Forced into 1:1 role

[SuperNerd88]

I have worked as a class TA in a primary school for the last 11 years. I love this job, and last year we had a child join our class who is very challenging, with quite complex behaviours. Someone was employed as her 1:1 TA shortly after she joined us, however this person has found the role particularly demanding and I think would actually prefer a more general TA role.

Because of this, the rest of the TAs within our school have now been told (rather than asked) that they must also share the timetable for this child's 1:1 provision, while she covers our class TA roles. The child in particular does not listen to me at all, and I am finding it so hard whilst also, somewhat selfishly perhaps, feeling quite resentful that I am having to do someone else's job while they are doing mine.

My issue here is, is it fair that the rest of us are now having to share a 1:1 role that we have neither applied for nor chosen to do, when our colleague actively applied for this job? Please offer thoughts as I'm in unsure if I am being unreasonable, but it is greatly affecting my ability to enjoy my work.

1:1s aren’t paid more in my area. Special School staff are paid more (apart from welfare) but mainstream aren’t. It is worth checking, but I don’t think it’s something the school will have overlooked.

It'll come down to what your contract says and what you can negotiate. I would be very surprised if what they are doing is outside of what is permitted or reasonable. Similar to if someone is recruited to work in Y1 but is then assigned to a Y5 class, or recruited into one team but moved into another - you're expected to be a bit flexible. And it is only 1 day a week.

I suspect they need to draw on your, and your colleagues', superior skills. Maybe they need to remove all doubt of it being a TA problem by putting suitably skilled and experienced staff in with him for a bit, to see if MS is viable for him (or prove that it is not.) That said it doesn't sound great for him to have that much change every week. But I suppose what's the alternative? Sack the 1:1 for incompetence, recruit again and hope the next applicant is better? That would be expensive and uncertain.

@Jimmyneutronsforehead there has been a thread in politics saying one teacher should be able to meet all needs so watch that space with the new proposals

Precisely this.

Also a bit agog at the notion that this child just will not listen.

I'm sure some people could have said that about my son, but they didn't. Instead they asked why this child is struggling with adult led tasks, and advocated for different agencies coming in and offering advice and training. It reframed it from this child won't listen, to this child is not developmentally able to follow adult led tasks for a prolonged period of time and these are the interventions we can offer as well as the training we can offer our staff to make sure we are working in a child led way, towards adult led instructions.

I don't know how old the child in question is here, but they sound young. Education is moving quite fast in a different direction and teaching staff need to decide if they are going to adapt their methods and seek appropriate additional training in order to keep up with the skills they need for this new development, or decide whether this is really the sector they want to remain in.

Ah, I'll see if I can find the thread. I haven't read it, but it sounds like I should.

I really do feel for teaching staff because this is not going to work for anybody. Not without a radical overhaul of skills and training.

I think most teachers will do their absolute best because they love their job, but loving your job doesn't pay the bills or protect your sanity when you're juggling impossible tasks.

I really do feel for teaching staff because this is not going to work for anybody. Not without a radical overhaul of skills and training.

A radical overhaul of skills and training will make very little difference.

One teacher alone with 30 children with a diverse range of needs-including increasing numbers who would previously have been in specialist provision, being expected to cater for their individual needs will be unlikely to be able to cope, no matter how well trained they are.

As someone with a sen child (and who used to be a sen TA!) this made me sad. I actually loved the more challenging kids because I felt you could make such a difference. And then you get to go home. Think of the parents.

I'm 1:1 for a very high needs child. He is on a reduced timetable which won't be changing anytime soon so I am, and will stay for a while, his only 1:1. I know alot of my colleagues would find working with him very difficult but SLT are generally quite respectful of TA preferences for 1:1 or general roles where possible. Not everyone's preferences can always be respected, however and in order to ensure all children are supported we have to accept that we may be reassigned at some point during the year. This time it has worked slightly negatively for you and you have been put with a child you find difficult. If you are honest that you are struggling but seems keen to learn to learn how to work effectively with this child then you might get a more preferred assignment next time people have to rotate. If you go to SLT insisting that you have been wronged and are hard done by, complaining alot they are less likely to listen to or respect your struggles and life just gets more stressful for everyone. It's perfectly possible the original 1:1 struggled more than she or SLT expected and rather than lose an employee part way through the year they decided to rotate roles for a bit to retain her to the end of the school year at least and see if there was a better fit. They may not have assigned roles perfectly this time rounding your opinion, but life isn't perfect.

I dont think anyone who needs support is best served by having just one (paid!) person doing it.
Regardless of age.
Also, working with someone who has very high needs and challenging behaviour must be exhausting, and limiting to everyone.
It's not appropriate to have a single employee being the only person who can work with an individual. What if they leave? Are ill? On holiday? Or the person receiving support develops an excessive emotional attachment to someone who doesn't, ultimately, feel the same way?

I can definitely see a situation before the end of this school year where I ask if someone else can do a day or two a week with my 1:1 child because it is tiring and intense even though it is only half-days atm. I am confident SLT know who would be willing and able to work well with the child but they may get it wrong, and find a more suitable person if needed.

