school over funded.

[user1497480444]

Surely I can't be the only one that feels this.

I am a TA. I am paid 15k a year to support children who refuse to accept my support, don't need my support, or are too academically limited to make use of my support.

There are 25 of us in my school

nearly half a million pound s year spent on nothing.

If children were made to behave, if children were in lessons leading towards appropriate qualification for their abilities, if children were encourages to work independently etc etc they would learn far more anyway, and all that could be done WITHOUT us.

There are children in my school who swear and refuse to work when given a 1:1. So we start the slow process of building their trust. I talk to them about things they value ( sometimes this is a very one sided conversation !) I go and see them in football matches or whatever after school ( the motor cross I went to see last week was very exciting 1) I seek them out after a tricky lesson to check they are okay and re-build our relationship.

And then slowly, very slowly, with many a backward step, they open up and start to work.

That is the value of a 1 to 1

I believe OP is a TA. There is a TEACHER at an academy I worked in who told students that nouns which began with capital letters were called pronouns. One also told them all children in institutions in China were orphans. Don't even start me on their basic spelling or inability to convert a test score of 47/60 into a percentage.

Our TAs are mostly of a similar or lower academic ability. Fact.

One of them is trying to help a student through a Maths GCSE - the student can barely do KS1 Maths and English, never mind GCSE level. The parent doesn't want to move schools because they think the student is happy where they are.

The lessons I hear from my desk are often dreadful in terms of behaviour management. SLT are useless. Students wear their ignorance like a badge of honour.

I could go on ....

Teachers in academies don't actually have to have any teaching qualifications. Or indeed any qualifications. That's a failure on the part of the government.

I saw the title of this thread and assumed it was a joke

I'm currently training to be a teacher and if I get to the point where I feel like you do about education, I certainly wouldn't be working in a school.

True, noble, but this was definitely a qualified teacher.

Actually OP there is a lot of truth in what you say. The Blatchford review of TA efficacy published some years ago found that TAs are expensive and often ineffective. To the extent that two students with similar cognitive scores, if one has 10 hours support and the other 20 hours, the one with 10 hours did better. The reasons for this are explored in the review but it boils down to not being the fault of TAs but in the way they are often deployed. Too often tas were given little pre-planning time, teachers used them to enable children to "get through" work that was too hard or inappropriate rather than properly differentiating, or used TAs to differentiate (it is ALWAYS the teacher's job to provide work that the student can access at primary; at secondary syllabuses make it harder but the school is failing the student if they do not offer appropriate courses at the students level, eg asdan, entry level etc). The more one to one, the less interaction that student had with an actual teacher and the more focus there was on "task completion". Teachers liked it because they felt relief that the student was "catered for", and there was more work in the books. Parents liked it because the teacher's reflected an improved situation, and they could see more work in the books. But when it came to exams, the students didn't do well because they had basically been being helped to do work that was too hard and had never actually consolidated their learning. Blatchford recommended that teachers and TAs have regular meetings to plan and debrief, that teachers set all work for sen students, that TAs work on dedicated programmes of intervention etc. Most schools have picked up on those principles now so I am surprised about your school. It is also partly why the new EHCPs which replaced statements are much more focused on outcomes, "where are we trying to get to", and all support should be linked to an outcome. Have you had a chance to read the ehcps for the students you support? It should help you see what the focus of your work should be.

Downloadable summary of Blatchford review if anyone is interested.
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=maximisingtas.co.uk/assets/content/dissressum.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjWxt_g89jUAhUsBsAKHdr1BqEQFggqMAE&usg=AFQjCNGaqOSZOiRXSruIj94MDq18LJBHOw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=maximisingtas.co.uk/assets/content/dissressum.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjWxt_g89jUAhUsBsAKHdr1BqEQFggqMAE&usg=AFQjCNGaqOSZOiRXSruIj94MDq18LJBHOw

Maybe we should just cut funding so schools are forced to get rid of TAs?
Oh, yeah...

Seems to me that a lot of posters on this thread don't like to hear the truth. Don't attack someone for saying it as it is. If the system is faulty, if the children don't care because what is being taught is not relevant to them, if staff are having their time and (often extreme) effort wasted, thank goodness that someone is prepared to say so.

