Volunteer classroom assistants

[SolidGoldBrass]

There was a meeting at DS' school today for potential parent volunteers. I went along because I thought it was mainly about being a parent helper on trips (eg having enough adults along to make sure all DC get off the tube at the right stop and don't leap onto the tracks, etc) but we got a moderate hard sell on the wonderfulness of being a classroom assistant, which might involve both photocopying and helping the DC who are struggling with their reading and writing.
I mentioned it on FB and a couple of people I know who are either teachers or other school staff made comments about it being not such a good thing that unpaid (and not really very highly trained) volunteers are now basically being asked to do what should be a paid TA job. Most of the friends saying oh it'w worthwhile and wonderful and all that are people who do not work in education.

AIBU to think that the ones who dislike the idea might have a point, and that it's generally a Bad Thing to expect work that would previously have been a paid and skilled job to be done by barely-trained, inexperienced free labour, however well-intentioned the individual volunteers?

I help out in school one morning a week, shift work permitting, and I love it, I just listen to the kids read and have helped out on a couple trips . I really enjoy listening to the kids read.
All the 'helpers' sit in the staff room for a coffee at break with the teachers, I have done it for about 5 years now, each year a teacher has asked me if I could and because my work is shift work I usually have a morning spare. I'm certainly not spying or privy to any information before other parents that's for sure

I've been volunteering for years. My role is not a TAs role at all. I listen to reading, as a parent listening to a child read not as a teacher in anyway. I make no decisions about children's progress - I defer to the teacher and TA at all times. I don't use the staff room. I never talk to other parents about what I do, see or hear. I'm an extra pair of hands for craft projects. I sharpen pencils and remove staples from display boards.

My aim is threefold:

1. to encourage the children who read to me to feel good about reading and enjoy sharing a book with me.
2. make the life of the teacher and TA a little easier so they can focus on the important stuff.
3. to show my own children that I value education and that volunteering is a positive thing.

Yeah, I think my main issue is what a mate of mine said, along the lines of 'if they get a combination of parents to provide a total of 35 hours a week, that's a whole unpaid TA's job.'
I could easily manage an hour a week to help out with photocopying and sharpening pencils but I am resistant to the idea (in general) of paid jobs being replaced by unpaid ones because it's doing such awful damage to so many other industries.

35 hours a week? For each class?

Me and the other four ladies that listen to reading probably manage a total of 12 hours over four classes.

And I never go in the staff room unless invited. I quite often get asked to help out on school trips. I'm CRB checked but would never consider myself as experienced or qualified as a TA and I'm puzzled as to why anyone would think a parent volunteer is any substitute.

I do get what you are saying Solid. But it's not like the school would necessarily be able to afford the extra TA, so if nobody volunteers then the existing staff are just stretched further and will spend less time with each child.
It takes me at least half an hour to sharpen all the pencils in the classroom. I'm happy to do the sharpening if it means the TA is freed up to do some phonics work with children who need extra support.

I started as a parent volunteer, hearing readers and generally being a pair of paint-splattered hands...

Look where it landed me..... whole new career....

Parent helpers should do the role that a child's parents should be doing. I feel it's problematic if a parent is in the same classroom as their child. Parents should not be privy to confidential information about their child's classmates. Some children are unable to practice their reading at home. Reading to a parent volunteer gives these children a boost.

I think this is a wider issue about the value of TAs or otherwise. I know of an academy that had cut TA contracts down so far that many are having to leave. My own school takes them on on temp contracts which may or may not be renewed in autumn.

If TAs are worth having they need to be contracted and paid. Volunteers should not be doing this work IMO.

has cut

I help out in a state primary one afternoon every week. I have seen the kids progress and without 1-1 reading they definitely would not, some kids are not read to at home which puts them at a major disadvantage.

I have experienced some private schools and they discouraged parent helpers in class as they preferred teachers to 1-1 read. However, classes were half the size of state primary and obviously budget was completely different.

Parent helpers also help with the admin side of class, art projects etc. I feel it is worthwhile and for me personally rewarding seeing kids grow in confidence, etc. I have no interest in a profession with kids, but I will certainly continue to volunteer after my son leaves the school.

Ofsted currently looks carefully at the impact a TA has on the learning of the child/ children they are working with. Therefore the careful display work and material preparation which used to be the remit of TAs is not consisted value for money.

Teachers are also not supposed to be mounting and displaying work- so who does it??if a volunteer has arty tendencies I'll bite their arm off to get them in my room!

When I worked part time I volunteered to hear readers in DS's class- never allowed to hear him though. I can't say I was bothered by what the teacher was like- more interested in the children.

Never allowed to hear your own ds? Why?

I think it's a bit off. Parent volunteers: fine; unpaid support staff: not fine. The difference lies in how many parents are being employed in that role, what they are being asked to do, and how many paid workers they replace.
In addition, if it is, effectively, an unpaid internship, then it has all the problems that other unpaid internships have (mainly about class and income).
Lastly, why do we women value our skills so little? Work with children=women's work=not worth paying.
It's depressing.

