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!

TAs deserve more pay, but it wont happen unfortunately so the pay is what it is, you need to consider whether it would work for you.

If term time working is the important part for you and you need flexibility and it isnt something you really want to do then I would look for something else.

There are also receptionist and admin jobs in schools, and some schools also have a school business manager.

Honestly… I loved it for a couple of years and then got bored. Moved to cover supervisor then pastoral for 6th form and now am careers lead which I love

@Hesma was that all in secondary? What made you pick secondary, and is it easy to move from primary to secondary do you know (as a TA) or would you say starting at a secondary opens up more job movement as you have done? Thank you!

@OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon I thought about this and wondered how much harder they are to get (as less of them) and whether the hours are much longer than a TA on average?

Our office team do 8am to 4pm Mon to Thurs and 8-3.30 on Fridays.

Not sure on wages, but they seem to do a lot. We have 3 in our reception, the office manager is also the pa to SLT, she's our health and safety manager and attendance officer. There are obviously a lot more responsibilities that they cover, but thats a few.

DH is a TA and loves it. He teaches a sport 2 days a week as a hlta and is in class 3 days a week. It's a school which suits him. He periodically gets pulled in to 1:1 a child for a few months.
It works because he has a wife with a flexible job to cover sports days assemblies etc and keep food on the table
There have been years where his salary has pretty much equalled the childcare bill ( one in nursery ft and the other requiring wrap around care x5 because his school was 15 mins away so couldn't be there for pick up and drop off).
He has covered all school holidays, evening activities and he does the cooking.

@JessicaBrassica glad he’s enjoying it (and refreshing to see a different gender dynamic). I do worry about the fact it isn’t a breadwinning job though and for some couples, you may need to become that if there’s ever a necessary separation. Just a supplementary income really isn’t it sadly.

This must be very area specific. I used to work in a school and I know several people who have TA qualifications but cannot get a job as a TA. Some of them work in the school, in other roles, but even so have had no success in getting a job.

@QuestionAndAnswers1

I've been a TA for about 13yrs & initially went into it for exactly the same reasons as you - it completely resolved our childcare issues.

The role has changed significantly in that time but the pay has not risen even remotely accordingly. At my school (& we're pretty standard across the sector), the TAs are very much assistant teachers - we plan, deliver & assess a multitude of small group lessons, carry out a variety of interventions & tutoring, regularly teach the entire class (often solo), provide extensive pastoral care, manage extreme behaviours, carry out a wide range of admin tasks, liaise with emotional & often angry parents....& a whole lot more!

Every single minute of our day is timetabled & we're 100% 'on' at all times - most days, I barely have time to pee! We're hourly paid which inevitably means we end up doing countless hours for free - we're expected to be in school at least 30mins before the kids arrive, often don't have our full lunch-hour, do hours of 'extra' time in the form of school trips/residentials & can never take any time out of a school day for doctors/dentists/hospital appointments etc.

Whilst undeniably rewarding, it's utterly physically & emotionally exhausting.

My children are teenagers now & I'm currently looking for a new career - I just can't do it to myself anymore.

@BusyMum47 what are you thinking of doing? Re the hospital apps, what’s the deal there and where’s the line? I’m assuming some medical concerns or hospital and medical appointments for a child that can’t be made at other times due to urgency or necessity are allowed, even if unpaid for that time…I guess it would then be the guilt of leaving other staff to cover, or worst case agency staff having to cover?! This is part of the reason I haven’t gone back to work yet - just becomes a minefield with all these different factors (I have a child who will need medical care at times).

@QuestionAndAnswers1

They NEVER get supply staff in to cover TAs - not a chance! Schools can barely afford them for Teachers - that's why TAs have to do it! I cover PPA every week, across 2 year groups & every meeting, sickness, training course etc that my year group teachers attend.

Any time off during term time is definitely unpaid with a side order of guilt. It's pretty standard.

I have no idea what to do next but I have to get out.

@BusyMum47 see I’m really worried about that as obviously my child’s health has to come first. Such a shame as I hoped originally at this salary level and with children being core to the job, you would get more understanding than with a corporate and/or higher paid role (and I totally get it’s the tight budgets causing this in schools).

I have been a teacher in primary, secondary and colleges.

I have worked in some schools where ai would have been laughed at to ask time off for attending my children's events as would TAs if they asked but I have also worked at schools that would allow one event a year unpaid.

I know you've read it a million times but teaching is terrible for parenting and actually I kept thinking just wait til they get to secondary and it will get easier. I am now finishing in July and being a full time tutor and principal examiner as I can be more flexible with my kids. I have found that teenagers need you more than I realised. Lifts, help with staying on track with homework and revision and making sure they are doing what they're supposed to be doing. Others may feel completely different to me. Their school isn't walkable which may be part of it.

I wouldn't even consider TA at primary school - they put so much on TAs there covering constantly and for such little pay.

Have you considered applying being a TA at a secondary school or college. College would consider part time hours definitely and secondary school TAs can leave on the dot and are not asked to cover as cover supervisors do that. Just something to consider.

@Rainmaker123 really useful perspective - and yes, not what I wanted to hear but I wanted the truth! My teens won’t have a walkable school either, and the same with friend’s houses etc.

I have considered secondary but not separate colleges purely as there are none near us.

