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

"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."

I would be horrified if that were the norm!

A few are teachers but the majority aren't and I think TAs without teaching qualifications are being overused.

Hulababy, when we introduce interventions both the teacher and the TA undertake the necessary training, simply because the teacher needs to know what is being covered, how and when it can be adapted to suit individual needs, what the expectations of the scheme are etc. We find it much more useful than training TAs alone

Southeastastra - I agree that it is not usually a good idea to have parents as TAs. We never employ that way, unless I guess a well qualified and experienced TA happened to be interviewed and was the best candidate on the day.

What south said.Wouldn't it be better to have more floating teachers or smaller classes.

spanieleyes - would be good. Guess sometimes resources don't always allow for two to be out of school at the same time. So, we will send the one who will be implementing it and they then cascade information and resources down.

can't help but think the money could be better spend employing more qualified teachers and having smaller classes.
But Gove is using this as a way to cut the education budget. We will end up with the same number of teachers, the same class sizes and less support!

In the article I really do find this line very patronising.

The talks follow analysis by senior Treasury officials of research showing the so-called ?mums? army? of classroom helpers can have a negative impact on pupils? results.

Talk about deskilling a whole bunch of professionals. Takes no account of the whole range of TAs out there at all. Sounds like it is coming from people who really don't have a clue! Oh wait ... Mr Gove you say....

More teachers and smaller classes - oh yes, would definitely be good. Reckon that'll happen with the money saved from no TAs? Ha!

Actually ds' teacher was very good. They'd just been 'trained' to have very little expectations of children with autism by the LA, lest they demand further funds or side with the parents wrt evidence-based practice.

Smaller classes need more classrooms. As a country we are already short of classrooms for the current class sizes, what are the chances of INCREASING school budgets to enable these to be built? Zero!! Class sizes are increasing because of a shortage of school spaces, where would we fit the extra teachers!.

Are schools really getting less money?

I thought that only a few were actually getting less, but the majority were simply getting devolved funding which they had to then use to buy in services, which has been going on drip by drip for years if not decades.

StarlightMcKenzie - I would argue that a good teacher would not have that expectation at all, even if being told to by LAs. They should know that it is their job to teach all children to achieve their own potential, and that barriers to learning should not be used as an excuse not to teach to potential.

Yes to the issue with overcrowding being a big barrier to smaller classes.

They called it a "negative budget increase" starlight

our primary schools round here have nearly all been enlarged to take into account the rising population so we have more classes being built already

Hands off ninah! And where I work all our TAs come to training days and do whole school CPD in areas including phonics, guided groups, talking maths etc etc, as well as inviting in very clever people to train both teachers and TAs in specific areas on our SDP.

I admit not all our TAs are perfect spellers which does grate but one in particular is one to one with a child with very specific and complex special needs and she understands this child's needs better than most of the teachers so is most definitely better than a teacher at dealing with this child's day to day experience of school.

Sure, but teachers receive training about SEN from LA advisory service. And they tell teachers that they aren't very capable. How can a teacher know any different? The do half a day optional training to cover ALL SEN.

Even an honest LA training day will only provide the very basic stereotypical information and given the spikey profile of children with autism there is more of a difference between two with a dx than two without.

I thank all that's holy, yet again, that I got the hell out of teaching :(

I think LAs deal with TAs very differently.
A neighbouring county has a peri TA mentor, specific TA CPD, TA support services... you name it, they've got it.

10 miles down the road, our county has nothing - zilch. We have to train all TAs in-house, and usually use our own teachers to do the training (although they do attend some whole school training sessions and insets). I think being a TA in a school like mine is a massive challenge and admire them for their patience and resilience.

i have a statemented child at the moment. His TA is 1:1 all the time - very tiring for a start. This statemented child has no external agency support at all, so the TA is expected to deal with all his language, OT, social and attention problems. We were advised to download a SALT document to help her. It's a ridiculous demand to make on an untrained person, and we're just about muddling through together.

What on earth is a negative budget increase though?

I'd love for all our teachers to be perfect spellers too, lol! ;) As for the use of an apostrophe - still I can wish!

The differences between lower qualified TAs re spelling and degree educated teachers are huge.Really don't think the two compare.

Everybody makes mistakes but there is a difference between the odd slip up and mediocre literacy.

StarlightMcKenzie - But I know differently and I am a lowly TA, albeit also a qualified teacher. I have no direct experience of a child with autism in my own family, but I have certainly had children with ASD in my classes over the years. I was taught that every child should be treated as an individual. ALL teachers should know this. It only takes a two minute research on the internet to disprove whatever the LA is telling these teachers. Now, I don't know how every child with autism works - but it is my job, as a classroom practitioner, to find out how that child works, what they are capable of of and how best to support that child to achieve his or her own potential, and make progress. It sounds like your LA are doing badly in terms of children with autism, but imo, the teachers are also to blame if they are just going along with it and not helping individual children to learn.

Blueskies - as said, we don't have lowly qualified TAs. I do come across teachers with poor spelling and grammar use though. You only have to read MN to know that they do exist. I know teachers now have to pass tests in English, but looking at the level it is not that high.

However, was partly said in jest - spelling on whiteboard on a wall does seem to make spelling more erratic for some reason!