230,000 classroom assistants face axe

[mrz]

www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Education/article1268217.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_06_01

crystal I have to disagree with you, in our school, teachers plan all intervention groups run by TAs in loose terms, TAs then assess and plan for individuals accordingly, and we teachers monitor their impact half termly, at the very least.

Teachers plan work to suit all abilities, often four ways if nec, to allow children to work independently. I work with my support group really often too!

Also (year 1) my children are expected to work independently unless they have been targeted for a specific reason, ie a guided group focusing on a certain skill. And this group could be made up of 1 child or 8 or any umber inbetween depending on what the gap in their learning is.

Our school's TAs are so brilliant. And we have lots of children with very complex behavioural needs so could not manage a class on our own as so many need a one to one to help them cope with school (not statemented so no funding there!).

My TA supports my vulnerable children on the carpet so they can access the quality first teaching, she models behavioural expectations, models how to work with a partner with me, as well as assessing constantly and making notes for me.

If anyone tries to take my amazing, patient and dedicated TA I will hold onto their legs and be dragged round with them until they give her back.

I don't recognise your TAs crystal, our TA team work like Hulababy's.
Helping children become independent learners is something that we strive to do every day and is central to our school aims.

Hmmm not so keen on TAs doing planning myself- they aren't qualified teachers.Thinking of some I've had there is no way I'd want them planning my dc's work.Have had issues re this subject with my dc and on TAs poor marking.

I think qualifications for TAs need to be much higher.I once had to rip pages out of books due to incorrect TA spelling when working with a group.Teaching whether it be a small group or a big class takes a lot of skill and sorry but I just don't think some of the TAs I've seen in action are up to the job or trained to a high enough standard.Many don't teach they just keep re- reading instructions and "help",they don't know how to question,teach effectively or even manage poor behaviour properly.

Unfortunately with higher qualifications you get the need for higher wages but the money isn't there.

So personally I think there should be fewer but better qualified TAs.I do think a poor TA is worse than no TA at all.

I'm getting very concerned with how often TAs are used as supply too in our school and to teach regular lessons so some subjects are only taught by TAs.Some of these lessons my dc hate and you do wonder if it's due to the subject not being taught by somebody as highly skilled as a teacher.

How qualified are these TAs who plan for children's needs?

and I do recognise Crystals description from schools I've visited

checkpointc I want one of those!

Blueskies beat me to it.

On a course last year most of the TAs were level 1 and planning for intervention groups most admitted they were unsure how to deliver programmes.

I forgot - in a junior school we ended up with a state where all the teaching of reading is done by TAs and none of the teachers know how to teach kids to read. (or know how reading is taught today with synthetic phonics)

I have a fabulous TA who I have worked with for 6 years, so we know each other and the children very well!
I give her the weekly plans on a Monday ( for literacy and numeracy) which shows which groups/individuals she will be working with during each session. We alternate through each group or guided group during the week so everyone has a degree of support and of independence. The rest of the time she runs interventions-either pre planned ones or more usually individual ones depending on the needs of the children in the group ( I say what they need to work on, she plans the sessions and activities and feeds back to me daily.)
She carries out IEP work ( I have 7 children on IEP's) based on the targets set for the term. When a target is achieved we discuss and she moves onto the next one.
She also runs the motor skills sessions -I have several children with dyspraxia- and visual tracking sessions for those with tracking issues.
She's pretty invaluable!

mrz

Our 1:1s are level 1 or 2 but do not plan. We have 4 of these at the moment due to the nature of the needs of our children.

All our other TAs are level 3, plus 2 HLTA level 4. 3 are qualified and experienced teachers with QTS, though now employed as TAs/HLTA. 1 has passed PGCSE but chosen not to go on and teach. 1 starts her PGCE next year but has level 3 TA qualification. The others have relevant level 3 TA qualifications plus have a lot of experience at the school - a lot of ling term staff here, not very high turnover. All have regularly CPD type training on specific interventions and are often more knowledgeable about the spefici interventions offered than the teachers themselves are.

My DM has been a TA for almost 20 years now. She's worked in a variety of roles from supporting children with special needs one on one through their primary school years to what she does now which is working in a Foundation Class with her own Key Group to plan and support.

She gets paid a pittance for what she does and has just been handed the indignity of having to have her job downgraded (part of the equal pay measures which in her authority has seen everyone's job downgraded rather than any upgrading) meaning she needs to work 4-5 extra hours a week to maintain the same level of salary. Her salary is already less than £1k per month, pro rata.

I think right now she would welcome redundancy.

A good TA can be worth their weight in gold but all too often schools use TAs as described by crystal

I agree that maybe what schools need to be doing is employing well qualified and experienced TAs who are capable of doing the job. It sounds like some schools are employing unqualified staff just to save money. Of course that is not going to be beneficial to a school.

My DS had a TA for his SEN. That meant he could be babysat outside the classroom during lessons he found tricky and subsequently became disruptive, whilst the teacher got on with teaching the rest of the class.

The teacher should have planned for him to access his education at that point and supervised the TA in her role to ensure ds could be included, but she and the TA preferred to believe that ds' SEN made him incapable.

He's now at a much better independent school and showing many G&T aspects.

Parents are impressed by numbers of bodies in the classroom and don't always realise the TA may have no qualifications

And based on StarlightMcKensie's information - some schools need to employ better teachers too, not just better TAs.

mrz - but that is NOT always the case. In several schools I know of this is NOT the case. Many schools DO employ well qualified and experienced TAs, and are capable of using them well.

All our TAs are level 3 ( except one who is a qualified teacher). It does sound as if crystalsinger's school have little idea how to use TAs effectively, in which case they can be more of a burden than a support. But GOOD, well trained TAs are a valuable resource for all.

But they're not teachers.

Blueskies - at my school some of them ARE qualified teachers with QTS and with experience. They are not employed as teachers now, but that does not negate the fact that they are qualified as teachers and have experience of teaching.

And whilst the other level 3 TAs are not teachers, they are more qualified in the running and implementation of certain interventions than the teachers are. This is because they have up to date training in these, regularly, but the teachers do not.

Nor are they teaching.

Didn't they scrap the TA -> teacher course a few years ago?
I think it ran like the GTP, and only took a TA a year to complete.

It must have been around 2005 we had two converters in our school on a teaching practice. They were brilliant because they already had classroom management strategies and could concentrate on the planning/delivery/sequence of lessons.

I met one of them on a course the other day. She's been a DH for about 3 years now, and is now aspiring to be a HT.

My TA looked into doing something similar a couple of years ago and couldn't find anything useful at all, where she'd train and keep earning.

Is there something like this in the pipeline?

I do teach. I plan, I teach, I assess, etc. It is part of my job. Infact, in many ways, there is little to distinguish between what I do as a HLTA compared to what I did as a teacher.

ipadquietly - yes I think they did used to be a similar type of course and yes, no longer running.

can't help but think the money could be better spend employing more qualified teachers and having smaller classes. most of the TAs at my sons school were parents of kids there at the same time. it didn't feel right with me for some reason.