Anyone else in education feel burnt out already?

[Ridiculousradish]

SEN TA in a Secondary School. First week back has been utterly horrendous. I know the start of term is always hectic, but the past week has been unmanageable. Anyone else struggling?

Education really is fucked isn't it? This is definitely my last year as a TA. I'll miss the kids, but the amount of stress just isn't worth it.

Cant believe so many TAs are getting hurt in primary, that is scary. What are the repercussions for the children?

People always claim it's better identification but it's an enormous and terrifying explosion in children with complex needs. In my school, in the infants, 25% have autism. This is not usual. And I'm talking preverbal, complex behaviour, highly unsafe, requiring constant vigilance from staff. I was attacked by a highly dysregulated child last week and am covered in bruises, bite and pinch marks and scratches - she's 5. She'd be this challenging even without the identification.

We also have the proposed send reforms coming in. They sound great on paper and what we’d all love to be doing but there’s not going to be more staff magically available, which is what we need- not more training

I feel this.

Primary TA/HLTA here, and just feel despairing really.

Little support from SLT.
Little awareness from governors
Little support from parents.

Increasing levels of SEN, Increasing levels of 'tricky' behaviour (by which I mean - hitting, biting, kicking, throwing scissors and furniture, swearing, eloping) and a general increase in a low level rudeness, talking back to adults, a lack of social skills and lack of interest from so many children.

An expectation that we will be all bells, all whistles entertainers, counselors and therapists in between educating, trying to do interventions, provising 1-1 support, providing intimate care, filling out behaviour forms, filling out safeguarding forms, serving lunches, covering break duties and the million and 1 other tasks that have to happen to keep a school going.

I am passionate about working with kids, believe in inclusion (done properly) and have years of experience working in various age groups, and with a variety of complex needs. I have a degree, NVQ Level 3 in Early Years and a Level 5 NVQ HLTA qualification.

TA pay is barely more than minimum wage, and is term time only. When I cover classes, i get paid about £2 more an hour, but i get no time for planning, and have no TA support (.. because I am the tA!)

I dont know what the answer is to any of this, it feels like a tidal wave of failure.

It might be can't, rather than won't. I would say we are just adequately staffed, but the head has been very transparent and said we are massively over spending on staff according to the budget. Our jobs are safe, but the next few that leave wont be able to be replaced.

The HLTA role is awful. The worst of both worlds. I have to be honest I don’t understand why anyone would entertain this role if they have a degree. May as well just teach and get financially rewarded for it.

That’s rough. Usually it’s 1 or 2 with complex needs and other forms of SEN, but 25 percent with complex needs is horrific.

On paper the HLTA role is not awful... in reality, it is!
There are 2 main reasons why I haven't trained to be a teacher.

1. I am nearly 60, and I would be unable to manage the hours required for teacher training due to personal circumstances.
2. I don't want to be a teacher! Iwant to be a TA/HLTA and I think it is a valuable role. When my son was at school, his TAs were the adults who made the most difference to him - the care they showed him, the relationship they built, they were the people who made it possible for him to attend school. I see children for whom the TA is the person who gets them breakfast and sits and has a chat with them about things that have happened at home, and who have listened to worries and fears that seem too big for people so little. The TA may be the person that makes something click with learning when a child feels lost in a busy classroom, or who switches up an activity to make it accessible for a child who needs a different way of learning. A TA may be the trusted adult who ensures a childs medical needs are met so that they can access school... ... the role of TA needs to be seen as a profession in its own right, with standards and training and respect and a decent wage. Instead we are seen as the first thing to cut when budgets are tight, and a resource that can be done by volunteers or a 'mum's army', we are lumped in with all other support staff, despite having to work directly with some of the children with the biggest challenges. Telling good TAs or HLTAs that they should be teachers is another way of saying that the role of TA/HLTA is not an proper job.

The numbers on this thread are insane. How is the population as a whole going to manage if all these children are genuinely too disabled to work and live independently in future? The country can't support 25-50% of adults indefinitely.

Grandson is high functioning ASD . Read fluently at 3 but emotionally way behind . Refused an SEN place at 5 his mother chose to homeschool plus forest school him . She worried about the effect of mainstream on him and also the effect his behaviour would have on his classmates . I didn't agree at the time but in hindsight she was right . I mourn the loss of a mainstream education / social skills on him but he is happy . He is now 14 and does various homeschool events etc. I still worry about his employability especially as neuro typical school leavers are struggling to find work

Dare I also say it seems questionable to me being older how child led choices and gentle parenting are going to work out as these kids grow up

I agree.

Inconsistent boundaries, lack of supervision, and negative role modelling at home contribute significantly to poor behaviour in schools.

It is true that many of the years 7s seem to not understand why they are being asked to do things they don't want to do..... like read a book.

Secondary teacher here. We have had 2 meetings every week since we came back AND one a week each of either a parents evening, open evening and Sixth Form information evening. 3 late finishes every week for a month. We are on our knees.

You’ve missed my point entirely. It’s not that I don’t value TAs I’ve been one, I also have a degree and didnt want to be a teacher. I do, however think it is a horrible role, as you’re quite often teaching - but without the pay. HLTAs are very often exploited. Many TAs turn down the role now because they see it for what it is - cheap labour.

