Low pay for Teaching Assistant ?

[walker05]

My official title is 'Learning Support Assistant' i'm contracted to do a 37.5 hour week and paid on a pro-rata scale. My monthly take home pay is 1193 per month and i'm on a gross annual salary of 15,870.

I'm one of the 'lead LSAs' and have the job of ensuring that students' medical information is in place, up to date and that measures are put in place.
I carry out a variety of interventions and liaise regularly with the occupational therapist, nurse, parents etc.
Last year I was just classroom-based, and for this new role I have been given a rise of 20 pounds per month.

I feel like this pay is incredibly low for what i am doing, and it works out as below min. Wage.

Do others agree ? I do enjoy the job a lot, staff and kids are lovely, but I feel like I deserve a lot better, especially since I have a Masters and a Degree.
Any other TAs ?

The people saying they are teachers and earn little more than the OP...qualified teachers start on just shy of 24k and rise to 35k on the main salary scale that isn’t quite true is it?

Not a huge salary but much more than a TA earns.

Starting pay is going up to 30k by 2022.

I'm in a similar position, although I fortunately negotiated a salary increase when I asked for an evaluation of my role, as I felt I had taken on much more responsibility. This took a lot of persistence though. I also supplement my wage by taking after school clubs, which means I work some ridiculously long hours and occasional weekends during term time but it justifies the school holidays.

@Biggobyboo an NQT after pension contributions and Union membership wouldn't get as much as the quote figures, but yes there is a vast difference between a full time teacher and a TA

I'm 4 days a week and I still take home a chunk more than the LSAs in our school, who I have the utmost respect for, and do believe in a lot of cases should be paid more.

"Biggobyboo

The people saying they are teachers and earn little more than the OP...qualified teachers start on just shy of 24k and rise to 35k on the main salary scale that isn’t quite true is it?"

Yes it is true. Partly because we have significantly more tax to come out and high student loan payments.

And high pension deletions.

I would imagine the teachers are talking about the pay per hour they get.

Starting pay is going up to 30k by 2022.

Yes, because everything that Boris Johnson promises will come true .

Why not become a TA then if a qualified teacher only earns a bit more? Not being goady, genuinely curious.

Yes but teachers don't have three months of the year where they have no income is what I think people are saying. It's annoying when teachers say they don't get paid for holidays. They have a monthly salary which is the same regardless of whether they're teaching or on their six weeks holiday.

It's the same for TAs. The only difference is that the advertised salary for teachers (ie. Whatever payscale you are on) is the actual salary, whereas for TAs the advertised salary is pro rata for term time only and also sometimes for scho hours rsther than 37 hours.

Neither TAs or teachers get paid for all of the holidays though. They get paid for 43 weeks of the year. Just because that is split equally over 12 payments doesn't mean they get paid for the holidays, it's not that hard to understand?

Why not become a TA then if a qualified teacher only earns a bit more? Not being goady, genuinely curious.

I had presumed that the teachers saying they didn’t earn much more were talking about what their hourly rate works out as. When you’re working 55 hours a week, the rate is pretty crap.

TheRebelAlliance teachers are only paid for the statutory minimum of holidays and their directed hours eg classroom time and PPA.

Such an important job and so undervalued. When you see the likes of Rees Mogg lying out on a bench in the House of Commons, dreaming of all his investments whilst the country descends into chaos and the NHS and schools continue to suffer from chronic underfunding, it makes me furious. All the comments suggesting it’s your own fault for choosing the job are ignoring the wider issues here ... and if everyone took that advice and avoided such a poorly paid job, then our schools and kids would suffer.

It's annoying when teachers say they don't get paid for holidays

Why is it annoying?

It’s what happens. Teaches are paid for working 195 days each year-it’s quite simple.

Teachers do get paid for the holidays. The salary they are paid is an “annual salary” and not pro-rated.

A TA will have a salary that is pro-rata. So the advertised salary will be divided by 52 and multiplied by 43 by most authorities (39 weeks in school and 4 weeks paid holiday). Whereas a teacher is paid all of their advertised salary.

If you have a master's, why are you working in a job for low pay
Surely, your education should open doors for better paid opportunities
Or train to become a teacher with better pay

I work FT & get 22 days holiday + bank holidays
I can buy up to 5 extra days
My holiday is worked out in hours due to working long shifts

But I still believe that we should be able to live well on one salary

You’re expecting to live well on a part-time salary though. You get school holidays off which is a huge bonus, but you won’t earn the equivalent of an FT wage.

TA is a great job for so many reasons, but the value they add to children, teachers, and education is nowhere near reflected in the hourly pay. It's worth remembering TAs jobs vary hugely but they all get paid mostly the same regardless of level of responsibility.

OP, you should look at the HLTA rates in your LA and put a case forward if you think your job reflects it.

TheRebelAlliance teachers are only paid for the statutory minimum of holidays and their directed hours eg classroom time and PPA.

Not if they are on STPC they do not.
Do you have a link to show this?

They are paid annually but only required to work 195 days. They don't accrue holiday- if they id they would get or owe money depending on when they resign during a year.

However not all teachers are on STPC.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/740575/School_teachers__pay_and_conditions_document_2018.pdf

I get 200 more then you and am a registered nurse so your hours do not fit around school, therefore you are paying for childcare as well. You do not seem to be suitably rewarded for your skill.

Op is overqualified for a LSA role. I know a LSA who’s previous job was packing socks and she is delighted with her new position: salary, conditions and no additional childcare costs. You need to do something else or make the most of the convenience of hours/hols.

Is it not the fact that the job is term time only that makes the role appealing. If you want a full time job take one. I thought that the majority of TA roles were taken by mothers who felt that the hours worked and the term time only contract was in fact a perk of the job and how wonderful not to have to find holiday childcare.

When I was an LSA (in prep for potentially doing the PGCE) the pay was £7300!

If the pay is too low then claim extra benefits or look for something else that pays more.

I didn't t particularly want to be a TA when I started at 19 , I started expecting to go to university and become a teacher. I did get a degree from the OU I did start teacher training, it was completely incompatibile with family life, I was out from 7am until after 6, cook dinner eat dinner, then on laptop until midnight and most of the weekend.
Yes TA pay is rubbish but the benefits of an extremely good work life balance far outway the poor pay. They only thing I wish is that I could afford an afternoon off a week to collect DD from school.

If you were a health care assistant/cleaner/carer (insert any other job where the pay is known for being low, as are the entry qualifications), do you think you should get paid more than eg Sue that you worked with, just because you had a degree and a masters? Even though the job didn’t require them?

I think thats a very reasonable pay. The job isn't difficult and doesn't involve decision making. It's mainly an administrative role under the responsibility of someone else. It is not stressful (in comparison to other higher paid jobs).

It is only 39 weeks, so really over £10 an hour. You then gave the option to work during the holidays but for most there is an opportunity costs as it means not having to pay for childcare, so all in all, left with more disposable income than those earning more but with high childcare costs.