Can teaching assistants teach class alone…for half of the week

[Beachholidaying1979]

I found out today that for the last 2 months, dd teacher has gone part time and TA now teaches the class snow for the other half. fine, no problem, but she cannot control the class and they do what they like and don’t learn a lot.
Before I speak to school I just want some options, is this acceptable?

It is masking what a serious shortage we have and how its been brewing.

In my local schools most classes have an hlta for a day a week as routine ... and have done fir years. So that's 1/5 less teacher contact time already before you put hltas in for those off sick/classes you can't recruit/cover for.

One of the problems with supply is that supply teachers used to be able to claim expenses so it was worth travelling 40 miles each way or in my case spending a few weeks in a hotel.

Now you can't, the government's reasoning was that it was 'unfair' and I do get that if it is the local school but the amounts I have been offered have gone through the roof, but are still not worth it eg I was offered £250 a day, but it would mean spending 4 nights a week in a hotel and a 3 hour commute each week.

It's not right but it's fairly typical of many schools across the country. There aren't sufficient teachers because the Government has not done enough to make the profession attractive, both to join and to remain in. As such, the gaps are filled by those who are available. The Government knew this years ago which is one of the reasons why academies and free schools do not have to employ any qualified teachers at all.

Some TAs / HLTAs are amazing. Mine is the only person I would trust to have my class if I were out on a course, etc. But not every one is like mine and the use of support staff as long-term cover is not acceptable at all. At a previous school, the SLT couldn't replace the class teacher when she left at Christmas and so put a HLTA teaching the class full time from January until the end of the year. It did have a damaging impact on the class and I'm shocked more parents weren't openly complaining.

I dont know what the rules are but my son in Yr6 (especially after SATS) barely saw his actual teacher who was in the building. He was either taught by the TA or left without an adult to finish worksheets. Pointing this out made me a very bad person apparently.

I know this happens but imo they should be being paid the teacher rate if that is what they are doing and I know they don't always.

Academies do not have to have qualified teachers which I which I had known before spending 6 years doing a PT degree, one year doing school experience and another doing teacher training.

Eight years working towards a goal for absolutely nothing.

That's disgusting how are they allowed to do that?!

Of course it isn't good enough. But they are allowed to do it and may be unable to recruit / get supply. I'd complain (politely) to the school and to your MP.

I wouldn’t be happy if this was happening in my child’s class.

a teacher goes to uni to become qualified TA’s aren’t qualified. My impression of TA’s are that they are there to assist the teacher with the class, not take them.

that’s like sending a sales assistant in a chemist to make up all the prescriptions.
or asking the bus driver to go to the garage and fix his broken bus.

They are familiar with the job but it’s not the actual job they are qualified for.

Basically in my area every secondary school is now an academy and they are like privately run businesses with all sorts of management but not able to afford to recruit teachers with QTS.

I trained in Computer Science and many of the PCs were older than the students using them in class.

It may just be that where I live is an outlier and other places are different but the education system is being messed with in a similar way to the NHS.

So if a teacher is a person who is qualified to teach explain how there can be such a thing as an "unqualified teacher".

Think about it, it is mad!!

There are no teachers. My school is a teacher short, we've advertised twice now. We've had to join two classes together three days a week and have a supply teacher the other two days.

I don't know if there still is (I'm retired) but there used to be a point on the pay scale for unqualified teachers. They were people who had a degree but not a teaching qualification, sometimes music teachers with relevant music qualifications.

TAs do have qualifications but not usually teaching qualifications. It's generally a two year FE college course with placements in schools. As pointed out above some TAs do have teaching qualifications but can't be bothered with the stress and out of school work and who can blame them.

I do think it's wrong to push people into a role they have not trained for and make them do a teacher's job for lower pay. It's wrong for them and it's wrong for the children but, as a teacher, I would sometimes prefer a known TA rather than an unknown supply teacher taking the class because they knew the children and knew the routine. I had no decision making role in that, though, it was based on the availability of a supply teacher and financial considerations.

It's also a pretty disgusting way to fill a gap without paying for it. Use a HLTA/TA to cover a class but only pay HLTA/TA salary, which everyone knows is not as much as Teachers get.

Yep, all the responsibility but not the money.

Yes our local secondary has a TA teaching maths to those in their final year of GCSE's. And this is a really good school that I'd have thought a lot of teachers would want to work at.

Is it an academy?

It's not ideal, but we're struggling to get supply staff and numbers are seriously down on the amount who apply for jobs of any kind in the school from MDS-teacher.

Could be it's a demanding class and she's torn before control and trying to reach. Are you in a position to volunteer to help out in class, reading, help with art work - it'd all take the pressure off.

Its a nice idea but offering to help would only relieve the pressure if the TA is used to delegating and working with a team. It could put more pressure on her if she feels she's being watched.

And this is a really good school that I'd have thought a lot of teachers would want to work at.

My current (private) school struggle to recruit for maths and physics at the moment, as does my former (grammar) school. The lack of teachers in shortage subjects has been a problem in some schools for quite a while, but is now so bad it is having a significant impact in all schools.

Yep it’s legal. My sister in law is the year 3 class teacher. No degree, not qualified. She was originally a TA in the school. It’s a cost saving measure and not illegal in academies.

Not according to this blog page - Can Teaching Assistants teach a class on their own?

You can teach in an academy without any teaching qualifications.

And the government want all schools to be academies...

It will be teaching by powerpoint/numbers soon by any warm body.

The writer of the blog is wrong.

In all settings, teaching assistants can cover lessons when needed provided both they and SLT feel confident in their ability to do so. What shouldn't happen is the use of teaching assistants as long-term cover.

In academies and free schools, no teaching qualitications or teacher training is needed to be employed as a "teacher" or to cover classes in the short or long-term. Many secondaries employ their own in-house cover team to fill the gaps in their staffing. In some settings, it's reached a point where some students haven't had a qualified teacher in specific subjects for years.

Which the cynic in me would say is the real end goal of things like Oak Academy and WalkThrus.