To think a HLTA should not be put in a teaching role?

[everychildmatters]

I left primary teaching after 20 years in last year - best thing I ever did as the system is failing and it's only getting worse.
Came across this is one of my groups:
Anonymous as colleagues here. I'm a HLTA but am responsible for a class for the full year next year. I've not done this before and I've not been asked. Does this seem right?
I'm not surprised - it's becoming more and more commonplace for support staff to take on these roles (for no more pay).
How do others feel about this?

What, 5 days a week?!!

I know schools where HLTAS are routinely covering ppa, often having training to delivered a purchased in pshe curriculum or occasionally covering something they have a particular skill or interest in (i know a school where a HLTA with a different mother tongue language delivers the language lessons in ppa time).

@IwasDueANameChange Yes. Full-time.
It's commonplace for HLTAs to cover PPA now.
But this isn't what is being asked of this HLTA.

That's awful.

I mean, you could get your union involved.

Though personally, I would either be saying I wanted to return to being an ordinary TA (it's not like HLTAs earn that much more money for this crazy level of extra responsibility) or looking for another HLTA role in a different school.

I assume someone is overseeing her work?

My son was taught by a HTLA for half a year. The teacher for the other class 'planned' her work and was accountable for pupil progress apparently. The reasons for the quote is i don't know what that looked like in practice.

It was ok for my son, the HLTA was very good. I thought it was shit for the TA who wasn't paid properly and shit for the teacher who was supposedly accountable for stuff happening in a different room to her.

The reason they didn't share the classes was the teacher had some very specific sen in her class which she had training for and the hlta wasn't felt able to manage that.

@Twiglets1 It is. One of the many, many reasons I am no longer a teacher in mainstream education.
All HLTAs now are expected to teach in some capacity so I agree with you; if I was this lady I would look to find work as a TA somewhere else.

My DC's reception 'teacher' was a HLTA. We weren't told this by the school and I only found out by chance after the kids were older and had moved into year 1. I assume the planning etc was done by one of the other reception teachers but she still had responsibility for 25+ kids every day for a whole year. Seems exploitative tbh. This was a few years ago so it's been going on for a while.

I agree it is exploitative when you consider that HLTAs are paid so much less than teachers.

Why aren't the unions making more of a fuss about this and making it public knowledge, I wonder.