What does a highly qualified TA mean?

[salondon]

Is there a black and white definition?

• Do they have x yrs of experience working in a such and such setting?
• Do they have a salary range?
• Do they have a certain degree?
• Do they attend regular courses?

IME (ex TA) it would mean qualified beyond level 3 and had done additional qualifications. Qualifications alone don't a good TA make though so I'd also be interested in experience and whether experience/qualifications were relevant to the job.

Salary is up to the setting although we have a county pay scale.
Training is also up to the setting (& often how motivated the TA is to pay for their own/use their own time)

Higher level is different from highly qualified ime.

Why don't you ask them what the minimum level of experience, training and qualifications a 'highly qualified' TA would have and ask these to be written clearly in the working document.

Star what is the difference between a higher level and highly qualified?

Highly qualified TA means sod all, unless it states exactly what they are qualified in or at.

Sorry claw, what do you mean? You mean it's as good as not written? Is there no salary range

it means unless it's defined the highly trained doesn't mean anything in a statement

so for example in statement speak a "makaton trained ta" could be given a book to read or have an hours training and that would "count".

more valuable is an assistant who has x hours training or has an x level certificate

At dd2s school all staff are expected to attend courses on autism

I mean it is subjective and just words. For all anyone knows it could mean higher than average in height. Unless it is specified it means nothing more than inflation of a title in order to fob off parents.

In 20 years of attending SEND I have never had an LA tell me that a TA is less than highly experienced. When pressed what highly experienced means you are often told that the TA has attended a limited number of twilight training courses which apparently makes them qualified to work with the most complicated children in the county.

My best ever was being told that the named TA was very experienced. Mum knew her and that she had previously worked at Tesco for the last 5 years.

The reality is that experienced means what the LA/school wants it to be.
I would also say that there is a difference between 10 years of multiple wide ranging experience and 1 years experience being repeated 10 times.

In saying this I am not anti TA.

I have the privilege of knowing some who know far more than some teachers. However they do not, as a rule, have the knowledge and experience to support very complex children. There is a big difference between effort. Most TA's try very hard. And effectiveness. What objective progress has actually been made over time.

I was really surprised how simple the HLTA training was. Basically 3 essays on working 1:1, with a small group and with a class.

Higher level TA, specialist this or that, could mean anything, unless it states why they are 'higher level' or why they are 'specialist'. I am not suggesting that they are not 'higher' or 'specialist' just that it doesn't really matter what they have training in or specialising in, if its not relevant to you.

For example my GP is 'specialist' (as are most GP's) she 'specialises' in ears, nose and throat. Which is great if I have a ears, nose or throat problem, however not much use to me if I have broken leg!

Do a google search for 'g22 guidance note'. This will access Suffolk cc with the pay scales of support staff. DS1 statement was for level B. He is at ss so doesn't have 1:1 but we costed for level D for tribunal.

HLTA is/was a specific qualification that allowed TAs to take whole classes for PPA time among other things. It's not offered anymore as a qualification in my area. It was higher than a level 3 qualification but I don't think it was a level 4.

Personally, I think 'highly qualified' means jack shit. I was a TA for 6 years, I have a completely irrelevant degree, and a slightly more relevant NVQ2 as a TA, neither of which were worth anything as much as my experience as a parent of a DC with SN. And that's my own personal experiences which included loads of reading up on my DS's ASD, and the number of courses I'd been on with other like minded parents. The networking and sharing of experiences and good practice has always been more useful than any SN course I've ever been on. (And I've been on 5 so far.) My DS went to an excellent special pre school and the friendships with parents and staff from there has been very useful.

Time on this forum has been really, really useful over the last 3 years. I only wished found it years ago.

The ability to actually connect with a child is crucial too. My son has had some TAs who have been, technically, well-qualified but just couldn't connect with him as a person.

It needs someone who has a very strong feeling of being comfortable with themselves so they are not looking to 'save the child' or 'prove' themselves through their work with the child. Someone with considerable empathy and compassion. Someone who can focus on empowering and teaching the child but who can also be a child's advocate and translator.

My feeling is that good quality training makes a good TA even better but if you can't connect with a child, all the courses in the world won't help. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

This is not just for TAs but for all professionals who work with people - especially doctors!

Couldn't agree more IE, in the past ds has had TA's or even supposedly highly qualified teachers working with him, who he is scared off or who just rub him up the wrong way or who are very negative with him, resulting in ds not wanting to work with them.

He now has a young TA who has literally just started, I have no idea of his training or experience, although I am told he has training/experience of ASD (I doubt this very much, by the questions he asks me). However, I really don't care, as ds adores him, he confides in him and tells me this TA 'makes him feel better' when he is stressed. TA asks me questions and he is eager to get to know ds and find out what makes him tick and how he can best support ds.

Yes, as IE and claw say, the connection between your DC and the TA is the most important thing. DS2 has one TA whose spelling etc isn't fantastic. I couldn't care less, she understands what makes him tick and doesn't wind him up further. She keeps him on track and knows when he's pulling a fast one. Unfortunately, some of his other, 'better qualified' TAs don't get him at all.

one of the reasons we moved ds from his ms. His TA just "didnt " connect with him. She just wanted to "contain" him and babysit.

Containment and babysitting weren't going to educate him, were they?

Absolutely agree with this thread.
The problem we've had with ds1 in the past is that bizarrely some staff didn't want to admit that they didn't have the knowledge or understanding they needed to meet his needs.

We're very lucky now that he has specific staff in his SS that understand him very well. The difference is that they wanted to make the effort and take the time to understand him and there was no ego or lack of understanding in the way to prevent it from happening.

Yes, Ds is in a special school not because he coukdn't be educated in mainstream but because he woukdn't be.