To think that this can't be right

[Houseflower]

I am applying for a job as a teaching assistant and have applied for 5 or 6. I have had one interview which sounds good but is fixed term. I find out about this later this week. I have just found out that I have 2 more interviews next week that are permanent and better money.

My sister who works in a school said that if I get offered the first job and accept it this week, then go for the interviews for the others and get offered a better job then I aren't allowed to ring up to turn down the original job.

I am older and have worked in many other workplaces and this often happens. I was told it was different in teaching and it wasn't the done thing and would give me a black mark against me for future jobs.

Does this really happen? I find it hard to believe that someone would talk bad about me because I made the decision to give my family more money and more stability.

That school isn't going to care about me, when they have a department reshuffle etc. People are expendable, I've learnt this the hard way. You can be as loyal and reliable as possible, but that school or employer is not going to care about your rent and your bills when their circumstances change.
I wouldn't want a vulnerable child to suffer. But that is down to funding and recruitment practices. I would also add I'm not TA and don't work with vulnerable children, but people have to look out for their own interests. I have my own vulnerable child to feed and clothe.

No, it starts from when you sign. I know this as a member of staff has just done this at the school where I work. She was a TA who qualified as a teacher this year. There were no teaching positions at our school so applied for jobs elsewhere. Accepted a job elsewhere and then a last minute position became available - as she hasn’t signed anything she was able to change her mind about the original job.

It really is how things work in schools. Heads talk. If you mess one school around they will tell others.

Take the best job for you. Believe me schools have no loyalty towards teaching assistants. Underpaid and undervalued.

While it’s not entirely correct, it’s not actually rubbish. An offer letter is a formal job offer which is an invitation to enter a contract rather than a binding agreement. However, when you accept a job in writing you enter into a contract between yourself and the employer.* *This means you could be sued for breach of contract if you withdrew from it. In OP’s case a verbal acceptance would be all that was necessary at the offer stage - she won’t be asked to sign a contract until reference/DBS and any other checks are completed.

It's frowned upon in most industries/ situations but it happens. You may get a reputation for it if you do it a lot which would affect your chances of getting further work.
A one off temp TA role, morally it may be wrong but I don't think it would affect your career

Ok thanks that makes sense. I do think though with teachers and TA's becoming so difficult to recruit, blacklisting someone just because, for whatever reason, they reconsidered a previous job offer is really shortsighted, plus as someone else pointed out possibly not even legal. People can change their minds about a job offer for all sorts of reasons, often due to personal circumstances, it doesn't make them unemployable or unreliable.

I am a teaching assistant, I’m also a SEN Mother so I see it from both sides. Yes it’s not great to mess the school around as it’s the children that suffer. It’s also devastating for a parent to be told that they have an assistant and then that they don’t and have to start looking again. I personally wouldn’t leave after accepting the job but I am a 1-1 assistant. Would you be a general assistant? Just the teachers helping hand or a specific child’s helping hand? The after effect is a bit different depending on this.

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Maybe predictive text or a typo but slightly concerning that you wrote “ I aren’t allowed” as a potential TA.

Good luck with your interview tomorrow OP. 🤞

It’s fine to turn them down at this stage as it’s still a provisional offer on their part as it’s subject to DBA checks and references. Therefore, neither party has entered into a binding agreement at this point.

So ignore your sister who is simply mistaken but means well or a little bit jealous and trying to sabotage things. Only you know which scenario is most likely in her case.

It’s absolutely not the same for TAs as it is for teachers.

A TA could feasibly hand their notice in over the summer holidays and not return to work in September, schools are used to dealing with situations like this.

I would just tell the school asap if you are turning the job down.

Really? I think it’s far more concerning that the U.K. relies on staffing schools with lots of unqualified teachers, to be honest. You don’t get that reliance in schools overseas.

In order to take action against someone who has accepted an offer and then changed their minds, the employer needs to show that they have suffered a financial loss as a result of the employee's breach. That is highly unlikely.

I have recruited for various positions in schools.

