To want a TA job

[QuestionAndAnswers1]

Calling all teaching assistants! How are you finding it? Is full time full on? How do you cope with the poor pay - I’m worried it isn’t enough money to justify the work?! Please share any tips or reviews!

Just because you’re mortgage-free does that mean you’d still be able to buy two smaller houses mortgage free
and run one of them on a TA wage?

@Yewoo 2 kids, 10 and 11.

I feel like the actual role sounds like it would suit me - reading @neverbeenskiing’s summary. Very much my personality too.

HOWEVER @jmh740 I really am worried about the lack of flexibility. I am very committed to what I do but on that salary, I’m not missing my best friend’s wedding. I’d already have to ask them for two separate days off for trips I’ve booked. And would they really be difficult about medical appointments? So I am worried about this aspect the most actually. I’m also not missing sports day for that amount of money (only an afternoon at my child’s primary). I don’t know how flexible schools are on this as it sounds like some (many?) are a “nope”. Just a shame as I genuinely think I’d suit it and I’d love being off with my kids. What other careers are there without training that work well for children?

@Shinyandnew1 yes that was my thinking - so not just lifestyle really, more bills as well. Just scraping by I guess!!

Horses fir courses?

Just a shame as I genuinely think I’d suit it and I’d love being off with my kids. What other careers are there without training that work well for children?

Kindly OP, I thought you were going to say your kids were maybe 2 and 3. Surely, if you aren’t working currently and your kids are 10 and 11, you could undertake some training? Or are there significant additional needs or something not mentioned?

It might depend where you work but yes they are very difficult about doctors appointments. You are expected to do everything outside of your hours. Staff asked to postpone operations until holidays.
You would be allowed prebooked trips if you have proof. I’ve never seen a TA allowed to go out to their child’s event. Basically when you are contracted to be in, you are expected to be in.
People work in school for the holidays (and there maybe the odd time you have to be in then depending on your contract) but beyond that it’s not family friendly.

You do need qualifications to become a TA. It's a rewarding but underpaid job. There may be times you have to teach the class yourself

@Yewoo I would love to train but everything I look at involves a) expensive courses and b) very time consuming before earning money and I can’t work out how I then manage childcare (we have to do school runs as we aren’t near transport). Also yes one of my children has needed medical care and it’s an ongoing condition so will need more medical care - we don’t know how much or when (or what expenses might be involved). Something I’ve been anxious about when trying to think of what works!

@Pasta4Dinner it does surprise me schools can’t cover rare events - heartbreaking TAs are doing so much for other children and missing those own rare assemblies and sports days.

Big difference between primary and secondary and special need school? Which one are you thinking?

There are lots of work in schools that aren’t TAs. It feels like you are mainly liking the job because the hours suit you.

I would say the role is very dependant on the school. My own experience is that general TAs are being phased out and supporting children with additional needs is the main focus, so if you have an idea that you are supporting the teacher in the classroom with giving out pens and workbooks and reading with the kids etc then I’d say it’s not that.

The really tough end of the role might be supporting a child who is prone to violent disregulation. Things might be thrown and if you get hurt it’s considered part of the job. I do get frustrated when people talk about ‘magic’ ie. someone just has a magic way with the disregulated kids because whilst that might be true, there’s then an expectation that everyone should have some magic and it’s not bloody Hogwarts.

You will need a good working knowledge of the curriculum to be able to give successful interventions. If you are full time you will usually be in class to see the input and the do a pre-teach or post teach where you can go over the work again with the children who might be a little behind. That can be a little daunting if it’s fractions or percentages and that’s not something you e done since you were a kid.

I always thought ‘how hard can it be, it’s blimming primary’, but then it’s really important to use the correct mathematical language and it will be very much changed from twenty odd years ago. Same with English. You might think ‘I can spell and write well’, but then suddenly it’s all subjunctive noun phrases and the correct use of a semi colon and you realise you haven’t a clue lol.

I would concur with others that volunteering will be your friend and might also get you a job. Get your foot in the door and anything could happen.

I love my job at a TA, I work SEN, it really hard work, constantly on my feet, I do get hit, nipped etc, but you learn how to deal with it properly. Pay isnt great but then I went into the job knowing the wage wasnt great, I wouldn't give it up. I love it.

The thing is you can't accept a job, knowing the salary and the contracted hours, then say "I'm not missing XYZ for that amount of money".
Unless you work in the school your kids go to, you're unlikely to be able to attend their school events. On the plus side you get to spend the school holidays with them, which most parents don't. But it means you can't take leave in term time. It's about weighing up the pros and cons.

Hmm I just spoke to someone who was SLT until recently and they let their staff go to assemblies, sports day and other important events. So that’s rare then??

