Teaching assistant removed

[Mellymiller1]

Hello, my daughter has dyslexia and has a SEN plan. We've just found out that her school have removed all teaching assistants except one who will float around 150 kids!! Previously there was one TA per class! No consultation and no communication. Just wondered if anyone has any experience of this and could offer tips as planning to write to the Governors. Also keen to understand what best practice is if there is any advice on this. Statutory guidance looks like just one teacher per 30 kinds, Many thanks!

This absolutely terrible!!!!
It's absolutely appalling that children aren't getting the help they need at school.
I have a family member aged older than 70 years old that has learning disabilities that didn't get the help they needed at school. They mercilessly struggled in a mainstream setting and were teased and lagged hugely behind when they needed a special school and support.... now it's happening again. Not good debough for 2023!!!!

*enough

There certainly were more special schools in my area 30 years ago. There was one right next door to the school where I work which was demolished. I haven't heard of any new special schools in my LA. We were promised adequate funding when they closed the special schools but that didn't happen. I'm not against inclusion but it needs to be funded.

Reception classes didn't always have a TA in the past and some only have part time TAs now. It isn't possible to work within EYFS guidance (the way I was trained in the early 80s so not new ideas) with only one adult plus children with SEN some of whom might be in nappies.

And LA budgets not helped by too few state funded SEND places.

The costs in the private sector for SEND provision see eyewatering - often around and over £100,000 per child per year plus transport costs.

Think how much money that removes from the system, the impact on the system and provision of SEND.
It is a vicious circle.

I mean, the schools I used to go to never had TAs - it was never a thing. One teacher per class and that was that. I can see the sense of it these days, but it's an expensive thing for schools to afford, so I can also see why they'd be binned cost-wise.

The number of kids in mainstream schools needing extra support has shot through the roof, for various reasons.

But who do you expect to do the group work if there aren’t enough TAs? Teachers will be timetabled for teaching or PPA time. The chances of spare teacher capacity is slim.

An EHCP can make all the recommendations it wants. It doesn't automatically result in additional funding, that has to be made separately and given there's no money, none, even behind the sofa cushions your school won't get any.

SEN provision is a scandal. Children, families, teachers, teaching staff and other children in the class are being viciously let down.

The State, and I don't frankly think it will be any different in time for the current children in primary if Labour were to get in, is blithely writing off any opportunity these children may have for the future.

And don't think the Govt saying they've funded this years teacher salaries makes them good guys.

They studiously forgot to mention they didn't fund last year's 5% (England) or the 10% awarded to Support Staff (that's the bucket containing TA's, although 10% of the square root of fuck all amounts to fractionally different fuck all).

But a class of 30 years ago with

-no children with high needs
-no expectation to deep mark
-no expectations that someone external will come and watch your lessons, tell you that because you aren’t meeting the needs of every single child, your Ofsted will be moved to Inadequate

is a completely different world.

When a single class teacher is expected to also teach three children with adhd, one with ASD who may scream/kick/bite/run out of the room, one in nappies, one with a visual impairment, another with physical difficulties meaning they need a hoist and PEG-feeding, plus those K children who may need sensory breaks, additional literacy interventions and catch up groups, it is impossible for them to manage and NOT their fault when they can’t.

I don’t think some people understand that because there wasn’t a problem having no TA years ago, that classes or expectations are in any way the same.

My sons school binned the year 4 teacher and promoted the teaching assistant instead. She’s unqualified so is a lot cheaper.

I feel for you as a parent, I feel for your child and all the others who will lose valuable sessions and support, I feel for the teaching assistants who are forced out of work at a time when there is a cost of living crisis and I feel for the teachers who will be left to struggle on.
Don't vote conservative. They don't care about any of the above.
Write to your local MPs and complain.
I also agree with previous posters about teacher strikes being a warning of this happening and we shouldn't be surprised etc, but the media outlets at the time did make teachers out to be after more pay. The news reporters weren't saying much about the actual impact this would have, so I'm not surprised people are shocked at the loss of TAs really. They might well have believed teachers were just after more pay.

Two local schools have done this-they have TAs in Y3 and 5 ‘teaching’ the class for the year. They don’t have degrees, let alone a teaching qualification. The parents have been told they are HLTAs but the head can call anyone that-they have no additional qualifications and are paid virtually minimum wage-it’s frightening if that’s the way things are going.

Sorry but they don't have to consult parents to move staff.

This will be based on finance and where the support is most needed which may change termly or yearly. This will all have been explored in the Staffing and Finance meeting or other name for their committee.

There are not many schools who have a dedicated TA per year even in Primary. Staffing costs are at least 70% of your budget with long term teachers costing you the most.

We haven't had a TA per year for at least 10 years. They go where the need is. SLT will review the data termly and tweak as needed.

It's very normal as teaching assistants aren't worth their low salaries in terms of the benefits given to students compared to other interventions- look at the education endowment foundation

1:1 TAs aren't needed or helpful for dyslexic students there's so many other better things that the budget could be spend on that would help these children more like tech and training for the teacher

Who delivers those other interventions? At my school it's me. The TA who's not worth the money.

Anything from extra maths and reading, to OT recommended exercises and activities, to targeted schemes for dyslexic readers, to social groups and many many others.

Research, including from the EEF, shows TAs can have a positive impact if they are sufficiently trained and deployed correctly. The problem is with how TAs are often used i.e. instead of the teacher rather than to supplement the class teaching, not with TAs in and of themselves.

1:1s can be necessary and helpful for some dyslexic DC. No one has said it is instead of assistive tech and training. Where it is required it should be as well as other SEP not instead of.

@AngryGreasedSantaCatcus sorry I meant classroom assistant style TAs as in the old model of having a helper in each room. And 1:1s who sit next to children watching the lesson on the carpet with them. No. Waste of time.

But targeted interventions (I would call that an LSA) are worth their weight in gold yes!

I do that too. And if we're really short staff even end up teaching. I wear so many hats my head is spinning most days and I start the day already behind on my to do list.

https://www.tes.com/jobs/careers-advice/teaching-assistant/teaching-assistant-pay-and-conditions

So sad, esp as the TAs sometimes much more clued up on SEN than teachers

I’d write to your MP if you want to complain about government cuts. But please don’t write to school - we’re on our knees and replying will just take up time that we’d rather spend with children. It’s also very unusual (and not much use) having a 1
:1 for dyslexia as other strategies will make bigger differences

They can’t afford TA’s. You know the strikes and the teachers banging on about the cuts to education budgets? This is what it looks like in practice.

This. No-one cares until they reise their own child is directly affected. The teachers weren't striking for fun. I'm sorry OP - that is awful and rubbish. But it shouldn't be a surprise. Things really are as bad as teachers have been saying.

My dc is in secondary, and while he was in primary, I've seen it happen through the years.
Until he was in yr3, they had at least one TA in every class. Then we heard that they had to let go few higher level TAs due to cost. By the time my dc left primary, they shared a TA within different year groups. I don't think they have to consult with parents, since it's nothing to do with what they want or what parents want, it's just financial matter. They didnt want to let them go, the ones left didn't want to leave either. Though the school let us know in the news letter what was happening.

So I think your DC was quite lucky, if they had 1 in each class until last year.
edit: spell