If you accept then later reject the offer it will be inconvenient for the school but it won’t put you on any “blacklist”. However, if the school is part of an academy chain and they do recruitment centrally they may remember should you apply to them again in future!

Your best bet is to be honest with them and tell them you are also waiting to hear if you have been offered a permanent role. The risk is they will withdraw the offer but unless you are asking for many weeks thinking time they will probably be fine.

It is difficult to find the right people for many school jobs so if they think you are a good fit for their role they are more likely to give you a little time to answer.

If is different for teachers because they have to give notice at specific times whereas a TA is not bound by the same rules.

So are people really saying that there is some secret list recording the names of people who change their minds about a job before they have signed a contract?

Pretty sure that's illegal.

No one is obliged to start a job you are offered, even if you verbally accept it. Even in teaching.

TAs often pull out at my school after being given the job as well as quitting after a few days when they realise the job isn’t for them and leaving mid-term. These things wouldn’t be done by teachers, the employment expectations for teachers are very different than for a TA. Teachers shouldn’t agree to take a teaching job if they still plan to interview and potentially take another job as it’s not the done thing to pull out after accepting. That’s because teacher interviews tend to be a long process, they disrupt lessons as the teacher will usually be expected to teach a short lesson to a group or class and every schools teaching jobs tend to be advertised at similar times so if a teacher pulls out it’s not easy to refill as the other candidates may have already taken other jobs and starting the interview process from scratch is time consuming for the school. This is why the job tends to be offered on the day of interview, because otherwise there would be a risk the candidate would have another interviews lined up and they’d miss out if they waited. Once a teacher has said yes it isn’t expected they would pull out, certainly not due to finding another job.

TA roles are not the same, TA roles tend to come up year round, there isn’t the same need for qualified staff and rarely do the interview processed involve teaching a class or group so they’re not disruptive to the school. It’s not going to be such a big deal to say yes to the job and pull out and also it’s more likely if you ask for time to consider it after offering they’ll give it to you. It’s also not going to be disruptive or expensive if a TA post is still empty at the start of the year compared to a teacher post and so the rules don’t need to be as strict.

No one has said there is an actual secret list.

This is bullshit 🤣😆 don't give legal advice when you don't understand the law!

OP you can take any job you want, there's no central repository of 'black marks' stored anywhere for employers to check before offering you a job FFS. You can absolutely accept a job offer and then change your mind and accept another job, it happens all the time and nothing will happen, it won't affect your future career at all, except maybe if you applied at the school again where you dropped out but only while people who work there may remember you as GDPR requires all applicant data to be deleted after a period of time, usually 3-6 months. Go for it!

It is very much not the done thing in teaching. If you apply for multiple teaching roles, and you get offered the first, if you don't take it that day, you will almost certainly lose it to the next candidate. It's a pain, but its how it works. However, I think things are a bit different for teaching assistants. That said, please be honest with the school. Don't accept the job, then turn it down. That will get you a black mark, and schools talk. Instead, tell them that you have other jobs in the pipeline. There is a risk that they will choose to employ someone else instead so that they can save money on potential future advertising , but at the moment, good candidates are few and far between,so they may hang on for you.

I worked in Human Resources before I left to have my child. It will certainly not be a breach of contract as I haven't signed one.

If members of staff are talking to other schools and giving out my name then they will be in breach of GDPR and I doubt in these current times that they will risk this just to badmouth a fixed term TA.

This was a typo. It happens. But to be honest, I would rather be a bad speller than be catty, snide and someone who judges people based on one sentence.

No, I'm not saying it is a breach of contract at all. I'm just explaining how things work within education recruitment, given I've worked in it. Ot would in no way be a formal thing, and no-one would be out to get you, but school heads and other staff regularly get together. And they will often ask informally if they know someone. That's the reality. That's all.

The breach of contract comment wasn't meant for you.

However, it may be the reality to 'talk' but is a breach of GDPR. If someone found out that names were being passed on, they would get into trouble.

That may be the case, but the reality is that schools are very local places. People known other people. This kind of informal chat happens all the time.