To be sad that this woman was embarrassed about being a TA?

[jennymanara]

We were out tonight at a social event where most couples seemed to do well paid or high status jobs such as Dr or in the corporate world. I was chatting to one couple and the issue about jobs came up and she very embarrassed said she was a TA. Her job is really important and much more important than some of the others there doing work in corporate firms. It is a crazy world we live in where someone doing a valuable job is embarrassed about it because that job is underpaid.

@UnderPompeii maybe it’s not just TA who want to spend time with their children. Maybe not just women should be spending time with their families.

No one has said there is any issue with being a TA. But it’s certainly a problem that so many women are unable to continue with their previous careers post children and have to change to a low skilled low paid job.

As for whoever said SEN kids would eat me or whatever - you have absolutely no idea what I do. I might be on a police swat team. Or I might be a teacher. Or the queen. You have no idea how I would cope with that environment. Fact remains though that you don’t need any particular qualifications or experience to be a TA and it could be done by a sensible school leaver.

@zsazsajuju
But it’s certainly a problem that so many women are unable to continue with their previous careers post children and have to change to a low skilled low paid job.
Why is it a problem if that is a woman's choice? You say women are 'unable' to continue with their careers, that makes the assumption that they wanted that career to last during or beyond having a family. I qualified as a teacher, I chose not to pursue that career once my family were here. That was my choice and I have zero regrets. I get the best of both worlds. You can think less of me for that decision, I couldn't care less about anyone's opinion of me. I am doing what is right for both me and my family. I have 20 plus working years ahead of me once my children have grown up and left home, maybe I will make a new career for myself then. Maybe not. Maybe I'll sit at home surrounded by cats and doing crochet. Maybe I'll travel the world. Who knows? You have a very limited view of what is right for women. We're all different and we all have the right to choose what works best for us.
And I 100% disagree with your description of low skilled. Low paid, yes. Low skilled, absolutely not.

And maybe 20 years ago it was all pencil sharpening, art displays and reading groups

My DM was a TA about 25 years ago ad she often had 1-1 responsibility for children with additional behavioural needs, who would have needed more time and attention than the class teacher would have been able to give with 30 other children in the class. She also had to update supply teachers with where the class were at and what work they were doing.

But it is a problem if women can’t CHOOSE to continue with their career. It’s not an issue if you CHOSE not to. For many women the cost of child care makes it prohibitive

Time management, planning, thinking and doing on the spot, being able to read behaviour for signs of anxiety, being able to understand non verbal communication, de escalation techniques, remaining calm when someone is distressed and attacking you, vigilance on environmental triggers, knowledge of the child's condition, using specialist teaching techniques.- all skills required when working with some children with sen.

A low skilled TA is a waste of money. A highly skilled TA is worth their weight in gold. People saying any old school leaver could do the job are clearly intent on wasting a school's money.

That is completely false and shows your lack of knowledge on the subject. It is incredibly hard to get TA jobs and schools don’t just employ any school leaver. The reason is you need a shed load of experience and qualifications which many often don’t have. I know so many who have tried and failed to break into the TA sector.

My job is hugely varied and involves using my skills and qualifications on a daily basis. I liaise with SALTs and run SALT programmes, I run anger manager groups and teach booster groups alongside tutoring children on their individual targets. On a typical day I might run a reading comprehension group; teach a maths group how to convert fractions to decimals; create a lesson for a SPAG group on modal verbs;implement a SALT course and think of the best way to teach targets to a number of children alongside talking a child down from a tree and putting up a stimulating display from an empty stock cupboard.

I use my degree and teaching experience daily.I’m underpaid but love my job so wouldn’t swap it for the world. My well qualified dh who has a very well paid job couldn’t do my job.

So how come my dsis got a job as a TA? Is there a job like a TA with no experience or qualifications? honestly I'm as baffled as you are.

What type of school is it?

I couldn't do it as I am not patient and also I hate working, I'd much rather be doing something else, so that means I want my work to pay well so I hopefully don't have to do it for as long

its a normal state comprehensive

You’d need to know more about the role and I’m presuming secondary is very different to primary.

it is a secondary school

she says she covers for the teacher when the teacher isn't there, even maths. She does a lot of invigilating.

She’s lying.

do you know it sounds awful but I think she must be. I just can't get my head round it.

Fibbke - surely she's a cover supervisor, not a TA? Also, is it an academy school or a LA school?

She just can't be lying. She's gone into so mcuh detail, said she had an amazing review, all the kids love her, it's hard and stressful but she loves it etc etc

I would say most TA's do it as they have primary school age children and want a pleasant fulfilling job whilst also fitting in their own childcare around the role.
I would presume that once their DC are old enough they would go onto better paid roles now that they have rebuilt their confidence after having children (having not had a previous job to have gone back to after maternity leave etc).

It is very hard to find a good PT job when DC are little. But I found one and it really built my confidence esp as my previous role had become redundant from a well paid previous job I had done for years. I then moved on to FT work when I was ready then actually moved on to retrain and complete a degree in an area I was interested in and now work in and love.

It can be embarrassing talking about work esp when surrounded by highly paid professionals which is why I never ask what profession someone is in unless the offer to tell me I also never ask about earnings.

surely she's a cover supervisor, not a TA ah ha! Is that a thing? She says she's a TA - in fact she often says she's a teacher - but if a cover supervisor is less skilled then that must be what she is

I never ever talk about work and the idea of talking about earnings is grim! Hopefully noone ever actually does that

Cover supervisors stand in front of whole classes when the teacher is away and are not allowed to teach - they just try to stop a riot breaking out while the class do work the teacher set them. I cannot think of a more hideous job than being a cover supervisor, which really does just seem to be keeping rowdy kids who are desperate to muck about under control.

Surely when it comes down to it ALL jobs are important.
If no one worked retails the lawyers and doctors wouldn’t be able to go out and get their coffee or buy expensive clothes etc, if bin men didn’t collect the rubbish the world would be stinking, if nursery workers didn’t look after children the high flyers wouldn’t be able to go to work.

I met a TA at a wedding once who said she was the Head Teacher......

It's not a very important job though

Without a TA having my DS back, he would have left school with zero qualifications. Massively important.

Fibke I know several women who’ve got ta jobs without training too though they highly skilled in unrelated fields