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.

I cannot envisage of an independent school appointing a TA (even a qualified teacher) as head of sixth form. It is a key role in a school and the school will often refer to a previous role as pat of marketing (i.e. previously Head of House in X top school).

Given the recent changes to A levels, how would they demonstrate the necessary recent competencies and management experience (and no governor would not cover it)?

With regard to your comments on being a TA, your failure to explain how the issues you raise are capable of being extrapolated wider than your school (or schools) means that your comment lack credibility

I think I get what you mean op. If I'm correct then I agree.

Ahaha, yeah, you really seem legit, OP. Not.

Justice, given the staff I know at some independent schools, nothing much would shock me...

You weren't backed up at all

I was 100% backed up! by the poster who knew what they were talking about!

I'm hiding this thread now. This has become ridiculous to the point of pointlessness.

The SYSTEM is ridiculous to the point of pointlessness, and EVERYBODY wants to hide away from the truth!

You've most recently been working as an unsuccessful and ineffective TA and yet a private school has offered you a post as head of sixth form?

well, I would have preferred a better TA job, but they are far more competitive to get into than teaching jobs. I never thought I'd leave the state sector though. But it has reached the point where I can't see any way of making a contribution to the education of children in the state sector.

Not one poster backed you up. You have JUST clarified you were referring to special units within mainstream. Which was not what that thread was about at all.

You're just a gf.

Anyone that works in a state school knows how tight budgets are.

so how do you equate that with half a million a year in one school alone, funding people like me?

User,

It may be simultaneously true that you are poorly used in your own school and that TAs are extremely well-used in the vast majority of schools.

Neither quite adds up to your thread title! "Some expenditure on TAs in my school seems wasted" might have more accurately reflected your content.

So, having done some digging on other thread (not good form, I know). It appears that user maybe employed in education. They just seem confused about whether they are an exams officer, a TA or a teacher.

user quite a lot of your information is out to date. This suggest you are retired or or bullshitting. Which is it?

how do you equate that with half a million a year in one school alone, funding people like me?

Oh no one is arguing that you aren't a waste of space money, OP.

OP- everything you have said so far has sounded either made up or entirely far fetched. I'm not sure what you motivation is, either political or personal,

nothing I've said is made up, or exaggerated. My motivation is to open peoples eyes to the colossal farce that is our current education system. Millions are being poured down the drain, and children's educational and disciplinary needs are ignored while schools fudge the data and cheat to look good in league tables.

The priorities are all to cock, the ofsted tick sheets mean more than the pupils, and we are throwing away the precious child hood years of hundreds of thousands of children.

If I make a couple of dozen parents more aware, then I'm happy, and if I make two or three actually contact their MP about the use of school funding, then that's great, and if I get deleted in the process, so be it.

I agree with usertonsofnumbers!

However having worked in three different schools I can honestly say it depends on the school/management.

Some schools waste money like there's no tomorrow it's chucked into unusable goals and stupid things that look good to outsiders whilst no effectively helping the children.

Unfortunately you sound like your school has poor management and lack of initiative. As a TA OP will be in the position of do as your told to do. A teacher would have more say as to the teaching requirements of each child, however even then they have strict guidelines and targets to meet.

I pity the kids at your school, it sounds like they are a statistic not a person. I too would feel disheartened but there really are some great schools out there that do put the kids needs first.

Oh, I see. Your game is to make sure we all have less money. Just because your school is badly run does not me all or many schools are.

Most of us are struggling at the moment to find the money for books while our colleagues are either being made redundant or not being replaced.

But by all means start a campaign to lower funding for schools based on your, quite frankly suspect, anecdotal evidence. And then bugger off to the private system where it won't affect you.

Apologies for posting as a parent

Please don't assume that all SEN pupils are low achieving. DS2 is autistic and also high achieving in maths and science subjects. He has an EHCP that specifies 1:1. His secondary that he is due to start in September don't know how to support him. They say they don't do 1:1 for the reasons specified in the report linked. He has been at internet school for the past year and is doing year 9 maths curriculum for igcse and is high attaining at that level. The school is inflexible. They want to stream him into the 'remedial' class for pupils below the expected standard because that is what they usually do. They can't comprehend him receiving 1:1 in the 'top' set. He doesn't need the 1:1 to actually teach but to keep him on task because he finds the work so easy and so he works out the final answer in his head and won't show his working or thinks the work is beneath him. Without 1:1 to keep him on task he disengages, attains below what is expected because he doesn't work and is distracted and distracts others.

This seems to be a direct consequence of spending all the devolved SEN budget on attaining expected level for a group of students on an SEN register for the school's benefit rather than delivering Provision specified in an EHCP to meet the needs of an individual child.

Oh, it's the same user who was spouting shite on the invigilator thread. This TA job isn't the only one where you don't know what you're doing.

They just seem confused about whether they are an exams officer, a TA or a teacher.

I am not remotely confused. I am a qualified teacher, employed as a TA, used to run exams, sometimes cover lesson, what do you find difficult to understand about that?

user quite a lot of your information is out to date. This suggest you are retired or or bullshitting. Which is it? non of my information is out of date, I am neither retired nor bullshitting, I am describing a perfectly normal job role, what do you find confusing about it?

The phrase 'Jack of all trades, master of none' seems to apply here.

My issue with you is that you are stirring. You don't have all the information yet you seem to want to encourage a consensus that schools are over funded and wasteful. This is exactly the opposite of reality. Are you a paid shill for the Dfe or actually Michael Gove?

what am I stirring exactly, by telling the truth?

Because it is not 'the truth'. It's your opinion based on anecdotal evidence. Lots of people have been on to tell you that's not how things run in their school but you seem to be taking the Trump route and ignoring what doesn't suit you.

no I am not. I know there are much better schools out there, and I have said so, that doesn't change the truth of what i am reporting, and have seen and experienced first hand in multiple settings

The school is wasting money on me can be simultaneopusly true with Other Tas in other schools are not a waste of money.

I would absolutely agree that one or two TAs I have encountered in my life are a waste of resources. In those cases, the problem was always the individual, not the school or the system - and luckily the correct process was used to manage them out.

It is not 'the truth'. It is your opinion. I give up trying to reason with you.

For anyone else who is interested- most schools are currently under funded, despite what the government says. This is having a huge impact on class sizes and quality of teaching. Even small Catholic Academy chains are feeling the pinch. Don't listen to user. Schools aren't perfect and some will have waste but what they need is better leadership, better TAs and proper funding. Not less cash.

Other Tas in other schools are not a waste of money.

I am not on close terms with every single one, but of the 17or so that I am ( 17 out of the other 24) all agree with me, but don't really cre. Some are young free and single, and just want to earn enough to go out drinking, others have families and want a low stress, short hours job to contribute to family finances, which coincides with school holidays, without ever having any real responsibility or any work to bring home.

I have no argument with them, but at my stage of life, it just isn't enough for me to go out to work, and come home again having had no opportunity all day to do anything constructive, or educational.

Many of the other TAs are highly skilled individuals who could actually make a huge difference if they had a chance to, but like me, the behaviour in the school means money spent on their salaries equates to nothing in terms of educational value.

If the school shed ALL 25 TAs, it would be no loss to them. But by law they have to have a certain amount of support offered to certain students, even if it is never used.