‘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.

[quote Andtheyalllookjustthesame]@EtInTerraPax

In normal times I would agree with you. But during a pandemic when they don't have access to the normal social world outside of school it becomes more important [/quote]
I live opposite a park- it is heaving today, despite the temperature drop.
From your posts, it sounds as though your children are primary age, so you probably have to take them out rather than let them out, but meeting friends in the open air has been possible for the majority of the last 18mo/2years.

Running around playing in the park with friends meets socialising, exercise and creativity criteria.

I am very relieved I fought so much to get Ds 1-1 water tight in his ehcp.

All the disruption in schools at the moment means he needs it more than ever. Thankfully so far if his primary 1-1 has been off one of the other two who are trained to feed him and who he knows have been in so they have been able to provide the stability for him to still attend.

Teaching assistants do amazing work, but they aren’t miracle workers and can’t be expected to do their own job and the teachers job.

@Blubells

Keeping schools open at all costs is not the answer.

But if those costs are huge - think about the need to offer furlough payments to working parents etc and the mental health costs etc - perhaps it is better to keep schools open, even if the teaching is substandard for a few weeks?!

That substandard teaching could cost a teacher their job.

"1:1s will be the first thing to go."

"Yes, and if the alturnitive is closing the school, I agree."

You wouldn't be agreeing if it was your child being asked to stay home/ parents having to keep their child home because their child isn't safe or is having meltdowns due to not having the support. It is also unlawful if the support is documented on an ehcp.

In this scenario, the kids who need 1:1 - and their families - will be worst off.

If a child is a flight risk, or lashes out when stressed, or hurts themselves, they won't be able to stay in school. Children are not assigned 1:1 care lightly.

So, if they can't go to school, how are THEIR parents supposed to go to work?

A policy like this will leave some of society's most vulnerable in an even worse position. Again.

Cross-posted with two others

I don't really have much to add but as an ex TA I am in no way shocked at this. The way my ex colleagues have been treated in the last (almost) 2 years is beyond dreadful.

People must see that support staff 'mucking in' isn't good for the kids. What's good for the kids is more funding , qualified teaching and much less of this bs about using staff until they collapse or walk away.

I genuinely hope schools stop trying to paper over the cracks , as is suggested , because this would be the worst thing to do for the kids.

@oohmamama

I just don’t see the issue here.

Muck in and crack on.

It’s not ideal but what is right now?

So, I work in school admin. Vital part of my role is that first-line absence reporting. Who is/isn't in. To contact parents/highlight/flag/escalate issues if child (particularly but not exclusively those who are vulnerable/child with issues) is not in. This happens regularly.

So if I am drafted into manage a class (absolutely 100% not my skillset and feel sick at the thought of it) - who does that first line response? Who highlights that Jonny, who is living in a DA situation, is not in? Or that Chloe, who has self-harmed repeatedly, has disappeared after Maths? Or that Phillipa is not in? Parents cannot be contacted? Mother know alcoholic and attempted suicide before? Who tracks this?

plus all the fucking onerous, additional covid absence reporting that the government wants on top of normal attendance data

But it's OK. We should all just muck in an crack on. Fuck Jonny and Chloe and Phillipa? Day to day stuff can slide as long as we muck in? Oh and yes, hello Mr Ofsted. Oh. A automatical fail because of safeguarding? Because we mucked in......

@BadlydoneHelen

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.

Agree with this. All of us at our school are now either 1:1 or covering 1:1's of absent staff. Groups previously run by TA's have all had to stop. The teachers don't have anyone to take reading groups etc. If I was to cover a class I'd have to do that whilst also caring for the 1:1 I look after who can't have eyes off him for a second. It's hard enough being in that situation for an indoor break with the full class let alone trying to teach. It's not realistic

Fwiw I did do lots of cover during closures but it was a case of supervising pre set work for a much smaller group (albeit all in the vulnerable or asn category so not still without challenges). At the time though no one was pretending it was any more than glorified childcare. I didn't mind that but full classes on top of my current duties - no thanks

I am a TA and I would echo what others have said, this is nothing new. I have stepped in twice over the last year to cover my class when the teacher was needed to cover a different class. Both times I was called at 7.30 in the morning and asked if I would mind covering. At the time we were in bubbles with staggered starts so I had to be in school by 8 to run through the days planning with the teacher before the children arrived at 8.20. My normal work hours are 9-3, I did get overtime for the extra time but at my normal rate of pay. I agreed both times because sadly the alternative was shutting a bubble at short notice because there was no supply cover available. Both times I was completely on my own for the whole day, including lunch duty. I ate my lunch with the children and if I needed the toilet I had to send one of the children next door to ask the TA to stand at the door of my classroom. It was manageable for 1 day at a time but no way would I agree to it again if it was a longer term measure.

