To think Teaching Assistants are vastly underpaid for their role?

[altoran]

When the role of Teaching Assistant was created, the idea was that they would help with basic tasks like photocopying, wall displays, etc. It was a very basic role with no real responsibility.
Now Teaching Assistants have a lot of responsibility and are very involved in children's education, although under the supervision of a teacher. But they receive very little over minimim wage for this.
AIBU to think they are vastly underpaid?

I also take small groups who need more targeted support and occasionally I will take the whole class if the teacher is out for some reason. I’m not paid for that ‘teaching’ time. Yes I don’t have to plan the lessons but if I’m delivering a lesson I don’t think I do that bad a job

YANBU but it’s unlikely to improve anytime soon, sadly.
It’s also a job where the vast difference in skills is rarely recognised, unlike in other organisations. A skilled TA is as good as a good teacher (I say this as a teacher), a poor TA can be a pain for the teacher and make school horrible for children.
Schools often seem to have a mix of fantastic TAs who are drastically underpaid for their skill level and terrible ones who really should be fired.

@cannotchange

Unlike teachers TAs don't get paid during the school holidays and don't get the same pension. But do have a lot of responsibility with regards to childrens' education and attainment.

Absolutely ridiculous that you have to be degree education to get a HLTA qualification, yet with this you earn about 50p more an hour !!

Our TAs get paid monthly with salary broken into 12, throughout the year-just like the teachers.

I have also never worked with an HLTA who has a degree-that has certainly never been mandatory.

YANBU
My DM is a TA. She’s a qualified teacher but despite 30+ years experience her qualifications weren’t recognised in the U.K., and she didn’t want all the extra responsibility. She loves her job (most of the time), particularly helping children who struggle with reading because of learning issues or because they barely speak English. She does a lot of unpaid work, like running clubs, supervising lunch breaks etc.

I also totally agree with the PP about early years educators. I don’t know how the manage with a room full of 2 and 3 year olds (it’s tiring enough living with one). My DD absolutely adores her teachers, and they come up with so many creative ways to keep them entertained and educated. During the first lockdown they put together activity packs for all the children and ran zoom classes. As a parent, it is tough paying so much (FT nurse places in central London can be £2,000 a month). The government could really step in and help as these EY workers do so much.

My school used a TA for solo teaching work for over a month when the teacher was poorly.

That is crazy. Didn't parents complain that a TA was teaching their kids for an entire month? Why couldn't they get a substitute teacher?

Howshouldibehave

It’s not mandatory but common. At my school several of the general TAs are quite experienced ex teachers. Others have degrees in other areas or previous professional jobs. We may all love it but we are all still all underpaid.

[quote altoran]@shivawn there are TA qualifications.
But TAs could get as much or more serving in a pub or a cafe without any qualifications. The only reason they get applicants is because of the school hours for mums.[/quote]
^ this
It’s a difficult job, a colleague of mine (who is tiny in stature) was placed with a college boy, SEN and he had violent outbursts. She didn’t want to tell anyone, but she was scared stiff. She couldn’t walk next to him, or sit by him in class or he would turn.

At my daughter’s school it was the TAs that did all the key worker school. While I’m sure the teachers did a fair amount of planning on top, it seems like the TA was basically supervising and caring for 15 reception kids while the actual teachers made about 30 mins of content and did a zoom call twice a week.

@sophi1995

My school used a TA for solo teaching work for over a month when the teacher was poorly.

That is crazy. Didn't parents complain that a TA was teaching their kids for an entire month? Why couldn't they get a substitute teacher?

Either there wasn’t the budget for it, or there may not have been any available.

It’s not uncommon for that to happen.

I worked in a school once where a really unlucky turn saw four teachers off long-term sick at the same time (not stress or anything to do with the school - just fluke timing) as well as three of maternity leave and the school simply didn’t have the budget to have four more long term supply teachers.

Also it can also depend if it’s known how long the teacher will be off for right away. If it’s thought they’ll only be off for a few days or a week then they muddle through, but then it’s another week, then another week.

TAs often earn more per hour than teachers. They do less than half the hours and take home more than half the pay. I’ve been both. TAs are better paid

Also you need to factor in that TA jobs are much sought after, whereas there is a critical shortage of teachers. Many TAs are ex teachers who do not want to teach. There is huge competition for TA jobs

Agree with that, there were 7 of us at my TA interview.

I think the same about health care assistant that are taking on more and more responsibility for very little reward.

The pay is poor, the job is so rewarding. I love my home life balance now. I wanted to teach as a second career, 2 years as a TA has made me re evaluate that!

@Scr1bblyGum

“TAs aren’t qualified to teach and they shouldn’t be - it’s bad for kids.“

Well isn’t that the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. TAS are teaching some of the most hard to teach kids most of the time. The ignorance re what the job entails is quite telling. It’s important that staff delivering interventions and all the many other jobs TAs do are well qualified and well trained.

I think a lot of people think we just wash paint pots all day. I wash paint pots about once a year. That is it. The rest of the time I don’t stop and draw hugely on my teaching skills, qualification and experience daily.

This

@0None0

TAs often earn more per hour than teachers. They do less than half the hours and take home more than half the pay. I’ve been both. TAs are better paid

Well you must have worked at some dodgy school!

The pay is low for what they do, but then that could be said for most support roles in the public sector. 🤷‍♀️

Also the teachers were often summoned to meetings etc where us TA's were the ones waiting way over our hours to wait for parents of a poor anxious distressed child who was having a meltdown and refused to access their transport.
Transport never waits....

@shivawn

What qualifications are they required to have?

The same as a teacher there is no minimum standard.

Supply and demand.

Pay is not driven by responsibility or hours worked, but by supply and demand. To be a TA there are relatively few qualifications required and there's no shortage of people willing to do the role for the money offered. If there was, the shortage of staff would gradually have pushed up pay.

YANBU - Yes it's nice to not have the 'out of hours' responsibility of grading / report writing etc, from where I sit in an Admin capacity the TAs / LSAs get treated like shit by both teachers and students alike, getting threatened with violence by students they are trying their hardest to help. Not a job I could do even if it was much better paid....

Amazed by all the people saying the TAs where they are are qualified teachers etc. At my local school they are predominantly mums of children at the school, with minimal qualifications. They are hard working and great with the kids but they certainly dont have qualifications or in particularly in demand skills that would enable them to earn vastly more elsewhere.

Firforforty
*shivawn

What qualifications are they required to have?

The same as a teacher there is no minimum standard.*

This is not true. You must have qualified teacher status to be a teacher in a maintained school in the UK.

@0None0

TAs often earn more per hour than teachers. They do less than half the hours and take home more than half the pay. I’ve been both. TAs are better paid

I do see the logic in this statement. The workload is very heavy for teachers in many schools depending on school management and experience so if they were paid hourly then this would be borne out.

I do think TAs are massively underpaid for their skill set and the expectations of the job. I think a TA’s job has changed more in the last decade than a teacher’s job. It is normal for TAs in many schools to cover whole classes for PPA time, teacher absence and meetings etc for little or no extra pay which is very wrong. It is no longer the TA’s job to just photocopy and prepare resources and displays. I always prefer to sort admin myself in the evenings and ask the TA to work with the children as that is where they are most beneficial and have the biggest impact. It’s definitely team work to get everything done.

Following with interest as I have just accepted a role as a TA