Are Teaching assistants being cut in your school?

[fedup21]

My friend's school is in the process of getting rid of just about every teaching assistant they have! The new head says that the amount they cost (there are a lot there) doesn't justify the benefits they offer and results do not significantly improve by having them! Is this a widespread thing, I wonder, or just a one-off in her school?

I think the government is trying to get rid of most of them.

Ours have cut experiences tas and hired young apprentices/playworker :s

I think the government would like to get rid of teachers as well! ;)

Have they sacked the TAs at your school, Neverhere, or made them redundant? There are over 30 teaching assistants at my current school; when I first started teaching, there were 8!

They just haven't replaced tas (many have left due to management) and then brought in in different roles with some old ta responsibilities. There are only 2 tas left in a average sized primary.

I suppose it's just going back to how it used to be. There were never TAs when I was at school. But then again-most of the special schools have closed since then, so those children who joined mainstream school, needed support. Hmmm

So far no ta roles gone at our school (nursery & primary) although on a slightly different note there are now no nursery nurses here, there used to be 4, the role is now being done by tas for less money

We have no general class TAs at all, only one-to-one support for Statemented children. This term we expect to see them all quietly pulled away for an hour or two, here and there, to give interventions in year 6. This will gradually increase until May.

It makes me SO angry, on so many levels.

More support across the school would mean less of a panic in year 6 surely?

"An education provider has a duty to make reasonable adjustments to make sure disabled students are not discriminated against. This includes….. Providing extra support and aids.” www.gov.uk/rights-disabled-person/education-rights

Not all pupils with disabilities have statements so what happens to them?

Both TAs and cover supervisors are being cut in our local school

No cuts at our school, specifically, but some classes have full-time cover and mine others only mornings.
But we have to justify their every breathing moment! The minute they stop providing "value for money," whatever that is in a primary school, they'll be out on their ear!
Makes me SO F*ING ANGRY!!!!!

The global economic/financial crisis was caused by Gordon Brown employing too many Teaching Assistants. Nothing to do with Lehman Brothers, oh no.

We are meant to believe that. Really.

I suppose it's just going back to how it used to be. There were never TAs when I was at school.
As you say, it's a whole different ball-game nowadays. Virtually every aspect of the job has changed. Statements aside, we have many more identified needs in class, which require specific intervention, yet at the same time, teachers have to strive to progress every single student forward with no excuses.
If I have a child seriously kicking off in a meltdown (no statement - far and few between in my county) when I'm trying to teach, and there's no other adult in reach to assist, what am I supposed to do?

We don't have a ta in class as standard. We have shared support (not all tas so not all as effective as each other). Often statemented children do not receive the support they should. As it comes to Sats when none of them do (even in y6!)

Dd could not have attended primary without TA support due to anxiety. TA's helped enormously

We still have class TAs, and some who specifically support statemented children, but the support is stretched very thin (most classes have 2 or 3 statemented children, but one TA who is supposed to support them all). Class TAs have a full timetable of intervention groups, rigorously monitored and checked, and we do struggle as they have no time for doing admin or general tasks (photocopying, displays, preparing resources etc) which is falling back into the teachers' remit, despite union guidelines that it shouldn't.

I am a business manager at a primary school which is now an academy. We have TA's in every class (in two classes they are HLTA's) plus a TA for each of the two statemented children. In addition most of our teaching staff are over the threshold, so my question is what are your schools spending their budgets on?

Who covers lunch times then?

Who covers lunch times then?

We have Lunchtime Supervisors, who are never TAs.

It's teachers who keep getting cut where I am, and TAs appear to be increasing.

Class TAs have a full timetable of intervention groups, rigorously monitored and checked, and we do struggle as they have no time for doing admin or general tasks (photocopying, displays, preparing resources etc) which is falling back into the teachers' remit, despite union guidelines that it shouldn't.

That's what it's like in our place. They are so busy doing intervention groups and planning/assessing for them that it falls to the teachers to do photocopying, sharpening pencils, doing displays, washing cups and sticking in work. The SMT seem to feel that TAs are too valuable to spend their time doing these tasks, so I end up doing it at 6pm or 7am-otherwise it won't get done!

Not so far, but i dread this happening. My sn child gets a lot of support from the TAs & the teachers will only struggle without help, and then my dds learning & others in class may suffer. Another stupid step by Cameron & his cronies!!

Where does he think the TAs will be doing once they are sacked , benefits of course !

Yes, my son's school used to have TAs in all classes all day but now they only have them in the mornings.

I think a lot of the TAs at my school are actually pretty miserable actually. They are all observed termly, folders taken in and checked regularly, subject to quite unreasonable PM reviews and learning walks. It's a lot of extra bo%*ocks for a very low salary. The older TAs certainly seemed to prefer the job as it was 15 years ago!

I've seen TA jobs advertised for around £17-£22,000 per annum.

I would imagine that is pro rata and when you take into account the hours and the holidays, it didn't work our much more than minimum wage.

I know some TAs are paid well, but not the majority.