Yeah but that’s not what’s being talked about here.

I’m a teacher 4 days a week and have volunteered a day a week recently at my local school to keep it up and running, so parents can go to work and kids can keep learning/socialising.

Of course there is a wider issue wrt standards of teaching/safeguarding etc. But what’s worse? Kids being (not) taught at home? Kids escaping safeguarding all together? Look at the results of that so far…

I’m not saying it’s ideal but imo, keeping schools open is the priority.

Sorry that was @EtInTerraPax

I’m not saying it’s ideal but imo, keeping schools open is the priority.

Where do you draw the line though? Do you carry on even if it means pulling staff from other important duties, like caretakers, office staff, 1-1s, middays?

I’m non clinical NHS admin and have been asked to vaccinate in mass centre. I don’t mind. This is a crisis situation and it won’t be forever

I'd quite happily step in and help with vaccination effort. Vaccinating is something that is possible to do. It's not possible for my teacher to teach her class without my support so how could I, a non teacher manage it?

@user1471509171

And forgot to mention how bl** freezing cold it is with all the doors and windows open. Rant over

We can't have doors open. A good chunk of the class would be gone if we did

But open at all costs is dangerous as so many have said.

If a child has their 1-1 removed (especially if legally written into an ehcp) and a child is hurt or escapes school or whatever as a result will those from above who are suggesting that take responsibility for the outcome?

If admin staff are used who will take responsibility for when a child’s absence is missed? Or nobody is in the office is there to help with inhalers? Or food for dinners isn’t ordered?

Or cleaning staff? I’m sure at the moment nobody would object to caretakers and other cleaning staff doing less of the job they are employed for.

Strangely schools don’t tend to have staff just sat around twiddling their thumbs

@noblegiraffe

What do you want the unions to do?

They are constantly lobbying govt. Geoff Barton is regularly on the news.

The government never listens to them.

And then when the government does something even slightly unpalatable like introduce masks in classrooms, the unions get blamed.

As a parent (I do not work in a school) I'd want the unions to take a firmer stance. Organise themselves, better publicise the dangers and terrible working conditions. I'd support them striking over this, at the end of the day I want my children to be safe in school and be educated by professionals who are trained to teach. As much as I think it's admirable that people in other roles want to step in, I do not want it to become the norm. I'm grateful for the schools our children have and would support the staff having safe conditions and being paid appropriately for what they do.

As for it being a bh so they can't do anything, I think this is part of the problem, it shouldn't matter that it's a bh if the situation is really so bad and given the previous way the government has announced last minute changes that they would have been ahead of the game and prepared for this.

Or that Chloe, who has self-harmed repeatedly, has disappeared after Maths?

This is an important one. Not sure if parents are aware of the idea that some kids are effectively on suicide watch while at school. If they’re all piled together in the hall then no way will the ‘non teaching staff’ have access to the registers, and things like checking if Chloe is still in school/not self-harming in the toilets will definitely get missed.

"Classes could be merged..."

Kids don't just play. Play is their lifeblood. It is their motivation in all things once their most basic needs are met. If schools become just social places and places to play for a while kids will be ok. Because they find their own ways to learn. You get a group of children together and they drive their own learning. It doesn't matter who is facilitating that.

Lovely romantic idea in a safe environment who is actually facilitating that while a child charges off down the corridor and needs followed or another falls out with a friend and starts throwing chairs around the class and there's no one available to remove them or the other dc.

@WarriorN

"Classes could be merged..."

Also ‘in the event of an outbreak schools should consider reintroducing bubbles’

If they reintroduce bubbles then how can they then start pulling staff from far corners of the school

"If schools become just social places and places to play for a while kids will be ok. Because they find their own ways to learn. You get a group of children together and they drive their own learning. It doesn't matter who is facilitating that."

That is very naive.