To think most people have no idea how little HLTAs/Teaching Assistants earn?

[LorlieS]

Anybody want to hazard a guess at the average monthly income of a ft HLTA/TA?

It really is quite shocking!

It doesn't sound great. I'd start looking around if I were you. It doesn't have to be like that.

@SquirrelHash I'm leaving in summer and then back to uni in September to do a Masters (MSc in Counselling Children & Young People).
Can't wait! 😀

It’ll be £22,000 Pro rata- TAs do not get paid holidays. So they would probably come home with about £16,500 before tax etc.

I work in a school outside of London. For the lowest TA and a new starter their pay is £22400 pa (27438 FTE). HLTAs with over 5 years service are on £28901 pa (36567 FTE).

All TAs do simular roles, and the amount of work each one does, doesn't show in their pay.

Around £900 a month take home. Most TAs I know have more than 1 job. Either as a PA to a student or doing school transport ( collecting students from home to school and return ) but in my case although I definitely believe we are worth more money the job satisfaction is immeasurable.

It's low hours and long holidays so no great surprise it's low paid.

I know. It’s often that or shut a class.

Im looking to leave tbh. At our school, most of SLT don’t give a monkeys about EYFS unfortunately.

Absolutely not dismissing the importance of the job, but objectively - it is a part-time and family-friendly employment, that does not require any particular skills (unless in a niche specialism such as SEN).

In my kids' school almost all TAs are also school mums, who took these jobs to wrap around their family timetables. Realistically, it is quite unlikely that they would have been able to find another job for ~20 hours a week that is 10 mins walk away from home, is wrapped around the school hours and holidays, and pays better. It is a win-win from that perspective.

YABU - my DS's TA is nothing short of an angel in human form. She deserves a decent salary.

In my kids' school almost all TAs are also school mums, who took these jobs to wrap around their family timetables. Realistically, it is quite unlikely that they would have been able to find another job for ~20 hours a week that is 10 mins walk away from home, is wrapped around the school hours and holidays, and pays better

Yes, that is absolutely the case in the schools I know. The OP has taken the role in a school that is 30+ minutes drive away from home which I would say is unusual with support staff and obviously makes the pay stretch more thinly, as you need to factor in petrol plus commuting time.

Can i just say something about the 'just school mums' and recruitment.

First, women dont appear fully formed at the school gate. Before becoming a school mum, they may have done all sorts relevant to the role. School mums we have employed have included nurses, rugby coaches, architects, engineers, childminders, social workers, care assistants.

obviously its a low paid job and entry criteria vary from post to post. This means sometimes noone with the qualifications and experience applies.

During the interview process you observe interaction with children. Very often the task is to read a story and do some learning.

You pick the person with the best soft skills in that task and best potential to learn the job quickly.

You arent anticipating they are a fully formed TA. You are expecting them to be a bit useless for a while, then by the end of the year pretty good after they have had lots of support and some courses. More like an apprentice. Its not that the job only needs a 'school mum' its thats all you have to pick from so you train them up.

(Obviously some schools are rubbish and dont support/train but that hasnot been my experience luckily.)

I don't think anyone said "just" school mums (especially as I'd assume there are mostly "school mums" on the thread)? And by your own description of the recruitment process, you'd much rather pick a patient, attentive and kind candidate who has zero qualifications to her name rather than a PhD in neuroscience who is short-tempered and brusque with the child? So the previous experience or qualifications don't really come into consideration, so should not attract higher salaries?

But at the end of the year/two years they now have relevant experience, training and qualifcations and are now actually useful and able to do the job, so they should get a big pay jump. But they dont. They carry on earning as if the role didnt need that training period but it does.

And yes a patient person with the ability to learn how to support teaching and learning is a better bet than an impatient person with a neuroscience degree because they are much less likely to learn patience.

Why do we feel patience isnt worth a higher rate of pay when its something in short supply? Is it because there isnt an exam in it. Theres lots of things we recognise attract higher pay that dont need exams.

'Just mums'.

These women didn't just come out of a box the day their children were born they had jobs and careers before that!

They bring a variety of skills to schools even if they are not using their degrees or exams at present.

Once their children are grown many return to their previous careers but some (like myself) choose to stay.

Please don't degrade women with terms like 'just mums'!

@howshouldibehave Indeed. As a SEN Specialist I an in high demand in the 3-form middle-of-town school I'm employed at.
In the tiny rural village in which I live there are far fewer opportunities.
I also would not want to teach my own child.

Indeed, that’s your choice. I wouldn’t want to teach my own children either, so have chosen schools a 5/10 minute drive away. That is obviously substantially easier on my time and petrol than a 30+ minute drive. I would say it’s an unusual choice for a Ta to work quite so far from home though, as the wages are so low and hours short.

that does not require any particular skills (unless in a niche specialism such as SEN).

That might've been the case years ago. It doesn't apply now. First of all, even in mainstream, you will have at least one child with SEN (we have classes with 13 ) , a medical condition, SEMH needs etc. So it's not a niche specialism anymore.

Then you have the fact that TA's deliver interventions (reading,numeracy,literacy,OT etc) . Even if these come in the form of a scheme, they need the skills to understand them,deliver them,adapt them and make sure the children are making progress. If it's not a scheme, they need the skills to make their own with support from the teacher/SENCO ideally.

Then you have marking/filling in assessment sheets/file evidence.

That's just the basic stuff . You also have TA's being used as cover on top and actually teach and manage behaviour too.

You can't just hire anyone off the street and hope for the best. You do need someone with particular skills. At least you do, if you want the children to get a decent education.

You can't just hire anyone off the street and hope for the best

Unfortunately that’s what many many schools are having to do, as that’s all the pitiful budget will allow.

If TAs are doing all this planning, marking and "interventions" - what are the teachers doing?

I get paid £22500 a year (FTE is £28770). We do get paid some holidays I get 6.5 weeks paid holidays a year

They are either covering another class or off with stress

@howshouldibehave And where are all of these many TA positions you can just walk into?
I have to work to pay the bills, I don't simply earn "fun" money.
It's not as simple as just finding a school 5/10 mins away and asking for a job there!!!

There are TA jobs going at virtually every school around here, so people wouldn’t have to wait very long!

Oh give over.

HLTA or TA?
I'm high level SEN specialist.
Couldn't afford to drop pay.