When Ds was in P1, I used to do library. Teacher who organised the library rota knew I was a nursery nurse and she had worked with me. I would read each group a story then check the books out on the computer for the children.

Our school wanted more parent volunteers but having had a PITA parent who was desperate to know what each child's level was at I felt you shouldn't work with your own child's year group.

It is really depressing to see 'listening to children read' classed as a job requiring no skill .

IMHO a qualified member of the teaching staff (be that teacher, fully trained TA etc) should hear every child in a primary class (particularly reception) read at least once a week. The reality, in my experience, is that once a month is nearer the mark. Without parent volunteers, the children who don't have any support at home would rarely sit down with a book and an adult and read.

I volunteer one afternoon a week in a reception class listening to reading. I have attended any and all training offered, and have spent a lot of time familiarising myself with the synthetic phonics system - I try to be a good parent volunteer. I am lucky if I hear more than 10 children in that one session. It is a small contribution in an extremely imperfect system.

I don't know what the answer is. With the availability of volunteers it is all too tempting to rely too heavily on them and for children to miss the input they need and deserve from educational professionals. Without the volunteers they might never learn to read/learn so slowly they are severely disadvantaged.

I try and make the time that the children read with me count (and hopefully be fun, obv!). I am uneasy with the emphasis upon volunteers in the classroom, though. I think I would be happier if I felt that I myself had been more heavily vetted/supervised.

At our school, parents are not allowed to volunteer in their child's class

I did it to gain experience prior to starting my teaching qualification

I did pretty much anything and everything -I've no idea of this is normal or not as I was there for work experience rather than as a parent helper

I understand the point about effectively putting TAs out of a job but the likelihood of having a TA that works the same pattern as parent volunteers across multiple year groups, is pretty slim

I've been a classroom volunteer and will do so again, willingly, when the opportunity arises, though the school had a 'no helping in your kids' classrooms' which I thought was absolutely right. I've seen some brilliantly supportive parents be a great asset to a classroom teacher, not taking the role of a TA, but offering support to both TA and teachers where needed.

I've also seen some awful examples of parents using the opportunity to 'keep an eye' on teachers, tell stories to others about kids' behaviour and performance, maintain constant contact with their kids in school, ingratiate themselves with senior management and basically take advantage of the good nature of over worked teachers who think they're being offered a helping hand, but which quickly turns into an untamed beast.

Well I volunteer in both the classes that my dds are in. They're the classes that need help and I'm one of the few sahm's that can do it. I listen to my own children and nobody has ever suggested otherwise. How bizarre.

I help in Ds's school once a week when MIL has the baby for the day. I worked in learning support until I had youngest so I partly do it to keep myself aware of changes that are going on and the likes.

If the school could say they had no volunteers and that meant someone magically found them funds for more staff I wouldn't, but it won't so I don't see the point in starving them of help even more.

You are not allowed in your child's class (one of the other helpers isn't allowed in her nephew's class either). There is thought put into the use of the helpers (i.e arty Mum does amazing displays, me who can't cut a straight line doesn't!) so that the best use is made. There is no pisstaking on the part of the school, if you can't make it there's no being made to feel guilty, but equally if someone messes them about too much they just say no thanks. Helpers are welcomed into the staff room and included in training where appropriate, but they are also expected to hold the same standard of confidentiality and the likes as staff and the HT doesn't hesitate to decline help at the first tiny sign of any issues.

Some schools are terrible when it comes to parent helpers though. Often, in my experience, a weak SMT ends up with the wrong type of helpers being privvy to informationt they shouldn't. A good SMT makes good use of them.

I think it can help people realise what goes on in a school as well. I've seen some helpers really shocked when they see the level of faffing about that has to be done - like when you are photocopying and you have to stop to enter a different teachers code for each sheet of paper because despite the fact it's 'only' 15 sheets per class of 30 teachers only have a limited number of copies so you must use the right code. Things like that that teachers teaching our children simply shouldn't have to worry about.

I did three mornings for three years at my kids old school and stayed with the same teacher who I got on with brilliantly. I moved three years ago and have just started volunteering for two mornings in a year 2 class as I know the teacher (not well) through activities our children attend.

She's got a TA but she also has a very challenging class and she's grateful for the extra pair of hands to stick homework into books, do some small group work with kids who need extra assistance and generally help where needed, photocopying, laminating, setting up activities etc. I'm not qualified but I'm well educated, good at numeracy and literacy so my help is good help, not a hindrance! I'm allowed in the staffroom although I literally go and grab a glass of water at break and then leave to either stand in the playground or carry on with whatever I was doing.

It's a great role, I love seeing the kids come on over the year and how much they learn and I love that lightbulb moment when they understand something after you've patiently explained it several times in various ways and then something clicks and you get this little face looking at you with a big smile...It's brilliant.