TA jobs

[haapynot]

What do schools do when there's a national shortage? How many people are applying to be one but not finding work? I saw that some schools use agency staff for teachers is that the same for assistants?

Oh and our school doesn't use TAs for ppa unless there's some sort of emergency. The most a TA might cover would be reading a keystage 1 story at the end of the day while the teacher sees a parent for a few minutes. I think primary is very different to secondary if they are asking for degrees etc.

Of course an agency would take her on if she has the necessary gcses. And if a school wanted a TA they would use her. TAs aren't highly trained and are often mums looking to fit into school holidays or graduates wanting experience before teacher training. And I'm not denigrating the job they do, I agree the pay is rubbish.

I am a special education TA in mainland Europe in an international school. I earn considerably more than this!! (Around €50k+). All of us are educated to degree level and most have a lot of experience. Get fully paid holidays and health insurance etc... I feel valued and love my job. I am genuinely shocked at the low wages in UK. How can schools justify paying someone such a low wage in an important job?

It’s not schools justifying it, it’s the government.

School staff in England are paid in line with the pay scales. Schools are working on very tight budgets which for most means they can’t afford the support staff they actually need. The school I work in could have twice as many support staff and it still wouldn’t be enough to provide the levels of support needed.

I had an email from the union last week which suggested that the government pay body has recommended pay increases that will in the next few years lead to the lowest pay scale for school staff being £15 an hour. That is fantastic in theory and is what is needed but in reality unless that is fully funded it will lead to schools having to reduce the staff levels even further.

That's more than many teachers earn here!

I am a special education TA in mainland Europe in an international school. I earn considerably more than this!! (Around €50k+). All of us are educated to degree level and most have a lot of experience. Get fully paid holidays and health insurance etc...

Is it a private school or a state funded school?

It's a private school with hefty fees!

@Saturdayssandwichsociety - I can only speak for the where I work, not nationally, but currently 1/3 of the TAs are qualified teachers. Interestingly one of them refuses to work as L3 because she doesn't want to cover classes. It's not unusual for a TA to cover PPA or teacher absence and have no support themselves while doing so. If there are DC in the class who require additional support, but don't have a 1:1 it's not an easy job! 2/3 have a degree. We have about 1 TA a year leave to go onto train as a teacher. We've rarely used agency TA,s and although they were nice, one didn't speak English particularly well, although being able to speak a particular language could be very useful in some schools. Our HLTA has no qualifications.

Many (most?) schools only pay TAs during actual school hours (from adverts I've seen) but of course there is always much to be done in preparation, so TAs inevitably work more hours than they are paid for. Fortunately where I work we are paid for longer than the school day. It's not a job to do if you want to see your own child's school plays or sports days, unless they go to the school you work in, which is why working for an agency could be the way to go for someone like the OP.

So a slightly bigger budget than UK state schools!
Private schools here tend to pay TAs more too.

In our county there's a terrible shortage of TAs and it can take ages to fill a role, which is particularly difficult when it's an EHCP funded role for a child who needs support.

It’s a while ago, but I had 25 TAs, several of whom were HLTAs. There are now 8 in that school.

Is this secondary? My DCs school cut back on almost all TAs- although one was employed as HOY, which I've never heard of before. Those kept on were for children who needed 1:1 support. The school was massively in debt though.

Yes @ReceptionTA a small secondary, with a SRP attached. We had way more than the average number of pupils with statements ( before EHCP). The TAs had plenty of in house and external training, we had input from the Traveller Ed service, Ed Psych, weekly S&L therapists, who were in school two days a week, with TAs, who followed through with their recommendations during the rest of the week.

One of my HLTAs was a HoY for a while.

I'm guessing more TAs would prefer to cover in mainstream or Sen primary schools. I don't think I would be able to manage secondary age kids.

@ReceptionTA teaching is a hard job. I would like to spend some time in the classroom to see how they manage. It's not just about marking it's the patience you need 😀i worked in high pressure jobs in the city but at least you could go and pretend you were in a meeting for a hours to get a break.

These days a lot of the role is handling SEN kids with behavioural and sensory needs. There's no qualification that guarantees patience and a calm consistent manner

So true @PerditaLaChien . I still work with some classes in which I feel my education is important - not my degree, but having a strong command of maths and English - but most of the time now it’s just about relentless patience, and giving the most tender care you can to a child who is battering you and spitting at you.

I'm back into teaching now, but after I'd had my third child I returned to the classroom as a 1:1 SEN TA.
My background... qualified teacher since 2004, lots of SEN experience having taught in a PRU for some of my career. Bsc (Hons) Psychology, accepted from next September to do my Masters (MSc) in Counselling Children and Young People.
Started off being paid around £12 p/h which didn't really increase much over 5 years. However, I loved the role and just about managed to pay rent and bills (my husband works in social care so by no means a high earner). I was ft 1:1 and never asked to class cover.
But.. after about 3 years in the job I was doing changed completely. I was "taken away" from my EHCP 1:1s and basically used as a Cover Supervisor across the school on HLTA pay. It wasn't the job I'd even signed up for!!
I completely and utterly understand why not many people now want to be TAs/HLTAs. The expectations of them are huge and ever-increasing, but the meagre salary is not.