From teacher to teaching assistant

[Isduggeeadog]

Has anyone done this? If so, how is it?

I taught full time Primary for 15, had my Dc and now do private tutoring. I don’t want to go back to class teaching whilst Dc are young as I remember how all consuming it is.
However, i’ve started to remember how lovely working with the children was (especially this time of the year) and the community feel. I also miss the social aspect of working with other staff and always became good friends with colleagues.
One of my teacher friends thinks it wouldn’t be stimulating enough and she’d want to step in, but i’m not as ambitious these days and don’t actively want all the extra responsibility.
The pay wouldn’t be great obviously, but I’d likely supplement with a couple of my tutoring jobs.

No!

We get holiday pay that we’re entitled to for the hours we work, and what we earn is spread out over 12 months so we get the same wage every month, but we aren’t paid for the holidays.

It is nice to get paid in August when you haven’t worked a day, but it’s needed to make up for the crap wage every other month.

Ive done it.
Ive gone from high school mainstream to sen high school.
As lots of people have said money isnt great but I've increased mine by being a pa for several of the children too.
It took a lot for me to get used to as I was ready to step in and tell them how to behave etc.
But now I absolutely love it. Best move I made. I fet to spend more time with the children but without all the stress of being a teacher.
Apologies for spelling im typing one handed!

I’ve been a TA for 25 years and have never been able to do that!

Have you looked into PPA cover role?

Be prepared for the horrible two-tier staff system in schools. If you're not a teacher you don't count.

I know nothing about teaching but have read a few threads here where teaching assistants were expected to step in for teachers regularly each week.

I’d be wary of being used as a teacher on a TA salary. You might as well be a teacher.

I’ve known teachers work as TAs to avoid all the extra work of lesson planning. They seemed pretty happy with their choice.

How many part-time days would you need to teach to make a TA salary? What would that workload be like?

I wouldn’t. Most of our TAs are supporting 1:1 kids with challenging behaviour or high level SEN which is pretty exhausting. The pay is awful too. I think you’d end up wishing you were still a teacher!

There are several ex teachers in TA roles in my school and I’m one. The only one covering class is the HLTA which is a role I wouldn’t do. That is a whole load of stress on not much more than me.
The pay for TAs is awful and I don’t know how much longer it can stay so low. The expectations are way above the pay grade and schools rely on TAs more and more.

Dd has an EOTAS package locally there is huge demand for staff to deliver provision. Three for dd are ex teachers doing tutor TA and PA roles (10 hours of each), they say it is their dream job. Flexible hours, term time only, all resources funded, plenty of hours to enrich the curriculum, one student. Your LA will know where would be the best place to look for openings if you contacted them or Facebook EOTAS groups are often places where parents advertise available roles.

If you can accept the pay cut get a class TA role in a school with mixed year groups - you’ll be teaching everyday without any of the stress

Why not do supply? More money.

In my dreams.

Sorry, not sure how that works? So do you get paid the same wage every month including Christmas, summer etc?

Not yet, assuming is more pay?

Is this with other staff members?

You get paid for term time + holiday pay and it is divided equally into 12 monthly payments.

I know a few people who have done this. Just be careful you dont end up getting used as a teacher but on TA pay!

I know lots of TAs who end up teaching, some who have been given classes even, but who are still paid as a TA.

There is a teacher at DC's school that became a TA for a few years (before going back into teaching). However they did also end up doing some teacher shifts as a cover teacher. I hope that they got paid a better rate for that.

I had a friend who did this in similar circumstances (going back after kids) and it ended up that she was used to cover abscences etc because she was qualified and able to do it.

So she was de facto teacher but paid as a TA. But when a teaching job came up they didnt give it to her as they wanted to keep her as a TA! So she left and went back to teaching but part time.

I moved from primary to secondary TA and find that a lot less stressful fwiw. In primary I always felt that I was expected to be able to do what teachers did but without the training or pay. It was full on flat out from the moment I walked in until the moment I left at the end of the day. We were only paid for time in the classroom, were not allowed to do admin in that time, but had admin tasks we had to do. They changed contracts that paid until 4pm (to cover admin) to only pay until 3.30pm but expected people to stay and do the work anyway. More and more we were expected to cover lessons when the teacher was not available. It's so much better where I am now.

I did this and really enjoy it. I love working with children and not sure I could do tutoring (what do you even do with a child 1:1 for an hour?!).

I have never been asked to cover a class (apart from once which was actually a favour to the class teacher who asked me).

However others are right about some aspects, pay is rubbish. I work a full week and earn less than I did on my UPS3 wage working part time. You only get a 30 mins lunch break that flies by as most TAs do the lunchtime role so be prepared to be out every day in all weathers!
I am a general TA but if there are any absences covering 1:1 children then I am asked to do that. I also work in a class with high sen needs and am frequently an unofficial 1:1 for a child in that class.

Yes . Your prorata wage is calculated, then split evenly over 12 months .