are not playing childcare for their own DC. Saving over £2000 pa, per child?
Many TAs, including myself, are fully qualified teachers who don't want the stress of being the main teacher And you can see why your salary will be lesser now your role is much less demanding.
The majority of TA's I come across are not ex-teachers. One, for example, packed socks, another was a carer. These people are content with their new roles.

I trained for two years as a TA, even adding extra SEN study. I was in my first role for a year and told that the school wasn't able to keep all the TA's on for the next school year and they would let us know in July if we had a job. So I moved to another school. It wasn't mentioned at interviewat the new school, nor in my contract, that I was expected to cover the teacher's absence and take the class. I was there to support a pupil with high SEND needs; and if I was taking the class that pupil would have no one to one support. I was paid minimum wage and also expected to do written planned support for this pupil. I left and went into social care supporting adults with learning development needs. Much less stressful and even though it was longer hours (so more pay) I enjoyed it so much more.

Pp are right to point out teachers are paid ft but get holidays off, ta's only get paid tt and pro rata holiday. I am a teacher BTW.
Problem is the very low pay, standards are variable. A lot are actually teachers and used as 1-1 which works well. I'm not sure how much use they are in a secondary classroom, usually ours are assigned to 1 but they are ok just need someone for health reasons, but then I've never been asked to plan for them and they are very useful in knowing the class well.
The sen team run a whole load of things behind the scenes and student support I think is required for those who are in mainstream and ok academically but can't do a full tt. Unless you get involved as a teacher you wouldn't know.

Other issue is research suggests ta's don't really improve results. Ofsted seems to be looking more at other things too now so maybe this perception will change, yes they don't affect most but the kids they are assigned to may still be behind on progress but would be far further behind without them, and they have someone they trust.

Primary I think should have 2 ta's if possible, to cover ft in the classroom or small interventions. In addition to Amy 1-1 required. Different ball game to secondary and a totally different job really.

That sounds wonderful (if true,) may I ask what is the proportion/ number of children in your school who have mobility,communication, personal care or behavioural needs that need support either in or outside the classroom? What happens if a child throws up during lesson time, or wets or poos itself ? Does the relief teacher drop what they are doing, wherever they are doing it and come to the classroom? Who deals with playground bumps and scrapes during morning playtime? And how does your school fund PPA time, 10% non contact time for all class teachers, more for teachers completing their probationary period.

@noblegiraffe no, I got a job that pays a decent salary

Relax rules for DBS checks so ex-offenders/individuals on probation could work in schools?

My children both have ehcps and it's nothing but a shit show at the minute. An EHCP doesn't necessarily mean a child needs 1:1 but...

my daughter is the only one in her class with an EHCP. Ta is meant to be 1:1 with Dd but because there's a few needing extra support and some challenging behaviours from other kids in the class my daughter is not getting the right support. Her Ta was placed into another class to cover another ta who was long term off sick so had no support for months last year. I don't begrudge other kids getting support but my daughter is going under the radar a little bit.

my eldest has just started mainstream secondary. He gets 10 units on his EHCP and did get 1:1 at primary. There are no TA's at all supporting him at secondary at the minute, the EHCP budget isn't enough to cover hiring a TA. It's up to the teacher to teach the class and support him.

Great for them, but there aren't enough of them and therefore the job needs to pay more to attract suitable staff.

Children who need 1-1 support often have an EHCP which means their support is funded separately from the school budget. So the TA for that child shouldn’t be the classroom TA.

These children shouldn’t take away from other children’s support but schools often use a child EHCP TA to avoid having to pay their own classroom TA and asking that TA to also look after the rest of the class. That’s what happened with my child despite him being funded for a full time 1-1 TA.