I feel like all of the careers I looked at are terrible for parenting to be fair though! I feel stuck.

It was in secondary. I chose secondary as I have a degree in languages and love Maths so I specialised in these subjects as they are less popular amongst TAs in my experience. Cover supervisor is stressful and I wouldn’t recommend it to be honest but do remember there are other non-teaching jobs that you may have transferable skills for.

I would say minimum wage jobs are far less likely to be flexible!

Is this post serious? You are thinking you can be a teacher/ta but still do drop offs at other schools (which sound quite a distance). Also have time out of school for events- Where does this magic cover come from? There is very little cover available in a school and if you do need it, you are depriving someone else of it which wont go down well when they discover you are leaving school to go on a jolly somewhere. Schools are usually on the rare minimum staffing levels anyway. Sickness cover is reasonable but it is a rare school that will have cover squirreled away that can be accessed as and when it is needed!

🤣 agency staff to cover TAs. This shows you don't really understand how schools work. We are lucky if they cover teachers and don't use TAs for that role. If a TA is off then someone else is moved to cover them if needed..it becomes a case of looking at if any 1:1 children are off ill so their TA can be used elsewhere, and if not, which children need 1:1 support the least and the teacher can 'manage'.

@zeebra so in terms of being able to do school runs, that was when thinking of a TA role - and I understand that IS possible for some schools and they have been able to make allowances for that. Also, no one is asking for time off for jollies.
And agreed @Moonnstarz, I’ve never worked in a school before. Just keen to find out as much as possible as a first step.
In terms of paediatric hospital apps, I do think schools need to appreciate it can be hard to get school holiday apps. They request parents AND staff don’t take their children to hospital apps during term time. I’m confused about how that then works as paediatric consultants etc don’t just work in school hols and obviously they may not be able to fit in everyone! We couldn’t get a hospital app in the Easter hols for example even though I requested it (as per school’s instructions for parents), so we are going just after that during term time. Surely it’s more fair to leave the holiday apps open for children of school staff?

OP, the thing is, if it were just one of these concessions you were asking for, a school could probably meet you on it (the hospital appointments is the one I - when I was a secondary HT - would have been very sympathetic about). But you've got a whole range of things you expect an employer to let you have and I'm afraid that most employers - schools or otherwise - wouldn't be agreeing to all of them. You essentially want to be paid to work - but be absent as and when it suits you.

I have a brillant head so my contract is to work until 3 to allow me to do the school run because DS is disabled so options are limited. That is something that is timetabled in and reflected in my pay.

They are as flexible as possible for appointments but it is a pain. If I am out then the class I am in is without TA support as there is nobody to move over to cover and no money to pay for cover. If the teacher is out I have to cover the class - often with no support.

Its often not a case of heads not wanting to be flexible but the budgets being so tight there is no chance of flexible.

@Sirzy thanks, that’s helpful, and yes I think that’s fair re pay reflecting it.

@VickyEadieofThigh and thanks, I do take your point and was worried as well that I don’t want to compromise too much on my current parenting availability - I want to be realistic and make sure things are going to work out well IF I decide to find out more and look into proceeding down this route and applying for roles. One thing that stung a bit was the “absent when it suits you” comment though. I don’t want to go into too much detail on here but there is a good reason for me needing to be there for one of my children in particular. So I just wanted to be clear, it’s difficult transport logistics and extra challenges.

Our school does allow staff time off for hospital appointments but you're expected to book things like GP appointments, physio, routine blood tests and dentist appointments for outside of working hours. If the hospital appointment is for yourself you might get paid leave but if it's for someone else it would likely be unpaid.

Someone else mentioned school Admin jobs, our office staff are in school for 8am and leave at 4pm so you would still need some form of wraparound care. But our TA's have to be in from 8am until 3.30 at the earliest so not a big difference and I would say Admin is less physically and emotionally challenging, although potentially not as rewarding.

Someone also mentioned the school Business Manager role. This definitely pays more than Admin or TA work but it's not for the faint hearted. Our School Business Manager is the Education sectors answer to Miss Rabbit. She's responsible for everything and anything operational basically, Finance, Health and Safety, security, catering issues, IT issues, sourcing equipment (with next to no money) and negotiating contracts, GDPR and dealing with SAR requests. She's also responsible for organising and overseeing building works and major repairs which usually happen in school holidays, so she is quite often required to be onsite in the holidays. IMO it's the most stressful job in the school.

I think with your transport logistics and extra difficulties then it isn't going to work and you would be better looking for a job you could work from home and flexitime. Try the local council.
Even if you did find a TA job with the hours you want (at a guess 9.30-2.30) that would only be 25 hours a week if you didn't take a lunch break. Additionally while you might find a headteacher fine with you taking one or two appointments for your child off per school year, the fact you then also want to have sports day for multiple children and assemblies it suddenly becomes a lot (plus I am only guessing at 1-2 hospital appointments and maybe it is more frequent). I would imagine if you were already in a role and then your child was diagnosed with a medical condition there would probably be a greater likelihood of getting the time unpaid as you might have a known track record and relationship with the school, but to go into a job with the knowledge of wanting so much time off I think you would be deceiving the school if you did accept a position and then kept making requests for time off (and if they said no what would.yoi actually do).