People who described themselves as teachers when they’re actually teaching assistance or cover supervisor

[KarlWrenbury]

This is a thing I’ve noticed recently. Is it because they can’t be asked to describe what they really do or is it slightly more disingenuous? For reference no I don’t think it’s a great amazing thing to be a teacher but it’s interesting that they do.

assistants *

I have worked as a TA and I always described myself as school support staff. I worked in the lunch hall too. Many TAs are qualified teachers though (not myself).

To be fair lots of roles, outside being a qualified teacher, may require similar.
Brownie and scout leaders would be one quite obvious example.

whilst in a primary there is a requirement laid out that there must be a teacher on such a trip, the reality is that this is one example where the teacher’s professional qualifications doesn’t really make much difference, ime.

And yes - I’ve led and taken primary school children out on school visits - and a fair bit younger than 10y too.

This

My step sister is a TA. She has very low levels of literacy and numeracy, her speaking is embarrassing (things like dropping h's, leaving t's off the ends of words, saying th as f, mispronounciation, inappropriate slang, absolutely no general knowledge etc. She tells people she's a teacher. She couldn't qualify as a teacher if her life depended on it. People mock her behind her back because it's blatantly obvious she's not a teacher. (She's an awful person, so attracts negative attention).
I think you mean her speech is embarrassing, although the first three things you list could be considered dialect, and the word is mispronunciation.

That is exactly why I don't say that I was a teacher, rather that I used to teach, which is what I used to do.

This is very true. I am a year 6 TA and love year 6. I love maths and there are certain concepts that the teacher I work with gets me to teach, as she says I teach it far better than she does. Other teachers in the school recoil in horror when they see what we are teaching. I would feel brain dead if I worked in EYFS or KS1 teaching basic maths and phonics. Everyone has their preferences I guess. I would never say I was a teacher though and I always correct people and say I am a TA if they make the wrong assumption that I am the teacher. An ofsted inspector did ask me once if I was a qualified teacher who had taken a step back from teaching so clearly I am doing something right.

teachers have to abide by Teaching Standards Agency guidelines and rules/standards and if they don’t, have to go to tribunal and run the risk of being struck off publicly.

No, not to patients. It was very obvious, partly due to uniform, who was an RN.
But outside if work, we were all 'nurses'.

I work for a firm of solicitors as a administration clerk, I have a related degree and I do work that can be done by a solicitor, but my hourly rate is lower, and I have more knowledge in this one particular area of law than some solicitors who work in a different area of law, but I’m not a solicitor and I have to be clear to my clients about that because they often assume I am, I can’t allow them to think I’m a solicitor because it’s a protected title.

No, I mean what I said. I'm terribly sorry my disability speech to text software made a tiny, one letter error. Sometimes it happens.

If you’ve got a qualification you’re a teacher.

@Br0kenRo0ad your comment is exactly what I was trying to say.

As a solicitor with a title that is actually legally protected, I'm not precious about my work title because if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. While I'd stop a paralegal saying "I'm a solicitor" due to it being a protected term, if they said I work in law or I provide legal advice, that's factually correct and OK. I'd look snobby trying to pull them on it by saying "but you're not actually a lawyer though are you??" Teachers and teaching assistants all teach children and if a TA were lying saying they were a qualified teacher then that's different, but my paralegals and I (back in practice) and even admin teams were a TEAM. If someone thanked the entire team for their legal advice, I'd not point out some of the team are legal secretaries as that would look ridiculous (and, like TAs legal secretaries do qualifications!)

My sister (a qualified primary teacher) has never ever and would never belittle my mum who is a HLTA, but some in this thread give off the vibe of her coming home and doing that and I'd not stand for it. My mum is educated and professional, she would never call herself a teacher but I do say she teaches children in passing conversation, as she does. My CFO is married to an Ofsted director, so to him I correctly say both my sister and mums professions, but I don't feel the need to tell Tom, dick or Harry that my mum is a HTLA as it doesn't cover what she actually does.

