jobs after being a teaching assistant.

[chaosD]

Hi I'm some advice, inspiration anything!

I'm currently a level 2 TA working with autistic children. After having kids I sort
of drifted into working in schools but the
pay is dreadful..My kids are 10 and 15 so I still need flexilbilty for school holidays etc. I'm 50,🙄 menopausal and I don't know how I can continue such an emotionally
and physically demanding job. I thought about training to be a teacher as I have a degree but working in schools has put me right off the idea. Anybody sucessfully moved on from being a T a ?

(BTW, you’re not obliged to respond to each poster individually!)

Lots of grad schemes to get into social work or similar. Full time whilst training though.
Probation officer?

Ex TA here. Now do an admin job in Children’s Services - completely flexible, WFH 99% of the time unless you prefer to go to the office, a colleague is term time only. Waaaaay less exhausting than being a TA!

Occupational therapist

It’s a shame you’ve been put off. Some people sure do like to moan!

I used to be a TA and now I’m a primary school teacher. I absolutely love it, I work 8:15-3:30 (plus one weekly after school meeting).

If you find the right school, and find systems to ensure your day doesn’t run away with you, I really do think it’s a fantastic job. Starting salary is £30k + 24% pension for what is basically a part time job in my opinion. Plus 13 weeks off!

There seem to be a lot of school admin/finance roles being advertised at the moment (Birmingham).

Can you update OP on your research on an alternative career and exit strategy? Did you move forwards?

Watching with interest as I’m in the same quandary!

Hi! I know this thread is from so long ago but I’m currently looking for a career change since having my daughter and seriously considering TA to then be able to progress to teaching one day, I wondered how difficult this was to do? I’m going to be 34 this year and wondering whether I’ve left it too late to be taking this path. Can I ask how long you were a TA for and how long and whether the profession process of teaching was difficult?
Any advice would be hugely appreciated! Thank you so much

I used to be a TA and a nursery nurse and now deliver work based training. Think old NVQ assessor, but now they're diplomas. The work can be very stressful, but I manage my own diary and still get to be around children when doing workplace assessments. I also get to work from home on admin and tutorial days, as we deliver over teams.

I'd be cautious about this, this is not the experience of many (or any) of the teachers I know. Most are in school from 7:30 until 5/6 and still end up having to do quite a bit of work at home. Primary school teachers are paid for about 35-37 hours a week (and not for the holidays, the pay is just split across those so each month is even).

Every week primary teachers have to plan, make/print materials, teach, mark, assess and input data for something like this:
5 maths lessons
5 English lessons
5 booster maths lessons
3 spelling lessons
3 Guided Reading lessons
SPaG
Geography
History
Art
DT
RE
Music
PSHE
Computing
French *(depending on key stage)
PE (sometimes done by an external provider)
Homework
Morning work
Separate work for children on a support plan usually 5/6 in each class.
Other interventions to help those who struggle with the enormous curriculum.

Teachers are given around 3.5 hours a week planning time to have all this ready. I'm sure it is very rewarding at times, but it's unrealistic to get that anywhere near done in the time allowed and so relies on teachers giving more and more. Many I think end up leaving because they didn't really know what was going to be expected, it's better to be realistic about it from the start.

Thank you, I really appreciate the thorough advice!

She needs to make a living! These are good ideas for someone who wants volunteering options.

Oh, Zombie thread

Seriously? I don’t know one teacher that finishes at 3.15.