Thankyou, Barrygetmoveonplease

I've just logged back on, and I can see that there are other people around who understand and recognise the situation I am talking about, in amongst those that are in total denial!

Sadly, the truth is not encouraged in any way shape or form. The school I am describing is fairly typical. not universal, by any means, but common

If the school knew I was describing them, I would not be paid for my notice period. If the mods don't like what I'm saying, I will be deleted.

However, it remains the truth. Education is not underfunded, the issue is rather that education is being wasted.

Of course there are students who will never pass GCSE maths. However entering them for GCSE maths doesn't mean that they can't also be entered for other, more suitable qualifications.

yes it generally does. The other options are not available in my school, and many others. There are not enough timetabled lessons, exam funding, maths teachers etc to teach a student two maths qualifications. They should just be doing one, and an appropriate one, however if the qualification appropriate to a particular individual doesn't count on school league tables, tough.

Because youobviously do not have the experince to get through to the children thats why, have you ever worked with specail children? you have to have a specail way on get them to come round, you obviously do not have that,

yes I do, I am highly qualified with 25 years experience of educating children with SEN

thank you oldybirdy. That report is interesting

If you honestly can't think of some strategies for how to support a child who tells you to fuck off repeatedly, you really shouldn't be anywhere near education. This is not the job of "managers" or "society". This is YOUR job, and you sound incapable of the kind of imaginative, inspiring and kind educational support that numerous other TAs have genuine talent and skills to carry out.

I'm waiting all agog to hear YOUR suggestions! You don't have any. Because there are none, nothing that will work in a situation where a child has learnt that this is a sure and certain way to avoid work for ever, and no body will do anything about it.

You're in the wrong job, pet.

Please look for a different one.

If you read the thread you'll see OP does have a new job.

There are not enough timetabled lessons, exam funding, maths teachers etc to teach a student two maths qualifications.

Not enough exam funding? I thought schools were over-funded according to you? They could sack you, save £15k, spend that money on some appropriate qualifications.

It also doesn't take a maths teacher to teach ASDAN or similar. If your school has that many TAs it presumably has a high level of children with SEN so a separate class and timetable could be created where needed.

Many other schools manage this, your school sounds shit. And I'm surprised that someone with 25 years of educating children with SEN isn't using that experience to make changes and instead is sitting in a classroom, twiddling their thumbs and moaning on the internet.

Not enough exam funding? I thought schools were over-funded according to you? They could sack you, save £15k, spend that money on some appropriate qualifications.

That is my point exactly - that would be sooooo much better use of money

It also doesn't take a maths teacher to teach ASDAN or similar. If your school has that many TAs it presumably has a high level of children with SEN so a separate class and timetable could be created where needed.

yes, it could be, but it won't be, again, this would be Soo much better

if you're really a TA then, frankly, thank God you're leaving your school.

You need to amend your thread title. Your school isn't overfunded, just crap.

Many other schools manage this, your school sounds shit. And I'm surprised that someone with 25 years of educating children with SEN isn't using that experience to make changes and instead is sitting in a classroom, twiddling their thumbs and moaning on the internet.

some schools do manage much better, my school is shit.

but it is not unusual, many many schools are making the same decisions.

I am not in a position to make any changes. I have tried. I am in a position only to make my view known and hand in my notice, which I have done.

My issue is though, this is not one bad school. This is one totally fucked up system, rotten and corrupt through and through.

You need to amend your thread title. Your school isn't overfunded, just crap.

I think it has more than ample funds to provide an education to its students

Your school isn't typical or even the common scenario. That is what people are trying to tell you. It sounds as though the TAs are being badly managed and that is the fault of your overall line manager.

The report linked is interesting but, quite frankly, tells us what we already know: well trained, well deployed TAs can make a difference but many TAs are very mismanaged.

Also, user how are you in a position to judge the school's overall use of budget? Do you have all the figures?

Your massive generalisations are ignorant and very unhelpful. How many years experience do you have in schools? How many schools have you taught in? What are your qualification?

Some of what you say strikes a chord with me. I'm no education professional but spent years volunteering in a primary school. The most frustrating thing was the fact that the national curriculum had to be taught whatever the ability. So children who could not add or subtract and didn't know their tables were supposed to learn much more complex maths.
I felt that they would have benefited more by staying with the basics until they had learned them.
This is how children get to GCSE age without basic numeracy.