Are there teachers here who look down their nose at QTS as opposed to the PGCE and teaching degrees?? I bet there are!

T.A.s vary massively in their qualifications, from well educated about child development (the old NNEB qualification) to just some nice lady off the street who is learning on the job. Whereas teachers are all graduates.
T.A.s should not be teaching full classes full time, although they may cover and supervise work that the teacher sets and evaluates.
Some schools are using T.As as teachers on the cheap, particularly in Early Years, and this should not be happening.
T.As teach but are not “Teachers”.

I think there is a difference between Teachers and teachers.

It's funny the OP has said that he wouldn't want a TA teaching their children,but yet that's what we are expected to do.
I'm a TA who is leaving education as the expectation VS pay is disgusting.Not just the expectation from head teachers but class teachers who think we should work like dogs,cover THEIR classes constantly and basically wipe their backsides for a quarter of the pay. We are on peanuts and frankly I have more knowledge ,experience and work ethic than many ECTs that come into schools.
Therefore if we want to say we teach then we have every right to do so,because we do,sometimes without planning or any preparation or support
Oh and I also have a degree in a relevant subjects.

Saying you teach as a T. A. is correct. Mothers, grandparents, childminders, aunties may also teach. But they aren’t “Teachers” with formal teaching qualifications, so not in the generally accepted way.
I do think some schools exploit T.A.s and expect too much of them for the pay.

As a teacher it annoys me. My daughter is a nurse and doesn't go around saying she's a doctor.

I know two people who say they are nurses, when they are HCAs.
But then they do similar jobs to the old auxiliary nurses, who were called nurses in those days.
Since the professionalisation of nursing, I don't know what unqualified patient assistance ward staff are called.

As a primary school teacher, I can tell you that standing up and delivering a lesson is not even half the job!

It’s actually the easiest part of the job. And the nicest part. It’s the rest of the shit where you earn your pay.

No it's not. It's a non teacher doing part of the job of a teacher.

If I change the fuse on a plug, or replace a wall socket, it's the work of an electrician but it doesn't make me an electrician.

I'm an accountant (a proper qualified one!) and I spent a few years doing part time "teaching" at our local college many years ago, for one module of the AAT accounting technician qualification for 16-18 year olds mostly but also a few adults each term. I never thought of myself as a teacher. I had no teaching qualifications. At the start of every term with a new group, I introduced myself as an accountant and apologised for not being a teacher! I did the job of "teaching" the syllabus but was very much an "outsider" in terms of the other teachers, i.e. more like a subcontractor, didn't attend staff meetings, didn't have a pigeon hole, didn't even have keys to the classroom and my "teaching" was more akin to presenting a course/seminar rather than a lesson. I turned up every week, ran through my lesson as such, went home again. If students had questions etc., I always referred them to the course leader or other "proper" staff/teachers they had for their other modules. What I did was VERY different to the permanent/staff teachers who did the other modules and ran the whole course. I'd never dream of calling myself a teacher.

And you shouldn’t however I and others like me with teaching qualifications should and do as we have teaching qualifications and many years of teaching under our belts.

@taxguru you were teaching that module though. Presumably the qualified teachers weren't able to deliver that part of the curriculum as well as you could, so you were employed to do it? The fact that you didn't get keys to the classroom etc just means that the staff were treating you like a temporary employee, which is often the case, even if it isn't particularly kind. That reflects poorly on them imo and doesn't take anything away from the fact that you were teaching that part of the course.

Of course TAs generally have fewer responsibilities than teachers and having done both, I don't view them as the same job. TAs don't do the planning and marking, but to me it's not a big deal if a TA views what they do as teaching.

Actually yes in secondary. I am a senior specialist TA in science. I teach ks3 as long term cover.

I also do my own marking, planning etc.

I am currently doing my degree to do pgce to be a full time teacher

They are also not taught about behaviour management.

It's really unfair on them to have them teaching, as well as the kids.