I was hired on an all-purpose TA contract as were most of my colleagues so we all have to accept we might be posted anywhere within the school and we won't always get what we want.

Are you trained and qualified in how to deal with a child who has complex and challenging behaviours?

In your shoes I'd be bloody pissed off.

Poor kid 😢
I used to hate leaving my SEN child in school with staff who clearly resented being with her .
Just another example of why More Sen provision and schools are needed .
If you go into TA job tho op surely you know that alot of mainstream schools provide education for sometimes challenging children ,the most important person in this situation is the child .

Are you trained and qualified in how to deal with a child who has complex and challenging behaviours?

The 1:1 who they've just hired probably isn't either.

They are a nightmare if the OP hasn't had the appropriate training to 1 to 1 this child and the school are not adequately safeguarding the other staff.

The new TA was hired on the basis of working with this child so presumably had the specialist skills needed for the child. If not why were they hired? If they can't fulfill their job role then the question should be about why it's not worked out and whether the appropriate person was hired for the specialist needs of that child.

Just getting other TAs to cover isn't meeting the needs of that child. That's the discussion that should be being had here. Is the school able to cover the needs of this child.

The fact that an experienced TA is struggling begs questions about the school. The OP should be stating very loudly and clearly that this is not working anymore than the TA hired for the role found it and she simply does not feel you have adequate training to deal with him. If the OP is regularly being hurt she should again raise this as the school have a responsibility to safeguard her too.

If the school can not provide adequate safeguarding and the child is being violent it's not in that child's best interests to remain in that environment. Other arrangements which are appropriate for his needs need to be found.

The onus is not on the OP to do a job she doesn't feel equipped to handle and doesn't feel safe doing.

There are relevant routes she can take with this in mind.

From experience, there is no specialist training provided to TAs until you really push and ask. There is basically no training! You are shown a classroom and can either shadow another TA for a day or work with one for a bit, but that’s about it. I was incredibly shocked when I started.

I second the PP who said to look for roles in local independent schools. TA’s are attached to classes and not to be diverted to individual pupils.

The new TA was hired on the basis of working with this child so presumably had the specialist skills needed for the child. If not why were they hired?

I expect they were hired because they were the best (or only) person that applied for the job and the LEA were directing the school to accept the child with an EHCP to start asap.

It's usually either that or the school has to pay for a 'supply' LSA which would probably be a different person each day who wouldn't know the school and would obviously be extremely unsettling for the child and hugely expensive for the school.

We had one parent assume that because their child had got an EHCP, they would have an SEN qualified teacher with a specialism in autism. In reality, they got another parent from the school who applied who was willing to work 15 hours a week for minimum wage, because that's all the funding allowed for.

No child should ever be referred to as 'the nightmare child'.

I think you need to share notes / strategies with other staff. Who does this child listen to? Why do they listen to them? What are the strategies for managing them when they're not listening (in general or to a specific adult)? 'change of face' ie. swapping the adult supporting a child is a strategy I've seen used for challenging behaviour. So there may be a very good reason to have a designated back up TA for the child to relieve the person working with them as needed.

Another strategy can be for the supported child to work in a small group with their 1:1 person ie. it being advantageous to the supported child to be supported to engage with peers - if you prefer working with more than one child, you might be able to arrange to do your time with that child when you can include another couple of children too.

Do you have any professional advice - SALT / OT / specialist teachers / EP?

What training have you / others had in their complex needs? Worth asking for some if your existing strategies/ knowledge aren't working well - not your fault, but you will probably be happier if you and the child can learn to work together well (even whilst not wanting to do 1:1 support).

im a TA and we are allocated wherever we are needed as suits the needs of the child. Sometimes someone doesn’t click with a particular child and then there is a shuffle. Gone are the days of TA’s doing photo copying, filing and doing reading groups in class and if you’ve managed to hang on to it this long then you’ve been fortunate. The huge increase in needs in our school means that all TA’s are 1:1 some, if not all of the day

The headteacher can allocate you to whatever class/child depending on the needs of the school unfortunately.

I'm pretty sure the 1:1 role is designed to allow a relationship to develop between the pupil and the assistant . My friend works in a school with a pupil in the same situation. He has to have 1:1 in a separate room and whilst that is boring/challenging for the TA the familiarity of having the same assistant has been hugely beneficial to the pupil. Surely if that is best for the pupil making multiple people fill the same role the goal will not be achieved?

I am an LSA and in my school the T.A s also cover SEN children too. I think it very much depends on the school. Can you not query this with your line manager as to why this has happened?

It’s always the advice from ASL services that the sc does not only have one adult. What happens when that adult is unwell, has an appointment or leaves the job or the dc moves to another school or high school and are only used to one person?! There should always be a team with a relationship with a dc with complex needs. Relying on one person isn’t ideal at all

There also needs to be other known adults to step in when the dc isn’t managing and needs a change of face or when the adult needs aomw time to compose after a difficult interaction