‘Flexible use of support staff in keeping lessons face to face’

[Skinnyfrappewithmilk]

One of the points made by the education sec for return to school this week.

Are they planning on paying a decent wage for support staff then?! I’m a TA and having to claim UC as my wage is so poor, quite frankly it’s an insult.
I’m so angry reading that…our pay and conditions are already awful, I can’t quite believe the cheek of it.

I feel exactly the same. I didn’t sign up to be a teacher!

I don’t get paid anything comparable to my teaching colleagues precisely because I don’t have their training and expertise. Who on earth thinks it’s a manageable solution to put me in charge of classes??!

At my school (I'm a TA) we get a small uplift in hourly rate for time we cover the teacher, do you not get this? I agree it's not much though.

Of course not. They're expecting you to step in out of "goodwill" and "loyalty" because you should "think of the children."
Which is all very lovely, if you ignore the fact that these things only ever seem to lead to worse pay and conditions.

Just posted on a different thread but relevant here that as well as the totally unsuitable lack of pay for TAs, there seems to be an assumption that every primary class has a TA who can step in and cover. The number of TAs in most primary schools have been slashed over the last few years and many also only work part-time.

And by doing this schools are being kept open in name alone. No disrespect to support staff but children won’t be educated it’ll be more like a childcare service. With talk of “merging classes” and “teaching bigger numbers” children will be “in” school but not being taught like they should which in turn will have a knock on effect for exams.

I think it's an insult to staff, as well as to the parents and children. Education isn't just being in school. Quality of lesson matter. So if they think it's ok as long as children are in school with support staff supervising, they are not really thinking about children at all.

Maybe instead of cranking up the number of Ofsted inspections, the dreaded inspectors could roll up their sleeves and help teach in place of absent colleagues?

@MrsHamlet

Of course not. They're expecting you to step in out of "goodwill" and "loyalty" because you should "think of the children." Which is all very lovely, if you ignore the fact that these things only ever seem to lead to worse pay and conditions.

This. I have so much I want to say but it's just so enraging, I don't know where to start.

I also just posted on another thread but relevant here: there just aren't TAs available to cover classes. The only class with a full time TA in our school is reception- most other classes have a share of a general TA whilst the vast majority of their time is timetabled with 1:1 or small group work for children with SEN. Many are also lunchtime supervisors so have to fit in their hours around theses duties. And all for pretty much minimum wage. They certainly shouldn't be covering classes of 35 odd children for more than an hour or so in an emergency.

Yes - that’s true. At my last school we had 2 part time TAs across 6 classes!

Also, who is going to do my job if I’m supposed to be covering a class? I’m support staff but primarily office based, but knowing how decimated we have been by absences throughout this pandemic it’s not unfeasible that I’d be requested to help out, even if I am low down the list of people to call on.

Doesn’t help that we are still expected to maintain the same standards in anticipation of any inspection!!

Yeah, good luck with that! I could hold my own in my subject area, but controling a room of teens is not something I've ever attempted (and is not something I'd ever have been expected to do when I took the job).

I’m a ta , it’s an insult. I will be saying no as it doesn’t state in my contract I have to. In my year 2 class there are 3 autistic children without a 1 to 1, I am that person for them, which is a stretch in ‘ normal ‘ times . Covering weekly PPA is hard enough but I do it every week. I will absolutely not be offering out of good will to cover my class every day or indeed possibly 2 year 2 classes every day. Even with an offer of HLTA pay I think I’d still say no. My goodwill has been sucked out of me , tas , just say NO.

Unlikely they are thinking of children's education at all and just keeping the economy and productivity afloat by having parents working full time rather than home schooling. Disgusting to rely on support staff for teaching when the pay is already unforgivably low for what they do for our children. Same as most public services, government rely on people's goodwill because of the kindness of the people on these jobs. It's awful.

I’m not a teacher but I think it’s horrendous.

No TA should have to step up unless they are appropriately paid

I would expect a similiar number of support staff to be impacted by isolation or illness as teaching staff anyway.
I think school budgets have become so tight that there arent many support staff about.
I think TA terms and conditions are very poor.

I'm excited to see the school business manager have a go. He could do a bit of maths.
The IT support staff could have a go at computer science.

As @rainrainraincamedowndowndown put it:

So if they think it's ok as long as children are in school with support staff supervising, they are not really thinking about children at all.

@MrsHamlet

I'm excited to see the school business manager have a go. He could do a bit of maths. The IT support staff could have a go at computer science.

It’s just farcical, isn’t it??

There are zero TAs in my secondary school who aren't 1:1 for children with EHCPs so it would be illegal to use them. I imagine it's close to being the same in many primaries, especially in KS2.

They don't mean TAs. They mean admin staff, site staff, lunchtime supervisors. Who, let's face it, are also not paid enough and, you know, have their own work to do.

I’m a teacher at the top of the pay scale and was utterly horrified about what was expected of TAs at my school last year, in terms of bubble teaching. The amount we pay our support staff is a national disgrace at the best of times.

As a teacher I'd rather do online home learning than allow my poorly paid colleagues to go through the shit we do as teachers. Especially on the piss poor pay they get!

When I was off with coronavirus I wasn't particularly unwell and I taught my lessons via live video link. The cover supervisor just had to operate the video. This is secondary though. Not sure how well this would work in primary. In the long term obviously this would disadvantage children as differentiation and inclusivity is almost impossible! Not to mention behaviour management of some classes. I do think it's a useful thing if teachers have to isolate if they aren't actually ill. Though then there's the possibility that schools increase their demand on sick teachers!

I'm currently on supply and trying to work 3 days a week and I know I'll be turning down work in the next few weeks I could work everyday if I wanted. It's tough being on supply and the less teachers in school the less support you get with lessons and behaviour management. TAs do not need that shit on their pay!

I don't have any answers though other than to just let it rip through schools. Most teachers I know would, in usual times, come in anyway even if they're ill as it's easier than writing cover lessons! (Contrary to a poster on another thread who thinks teachers go sick at the drop of a hat 🤷🏻‍♀️)

At the end of the day any kind of cover that is repeated across many lessons is detrimental to students. They need consistency and continuity to reach their highest potential. There's learning things and then there's progression which is what has been affected.

The best in this situation is directly employed cover supervisors and supply staff who have a long term attachment to the school and therefore the students. But that doesn't guarantee quality lessons in the long term and is more expensive than using TAs

I’m a TA. I cover my class for one day every week whilst my ECT class teacher has non contact time. It is quite honestly hell. I have 4 children who actually need a 1-1, they cannot access any of the curriculum at all. My ECT (who is lovely) completely freaks out if she is left on her own, I often have to leave my intervention groups to come back to class to sort stuff out.
I “taught” KW children throughout the last lockdown, we had 3/4 of our class in then. The teachers were on Google Classroom and I had the children in class doing the same work. It was a completely different cohort though and was manageable, this one isn’t and I’m not doing it.

This was already happening in my relatives school at times where staffing was dire.TAs, support staff, office staff are all amazing but they aren’t teachers aren’t paid accordingly.
Children won’t be receiving any better education from being in school to the homeschooling if this is the case. Keeping schools open at all costs is not the answer. Maybe the local MPS maybe would like to help in a room full of unvaccinated kids?

I work in the NHS and that’s a big enough shit show so I can see what’s coming to schools this term. It’s awful.

I hope they are not expecting schools to use children's 1:1s.

@Spikeyball

I hope they are not expecting schools to use children's 1:1s.

Nope...... you are supposed to do all this whilst also ensuring that children with SEND remain "properly supported". OK?