I know that the role of HLTA as it now stands has been exploited, its just that in principal it shouldn't be!
Sorry, if there was any confusion, I just reacted because I have seen and heard, 'well why dont you train to be a teacher then?' said many times, and to me that misses the point!

I think this often….
realistically between 10 - 15 % of my class are unlikely to function in society without support as an adult - let alone work and be able to contribute to society.
Prob another 10% might be bc able to have a shop / office based or maybe a practical job if people are prepared to make allowances / adjustments for them.
I feel like it’s these kids we are letting down the most.
Parents and teachers are basically changing everything to make these kids lives easier- sensory breaks, reasonable adjustments, adapted work, following own interests- whatever, but what we really need to be doing is accepting their differences and challenges but helping them to develop coping strategies so that they can function independently into adulthood and beyond, because truth be told no one is actually going to give them a job otherwise.

This thread is unintentionally turning into an SEN thread but maybe that shows what the biggest challenge in education is at the moment?
For me that’s certainly true - along with workload.
Although an awful lot of my extra workload is form filling for EHCP reviews, SEN plans, interventions, adapting lessons and creating extra resources, pre teaching, enabling reasonable adjustments…. and the list goes on….
Funding is desperately needed.
Alluding to a previous post- if I could afford to give up, I would, which is sad because I used to love my job.

I left primary teaching for many reasons; one of them being that SEND learners were being so badly failed (not by staff, but by the system).
I now EOTAS Tutor - best job ever 🌟

Absolutely none.
Usually left to TAs to help each other and offer a change of face. Leadership might occasionally step in, and last around 30 mins max before handing child back to the TA (as they realise it's not that simple, but are happy enough for staff to be hurt and not themselves but want to keep the child for numbers/funding).

The biggest challenges for us are the lack of funding and the lack of places in specialist schools.

We've set up a unit in our primary school for the children with the most complex needs. These are mainly children whose developmental age is measured in months rather than years. Most are still in nappies or in the very early stages of toilet training. The majority are pre-verbal. We just don't have enough spaces for the number of our children who need this provision.

Elsewhere in the school, we have classes with no TAs at all. Teachers are trying to do everything themselves and are struggling. There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.

I have found that inclusion just doesn’t work. I’ve worked in education for over twenty years, and the number of SEND pupils in mainstream settings just isn’t manageable. Even ten years ago, violence towards teachers just wasn’t a thing in my school. Now, it’s happening so frequently that we are becoming desensitised to it, and that terrifies me. There needs to be more specialist provision made available, but I do wonder who would willingly staff them.
Years ago, there might have been one child per year group who would have been diagnosed as having Asperger’s, which would now be diagnosed as autism. There was rarely, if ever, violence or significant disruption. Now, a quarter of my class has SEND, with multiple children starting school who are not toilet trained, which takes up a huge amount of staff time. We have children with very poor speech and language skills and global developmental delays who are unable to dress or undress themselves or feed themselves.
Trying to meet the individual needs of every single child, while simultaneously dealing with horrific behaviour and violent outbursts from some pupils, is simply impossible. It isn’t fair on the children, it isn’t fair on the staff, and ultimately, it isn’t working for anyone.
I recently read Ultra-Processed People and, if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. It highlights the problems with the food industry adding ingredients to ultra-processed foods that can have a detrimental effect on children who consume them, with some children reportedly getting as much as 80% of their diet from UPFs.
There is also the huge rise in parents and children using screens. Blue-light exposure and screen withdrawal are huge problems that most parents aren’t even aware of. Screens can affect concentration and the brain’s reward and dopamine systems. Babies being propped up with phones, constant iPad use and a lack of conversation are all contributing to children starting nursery or school with very limited communication skills, or sometimes being non-verbal.
It feels like an avalanche of problems that, as a society, we will be feeling the effects of for years to come.

Can I ask who staff's the unit in your school? Also who plans for the provision and how individual (and often wildly varying!) needs are catered for?
Do the children move between the unit and mainstream?
How is this managed (taking into consideration struggles with transitions)? What is the benefit to the children in the unit and what is done to ensure they are part of the wider school community??
I see a lot of primary schools looking into this, and it being recommended by the governembe, with funding avavilable.... but as the parent of a child who really suffered in a unit within mainstream, I have a lot of questions about how they will work and I'm not sure they are the way that we should be moving forward.

Ours is staffed by a teacher and support staff. The teacher is responsible for the planning, with the help of the SENCO. I've visited units in other schools where they are staffed solely by support staff and that seems wrong to me. Every child deserves to be taught by a teacher.

The aim wherever possible is for children to transition back into their main classroom. The unit is their main base where they have SALT, OT etc as part of their timetable alongside their other learning. They also spend timetabled periods with their main class. This is then gradually increased at a pace that fits the individual child. Other children have such complex needs that they move on from the unit when specialist provision becomes available.

It's by no means perfect. The unit has the same funding issues that the rest of the school has. Staff are overworked and underpaid, and it can be a real balancing act trying to meet conflicting needs. I think it's helped though that SLT haven't (yet?) tried to use the unit to hide away children with challenging/violent behaviour. I've visited some schools where units like ours have become a convenient way of keeping violence out of the main classrooms. To me that's just another form of exclusion.

I don't think units/bases are ever going to be as beneficial as a specialist school for a child with complex needs. There just isn't that level of expertise or the facilities that a specialist school would have.