I used to love my job doing this, it fit perfectly with my life with 3dc and I found it very rewarding. It’s immensely hard work and we had several changes of head in quick succession and our behaviour policy essentially disappeared. It almost immediately became like walking into a battlefield every day. I stuck it out for 2 more years as by that stage I had been a 1:1 for 2 years and I wanted to see them through to their next transition to seniors but I was done.
A job I loved became a job I dreaded (apart from my lovely student and a few incredible colleagues), the environment became so toxic.
The money was always bad compared to the effort put in and the value of the job but when I left even if I was offered 5 times the amount to stay I wouldn’t.
I believe it can be the most rewarding and fulfilling job being responsible for changing lives and an outlook on education for the better but circumstances are tough out there right now. But no, not ‘worth it’ for the pay if that’s what you’re looking for. There are FAR easier ways to make more money.

Agree with this. I was asked if I could move my smear, I said no. They let me have it off eventually but have been very vocal about next time it needs to be in the holidays. Issue was the nurse doing it only had certain clinics available so I had to take what she had.
Ive never been allowed to take time off for my kids for sports days etc, I'll admit I've phoned in for those. Schools expect parents to turn up to events but dont allows their own staff 1 hr to see their own kids.

Very rare i was told it would be better if FILs funeral could be in half term

it does surprise me schools can’t cover rare events - heartbreaking TAs are doing so much for other children and missing those own rare assemblies and sports days

It's not "rare events" though because the vast majority of TA's have school aged kids, all those kids have different events, and if you allow it for one person you have to allow it for all of them so it would be constant. Schools don't have the luxury of 'spare' staff to cover things like this. Our staff are spread very thin, just trying to cover sickness absence is a logistical nightmare.
It's a shame, yes but I don't think it's "heartbreaking" exactly. School staff know this is what they're signing up for, and my kids understand that although I can't be at all their school events they're lucky they've always had a parent around for the entirety of their school holidays when many of their friends have to be in holiday clubs whether they like it or not.

It is one of the hardest working roles I've had for so little pay it's ridiculous. I worked my way up to HOY which is also hard graft but better paid.

In all honesty though I'd say stay away from education, it's absolutely fucked.

As PP says, the days of classsroom TA’s pottering about helping, are almost gone. They are still around in indie schools, but those are competitive.

Mostly you’ll be SEN support, attached to 1 or 2 kids. As long as you have your eyes open, it’s fine, but a family member retired early after a long TA career as they did not enjoy the role after it changed.

Not where I am. The local authority recruits TAs en masse multiple times a year, no formal qualifications necessary, because they can’t keep staff.

OP, a TA job is hard - it’s not just helping kids with reading and numeracy like it used to be. There’s a high chance you’d be 1:1 with a SEN child which is not only emotionally and mentally exhausting, but it puts you at risk of serious violence. All for just over minimum wage. It’s not worth it.

Very! I am SLT and would love to allow staff to do this, but there's no way we could, we're thin on the ground as it is even when everyone is in.

We do allow time off for medical appointments, funerals and family weddings though.

@neverbeenskiing just seems odd that the same schools arranging family events won’t let their staff go to them? Unfair on children isn’t it? Especially if there might be reasons for a child needing their parent there (without going into too much detail, that’s the case for one of mine due to a condition she has).

I'm a TA in the independant school I send my children to.

The pay is poor but the staff discount on school fees makes it worth it.

My children have always been allowed in my classroom before / after school.... now they are teens they do useful jobs with / for me for 15 mins in the morning before the children come in.....

I have worked right across primary from nursery to year 6 and as a result have worked directly with my own children for 4 years. (this never caused any issues)

My lunch hour is unpaid and i make a point of not working during it. (I'm paid too poorly to make my wage go under NMW which it would if i worked during it). But I'm run off my feet the rest of the day. (which is great, I like being busy, it's never boring, and the day flies by!)

Personally i love my job. I love the team I work with. I dont do it for the money, but it fits in with me being in the same place at the same time as my own DC.... I have to drive to and from the school every day anyway, so I might as well stay and be useful while I am there, and then I get the same nice long school holidays as my own children.

Id say the complete opposite!

Most schools are that desperate they'll take anyone with a pulse and a clean DBS to work with the constant stream of children who can't cope in mainstream, but are stuck there until the parents and school can shout loud enough for the council to get them a suitable place.

Similar criteria for cover supervisors and non-teaching pastoral roles as well.

It's not a question of "letting" staff go to events, you make it sound as though we're just being mean for the sake of it! We cannot run a school safely without enough staff. Kids who need personal care, or 1:1 TA support at all times for their safety and that of others don't suddenly stop needing that support because someone else's child has a sports day unfortunately.
It might feel "unfair" but that is the reality of working in a school, you are expected to be in school during school hours. That's what staff are signing up for.
If missing your own child's school events is not something you can accept then I would say working in a school is not for you.