Calling teachers and TAs

[TAorTeacher]

Could you answer me a question honestly?

Teachers

How do you feel about having a qualified teacher as a TA in your class? Why

TAs

How do you feel about a qualified teacher being employed as a TA alongside you?

I do have reasons for asking. This came up at school today. I was a bit suprised by the view a couple of people there had.

As a teacher I've only experienced this once; the TA I worked with was a qualified teacher in her home country but worked as a TA here.

She was brilliant; worked to my plans, adapted them as necessary for groups/individuals she worked with, assessed them and fed that back to me, helped manage behaviour and had high expectations. However, all the TAs I've had the pleasure to work with have been like this so her background as a qualified teacher didn't seem to make a great deal of difference to me.

It wouldn't bother me if I was working alongside a TA who had been a teacher - I'm good at my job and enjoy what I do so don't feel I have anything very much to lose from having another adult with the same qualification working with me. If it's going to benefit the children in my class I'd welcome him/her with open arms.

I would be over the moon to have another qualified teacher in the room- but he or she would have to be extremely careful not to take on responsibilities of a qualified teacher whilst being paid as a TA.

would be thrilled - am a teacher

I would be thrilled, can't see why you would think otherwise.

Watching this with interest... Am an ex teacher considering working as a TA. Tethersend makes a good point though, and I do worry I'd struggle not to do too much tbh.

This is interesting to read.

Have name changed BTW.

I am a qualified teacher now working as a TA.

Everything in the past has always been very positive and I love my job. It is great fun. Sometimes I feel I have done a bit more than my job entails, but then so do most TAs from what I can gather. I do enjoy what I do and I do think I work hard and have the children's best interest at heart. I do stuff outside of school to make the work fun for the children I work with, and to ensure they are developing well, etc.

However something was said today that has shaken my confidence a little and has made me wonder.

A new TA was appointed, she is also a qualified teacher. A couple of TAs commented negatively on this, although did say no offence to me, as I was stood behind them and over heard. They didn't really say what the problem was but obviously felt it was not right. I did comment on why I felt a teacher may want to become a TA, but they obviously felt differently. But I don;t know why. It has left me feeling rather uncomfortable today TBH.

Interesting to see that the MN teachers feel they would be happy with the situation.

How about the MN TAs?

I am a secondary teacher and regularly work alongside a TA who is a qualified teacher, she does as SE13 says, works to my lesson plans but adapts as nec for the student or students she works with. I also agree with tethers about responsibilities as I know that the lady I work with does get asked to take on extras that other TA's in my school wouldn't - she is feisty enough to stand her ground and not do them though

I suspect that it depends on the attitude of the TA...if they are 'watching' the teacher and commenting or giving 'advice' or telling other TAs what to do then yes, that would get people's back up. But in my experience (as a TA and a teacher) it doesn't always follow that non-teacher TAs don't do this too!

I am thinking of doing this in the next few years, I'm taking a few years out to look after our first DC (not sue till summer) and am thinking about going back as a TA afterwards. Maybe not forever, but for a while. So I'm glad to hear positive viewpoints from others on here!

I would be thrilled. I know a lot of teachers who have become TAs-it fits in with family life and they like working with children, but not the workload that goes with it for a teacher.I would be tempted to do it myself if it wasn't for the difference in pay. I should think the big pitfall, already mentioned, is not to do more than you should do as a TA. For example if I was a TA and I was asked to take the whole class I would only do it on teacher supply rate.(TAs do take the whole class on occasions in my area and only get a TA's pay).

Where I am, level 3 TAs do take whole classes on occasions. We cover first day teacher absence. After the first day a supply teacher is got in. And we cover PPA time for our own class, for me this is one hour a week. We also sometimes take our own phonics group - which can be 20+ children depending on the group. This is the same here for all the leevl 3 TAs. There is now ay they;d pay me teacher rate whilst the other TAs got normal TA rate, and I wouldn't expect it. However if I were to do more than that - such as second day cover, or cover the teacher on my day off I'd be sorely tempted to ask for supply teacher rate.

The difference in pay is massive yes. I get less than £10 an hour now. But for me at the moment the flexibility and the lack of stress and paperwork, and all the workload of a teacher, makes it worthwhile.

I do do work over and above what I am supposed to do, but partly that is just part of my nature - I like to have things very organised and I like to keep full records for example, so I sort this in my own time. I don't have to.

We are not supposed to plan for the lessons we take, but sometimes I do, esp for the lesson I do during my teacher's PPA time. It is the subject I used to teach, so I find it just as easy. The teacher would happily plan it for me though, and I do know which topics to cover through her too.

Have to say that I do love my job and everything from my class teacher, senior management, etc. is always 100% positive.

It was only the comments I heard yesterday that shook me, which came from a couple of the TAs.

As a TA I wouldn't have a problem. The only thing I can think that might be slightly worrying would be the attitude of the HT. Would she favour the ex-teacher? Would she start on a higher level of pay? Would she be given the more exciting/responsible tasks/courses? Would a position of Senior TA be created for this person? If hours were going to be cut would the ex-teacher be in a more favourable position?

Perhaps the TAs in your school feel in the future they might get sidelined. They might be made to feel underqualified. One ex-teacher was good. Two ex-teachers now feels like an ambush

possibly the other TAs see her as a threat?

Can I just ask what qualifications an ex teacher needs and what is the pay?

TIA

You would be qualified-in fact over qualified-the pay is the drawback, I don't know exactly, but I imagine only £8 ish an hour.

I am a qualified English teacher (sec) and worked as a primary TA for about 10mo. Lovely job. The Head was v excited about employing me - getting another teacher on the cheap though they never had me covering lessons to be fair. The teacher I worked with was a bit insecure about haveing me there at times, though we developed a pretty good working relationship. The other TAs were a bit unwelcoming - think they thought I was a bit up myself - and I generally chatted to teachers in the staffroom because of this.

The worst aspect was the pay - £8 p\hr. This is what drove me back into real teaching - I now make in a day and half what I worked all week for.

I am a teacher who regularly works with two TAs who are both qualified teachers.

One is lovely, fantastic with the children, brilliant in the classroom and all staff love her. Although everyone knows she has been a teacher in the past, I have never heard anyone mention it either negatively or positively.

The other is difficult to work with, not that good at her job and many other staff (teachers and TAs) will mutter about her being useless and then add; "and she's a qualified teacher" at the end of the moan.

I think if you are a good TA, your background doesn't matter.

I'm a teacher working as a TA. Suits me, left the classroom because I became disenchanted with all the paperwork. Having to leave a paper trail of evidence for each lesson smothered all spontaneity and I felt I was becoming a robot.

As a TA I get to work with the kids who need the highest levels of differentiation and I get to have much more freedom to go off piste. I took a 66% pay cut but it was worth it for the job satisfaction.

Most of the teachers don't know I used to teach. Its not something I advertise.

I think there are lots of teachers working as TAs, I know a good few in a very small sample. It gives the best part of the job i.e. working with the children and gets rid of all the paperwork.