Should teacher and TA get the same?

[Crunchymum]

Parents contributed for a class gift (vouchers) for teacher and TA.

Organiser decided to give £260 to teacher and £140 . Was SBU?

You’re misunderstanding mn. People aren’t saying TAs should be paid more relative to teachers. Hey should be paid more because it’s a really hard, emotionally draining, responsible and important job that deserves more than the minimum wage.

Many TAs have spent money on qualifications. Some teachers receive huge bursaries to train.

I also think teachers should be paid more for what we do.

Hear hear purple- everyone who works in education is underpaid for the work they do!

Mn just hope you don't work with children if that's your attitude.
I'm grateful to anyone who has ever cared for my child.
I think they should all be paid well.

@Belindabauer I think you may have misunderstood me. I'm m not saying TAs should be paid badly I just don't think they should be paid in line with teachers, many of whom have had to train for 4 years at uni, accruing substantial debt.

A person's salary reflects their level of responsibility, an end of term gift reflects your appreciation in relation to your child. That's how I look at it and if I thought a teaching assistant had been fab, they might get more that the teacher. II definitely dont think it should be based on responsibility.

I agree with PP saying that it's beyond pay and a thank you so should be 50:50. I'm a teacher and would be embarrassed to receive so much more. It seems if the vouchers are swayed more to the teacher that they are less grateful to the TA.

@Onwhitehorses agreed!
My previous comments were in response to discussion about teacher/TA pay. In terms of individual gifts it's up to you and how grateful you are. But I guess this is a joint gift so slightly different

@Onwhitehorses yes I completely agree. I had one year I received a thank you letter from a child's mother and the TA who worked 1:1 with her daughter received that plus a lovely gift. It's only fair!

I'm not saying TAs should be paid badly I just don't think they should be paid in line with teachers

Where has anyone said that they should be paid exactly the same?

Support staff are never paid the same as teachers.
Just as nurses are not paid the same as doctors.
At the school I was at the CEO of the whole academy was the highest paid.
No idea if parents bought him gifts.
The buck stopped with him after all.

Interesting to read this as a TA in secondary - we don’t get end of year gifts really which is kind of a relief if it means saving parents this hassle. Anyway I cannot believe school staff can actually accept a gift that large - it’s ridiculous. Also, I know primary is different but if TAs are doing as much work outside the classroom as some are suggesting on here there is a bloody massive school problem. Our line manager is very good at insisting we go home on the dot and do not take work home - I know a lot of schools have it harder than mine does but TAs should not be doing that much work a) because the pay is offensively low anyway b) technically TAs are the least qualified people to be doing their own planning and the pay reflects that. (Of course I’m fully aware that many TAs are in fact qualified to do the additional work they take on - but I for one will always resist being asked to do it as it’s bad practice).

pingu it’s very different in primary. When I was a TA, i didn’t plan lessons but I ran interventions, made resources to support children with additional needs in lessons, ran a speech abc language program with all the associated monitoring and resourcing. Plus TAs often get stuck on break and lunch duty so with no ppa you can’t get everything done within the hours you’re paid for.

There is a massive problem in primary with workload.

@purpledaisies - that does sound awful. In my school we run interventions but have 2 PPA a week and paid after school time to prep. The expectations sound similar but we have paid time to do it in. I’ve recently dug my heels in about a couple of issues I felt were outside my remit too - I could do them but on principle I won’t. Sounds like you need to massively push for PPA time, do you have a helpful union rep?

I gave same for both. Ds’ school has a lot of SEN students, including ds, and they’d be screwed without TAs.

@purpledaisies - ah I’ve just realised you’re a teacher now. I suppose you could advocate for the TAs in your school now if they’re doing similar amounts of work - I know it can sound idealistic but I always think it’s worth a go.

I trained as a teacher pingu! I was in a slightly unusual position in that I was only a TA to make sure I definitely wanted to be a teacher before applying. It’s still the same for our TAs now though. They are supposed to have “ppa” before and after school but they keep getting pulled for meetings and general dogsbody jobs. I couldn’t do my job without my lovely TAs and I do my best to keep their workload down. There are huge staff cuts to support staff for September and it’s going to be a bloody nightmare.

Cross posted with you pingu.

All this carry on is why I stopped contributing to class gift,PTA gave less to TA
I raised I thought it was inequitable and both Teacher and TA work hard
PTA response was tough titty and TA “not as important”

I refused to put in and haven’t done since
Will not be part of that.reinforcing inequality & hierarchy

My kids like the staff and they’re not hung up on job title or role

Fresta - not an odd thing to think at all, the TAs leave at 3pm so what if they are paid until then or 3.15, they leave then and do not do any of this extra work in their free time that everybody keeps implying all TAs do. If you have those TAs in your school then you are incredibly lucky and will no doubt see the benefit unfortunately not every TA is like that.

What about other staff, the playground assistants, dinner ladies, admin, head teacher etc

But surely somewhere the gift isnt a measure of responsibility, it's a 'thank you' to someone. Teachers are paid more to reflect their hours and responsibilities, a gift is to say thank you for how they have done their job whatever that might be in relation to your child. I hate the ranking of thank yous in relation to responsibility/salary.

I find your attitude very strange somewhere- 'unfortunately' they don't do extra work!' You seem to think they should! And how do you know they don't do extra work at home, worked their lunch hour, or came in early? How do you even know what their paid hours are?

Our TAs do parents evenings as well.

Gifts are an acknowledgment and thank you for work undertaken,kindness,effort