Teacher to Ta -anyone done this?

[wishing3]

I’m considering switching from a part time primary teacher to a full time TA-maybe level 3 or HLTA position. I am finding teaching stressful but do enjoy many aspects of it and the holidays will fit in well once my two young children reach school age. I feel I might prefer to have to work more hours in school but then not have to think about work so much outside of school hours. Has anyone done this? Any TAs out there-do you enjoy the job add do you find you can switch off and live your life once you leave work? How are your stress levels? Thanks.

Having moved to a office position after ten years - I can honestly say the work is very similar - managing a team - reviews - confidence building, training, organising trips (without risk assements!) although you still have to take into account meal choices or fun choices so everyone can be included!

Pay is far more, overtime available, projects etc etc Can buy up to 20 days holiday plus paid 25 and 9 days bank holiday - so 9 weeks - DH does the same so holidays are covered and for 10 days holiday I do 5 hours overtime to pay for them. It’s win win.

Wouldnt go back!

What job is this please? and why do you prefer it to teaching?

What job is this and how did you get into a office job? pay cut much?

What is this role?!

im so fes up of teaching but what can i do with no experience as i cannot afford a drop in pay.

@Se12345 in the civil service. I took a pay cut to 33k from 42k, but with 2 young kids I could only teach 3 days a week anyway and we had to to pay nursery from 7-6pm on those days. I'm now full time in the civil service but over 4 days, and I only pay nursery for 8-3 as I have flexible hours so that saves a lot of money. So the drop in pay isn't actually as bad as it sounds and it's beyond worth for having 0 stress, flexible hours etc.

If the holidays are still really important in terms of childcare, it could be worth looking at the swap to a TA role.

But whereas full time teacher pay is then what you get when you work. TA pay is always affected by the Pro Rata issue. Full time TA does not mean you'd earn the full time advertised rate, as it's reduced to account for the role being term time only.

Every one of the TAs in our school also works as a midday supervisor, or in the before/after school wrap around care as the pay isn't good enough.

I used to be a secondary school teacher, but when my children were small I worked as a TA in a primary school (not theirs). It served a purpose but some things- like having to tidy up after teachers who were ‘too busy’ to do anything other than throw crap in cupboards- were mind-numbing. I enjoyed the focussed time with the children as I did a lot of intervention for low and high ability, but there was no planning etc

I'm a FT TA/HLTA/MDSA/ELSA/1-1... I get paid about half the amount you do at the moment.
As I work in a small school, it is expected that TAs take on every role... it is pretty full on, running from teaching a class to serving lunch to 1-1 with a child.
I do planning (for which I am not paid) for my ELSA work and often for 1-1 work. When covering a class, the planning is sometimes handed over 5 mins before I'm teaching!
The level of responsibility can be huge depending on the class/children. I definitely take the stress and frustration home with me.
I find it rewarding, but there is so little pay and so little respect that I would find another job if I could find hours that worked around my caring responsibilities at home.

Agree work others it will be a massive pay cut. Teachers are paid an annual salary where TA's in my local authority are term time contracts only. Not sure aboit your area. It would be a difference of almost 2k a month from full time teacher to TA where I am (Scotland)

Did we write a similar question almost at same time on an older thread !

What’s the job title if you don’t mind me asking ? That’s very great to hear !

Haha always! But i am ups3 and a tlr. Trapped.

@DorothyStorm I was also on UPS3/ SLT salary (assistant head 2 days a week of course with no release haha and normal teaching on the others).
I had the mindset of trapped for years before I quit. I also did it when our second started nursery so we were paying over £1k a month nursery.
I've just checked my payslip and I now take home £200 a month less even though I'm on 33k (pension contributions in teaching are massive). But for me I knew that if I carried on teaching I would turn around at 70 and wonder where the hell my life had gone. That's how I feel about my 20s, a blur of stress. I can't begin to explain the fullness I feel in my life now. I'm also healthy generally, but my heart rate and stress level since I quit has dropped hugely and I know that's good for my heart long term!
There's a fab group on FB called life after teaching and there's tons on people on there that share what their job is now and how they did it, if you're interested. It's what got me into the civil service.
@Se12345 I wouldn't focus too much on job titles. Just filter by grade and location and look at the skills. I had no idea what my job was until I started as the titles are so specific to the civil service! Operational delivery in particular will not have any qualification entry requirements.

Absolutely not a chance. Consider working 0.4 instead.

Thank you so much, what is your job in the civil service?

@Se12345 I work in capability development. My job title is specific to my org and like I said, don't get hung up on them. A quick search this morning shows loads of jobs that ex-teachers would be able to apply for.

OP here- interested in hearing people’s job roles now. My post was a year ago and I resigned my job and moved area and currently being stay at home mum to my two children before the oldest starts school in September.

Bear in mind that not all teachers have the same qualifications and experience so what is available to one ex-teacher isn’t necessarily an option for another. I’ve gone back to industry- for which I have a relevant degree and worked in before going into teaching. What’s your degree in and what other jobs have you done?

I'd do supply instead. Get paid as a teacher but with less responsibility. You are a qualified teacher. You'll be treated as a teacher even when you're being paid as a TA. SLT will try to sucker you into doing work above your pay grade.

When was a TA. I ended up covering teacher sickness. I delivered speech and language 1:1 sessions. I also ran lots of small groups intervention. I never had a lunch break because I was delivering lunchtime clubs. I spent a lot of time, after school, completing safeguarding concerns. I also had 6 weekly observations.

I dont know. I am actually considering doing night shifts at Tesco. They get paid £15 an hour without having to deal with the safeguarding / child protection issues.