Is a classroom assistant classes as a professional job!

[tulpops]

If you were talking about a C/A or filling out a form, would you describe as being a professional job?

Of course it is, but it isn’t a profession.

It's not about how rated a job is, its specifically about whether you need professional qualifications for it. Doesn't mean those jobs are more meaningful of course.

You do need qualifications to be a TA....
It is a professional role.
Comes with meetings- meetings with parents, SENCO, outside agencies, there is paperwork (a lot) which must be done clearly and set out appropriately and all lessons and interventions logged and assessed. Assess, plan, do, review approach. and then there are appraisals....
TAs effectively deliver the SEN provision in a school. Plus the million other things required in a classroom.

But the pay is shit.

Oh I don't need any qualifications to run my business. But as I'm registered as CEO- ie I've had to go through all the relevant checks. I can sign for a passport.

So it's all just a bit ridiculous. And really sad to see how many people on Mumsnet don't value it as a professional role

What qualifications are required for a TA role? Genuine question as I did not realise it required professional qualifications .

Its nothing to do with not valuing the role, there are many jobs I value for sure but doesn't make them the definition of a professional role.

I've got qualifications to do my job, don't say its a professional job.

Wonder if the op is coming back.

You don’t need qualifications to be a TA. There are various level 2 or 3 courses-similar to those you might do working in a nursery/preschool-but you don’t have to have anything specific.

TA/LSA/HLTA/classroom assistant-none of these roles (now matter how ‘professionally’ some individuals may behave at work) are professions.

Technically most jobs have to have qualifications but professional jobs is a classification, same as manual jobs. Doesn't mean you don't do any qualifications. I'm an accountant but just because its classed as a professional role doesn't make it better that a job that isn't classed as such IMO.

They do value it! Same as anyone with any sense values care workers, cleaners, truck drivers and bin men

The fact they aren’t professions doesn’t make them not important.

Manual, semi skilled and skilled work is really important, as Covid taught us.

Genuinely curious if anyone has ever met a TA with zero qualifications in childcare/teaching

I have a level 5 in early years education. I appreciate that's higher than most. But a level 2/3 minimum is required.

A school would never consider an applicant with nothing to show

Most of the TAs I’ve worked with don’t have any TA qualifications!

Some of the newer (usually younger) ones have got a level 2, maybe 3, but that’s only a handful. You certainly don’t have to have one to be working as a teaching assistant.

What qualifications are actually needed though?

I mean for all schools, not just yours.

No a profession requires registration with a professional body. That body can strip you of the right to do your job - not just sack you.

Yes my understanding is that you have professional qualifications and are registered to a specific professional body.

This is why it's different to a TA etc. L2/3 is GCSE/A levels aren't they? Professional qualifications tend to be after those levels are achieved.

A director of a company is slightly different as they don't necessarily have specific qualifications but they are registered and can be banned from being a director of a company if for instance they have to close their business due to insolvency.

Yup, quite a few. Some worked their way "up" from lunch ladies/cleaners.
Some with just GCSE's . Some did an apprenticeship,work experience , volunteered in the school and were taken on as TA's after. I even know one with some learning difficulties that can't cope with the curriculum past ks1 , but is amazing in early years or with young children with SEN. She definitely has her role/place in the school .

I think there's some confusion between a professional role and a progressional job.

A profession is a job would require a degree- doctor, dentist, surveyor, teacher, lawyer, architect, engineer. All jobs you could not do without training at degree level.

A professional role would include jobs that don't require a degree, but there are often qualifications that can be taken specifically for the role, such as estate agent, teaching assistant. financial advisor.

And then there are jobs which require training to do, but not a degree, such as hairdresser, plumber, electrician. They are not professions, they are trades.

And then there are artists, actors, dancers. All things you can take a degree in, but they're not professions, although you can be a professional artist, professional actor, professional musician etc.

I've worked with TAs who started as parent volunteers and have done their qualifications while working. They started with none.

Exactly this. A profession has a different meaning to being 'professional' as in being competent, diligent, qualified etc in your work. Just because someone's role isn't a profession doesn't mean that they are therefore unprofessional. I've worked with many TAs who are extremely professional, but their job is not a profession.

Describing a job as a 'profession' isn't a value statement, it just means you're a member of a professional body and can therefore be struck off. I used to be a teacher, and therefore had a profession. I'm now a professional writer (because I do it for a living and behave in a professional manner whilst doing it) but my job is not a profession. I have qualifications related to my current job but I couldn't be struck off from ever working as a writer again because I'm not part of a professional body.

Fair enough. You've managed to explain the difference in the posts well and makes complete sense.

It is possible to hire a TA with no qualifications, but usually they would have to be working towards the qualification. In the same way nurseries are legally allowed to have half their staff working on apprenticeships.

I would never expect to sign a passport as a TA, that was when I registered as a business and had all the checks. Which is the same for teachers, doctors, lawyers etc. so that makes much more sense.
But TAs are amazing and really do a fabulous job

A school would never consider an applicant with nothing to show

Of course they would. Cash strapped heads, desperate to hire TAs to support a pupil with additional needs often have to make do with whoever applies. We have hired many TAs with no TA qualifications-many have no maths GCCE or O level. Sometimes it’s that or nobody. When you have pupils with high need funding suddenly arrive at your school, you need someone there.

There is no ‘must have’ qualification for a teaching assistant that all of them need. There is no requirement for heads to release and send TAs on a course once they’ve started either.

Working towards what qualifications though?

I've 10 years experience as a TA, I have a level 2 and 3 in supporting teaching and learning, a handful of other level 2 qualifications and a degree in psychology. I would not consider myself to be working in a professional role.

It’s a paraprofessional role.

TAs are absolutely amazing, I completely agree.

FWIW with the passport thing, I think the reason it used to have to be someone with a profession (I understand that's changed now) was that it made it much easier to verify the identity of the person signing your documents. If you're registered with a professional body, I imagine that would make it much easier to check you are who you say you are because these bodies tend to keep close tabs on their members. So if someone invented a doctor or barrister to 'sign' their passport and that person didn't really exist, it ought to be simpler to discover the signature was phoney IYSWIM.