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.

Schools aren't perfect and some will have waste but what they need is better leadership,

This is what I am saying, we need better leadership, right from DofE, ofsted down.

I am not talking about a trivial amount of waste, half a million pounds a year in my school, just for TAs who contribute nothing.

Did you rad?

Your point still relates to TAs in your school.

Your school does sound appallingly badly run, as your remarks about SEN and about invigilation both make abundantly clear. However the bit of my post you have copied refers specifically to other schools.

Whilst I can see the point you are making, albeit badly, it depends on how you are measuring the effectiveness of what you are being paid to do. Maybe having a TA helps them participate in mainstream education and benefits the students you are working with in other ways, not just academically.

And maybe having a few TAs in the classroom is benefitting the other students instead. If the TA is dealing with a few who need support the teacher can concentrate on the rest of them and help them achieve their potential.

i think its time for a career change for you.

My school also employs full time inclusion staff, I am not sure how many, 6-8 I think, Their ENTIRE job is to walk around the school every lesson, find children who are truanting, and take them to a specific room and babysit them until the end of the lesson, fill in records, set them detentions ( which they probably won't attend) etc.

REALLY!!

people are PAID full time to look for truants. Why not have a proper discipline system in which there are deterrents for truancy!

One of the main issues in that it is very difficult to exclude pupils, temporarily or permanently. If pupils can't actually be sent home to be come their parents responsibility for the day, or days, a lot of parents really care very little how their children behave in school, and don't follow through with home punishments at all, and given how little we can do in schools, home punishments can be the ONLY deterrent for pupils misbehaving in school

some other schools do better, yes, and some TAs are better used, yes, but the overall levels of waste are totally mind blowing. It is an issue, because with everything being cut from schools because of budgets, no one seems to be concerned about the millions wasted because of pupil behaviour, and failures of management to deal with ti.

On tha 'agreeing with you', that's a really interesting point. Do they ACTIVELY agree with you, as in have they chosen to raise very similar points completely independently, raised it when you haven't started the conversation etc?

I only wonder because, just once in a while, one comes across a habitual 'moaner' - someone for whom everything is always wrong - and it can be very tempting to nod along and not challenge their views, just for a quiet life. They could perceive this as 'agreeing with me', whereas in fact it can be just knowing that disagreement is pointless.

This may of course not be relevant, and staff disaffection may be a general feature of your poorly-run school, but I have been moved to wonder...

Again, I am sorry that your school is poorly run. All that proves is that there is 1 poorly-run school like this ... not that this is typical of schools.

Look, the point is that you seem to think that your school could do without TAs entirely and that all TA deployment is a waste of budget. People who are experienced teachers are telling you that is not the case in their schools. Students will an IEP (or whatever it is called now) have a legal right to a certain amount of TA support, so at least some of those TAs are necessary.
An inclusion team is always a good idea, as is a behaviour management team. There is now such thing as a school full of kids without behaviour issues (some schools are just better at hiding it).
The fact that you think that your role is pointless shows how little you understood about the role. Have you had any training on how to deal with kids with additional needs because it sounds like you haven't a clue.

And I am offended on behalf of my hard working department TAs that you think they are just in it for pocket money and something to do.

Well, you seem to have convinced most people on here that YOU are clearly a waste of money as a TA (if you really are one, which I doubt - a teacher / TA who can't come up with any strategies for engaging with students who have disengaged?!!)

You can teach Entry level alongside GCSE. We do it in English, Maths and Science. What helps enormously is support staff, ironically.

I would ask what you see your role as, when you are working as a TA, rather than as an invigilator/cover supervisor.

Your a crap TA if you can't engage the pupils in their learning.

So I'd say it's not a waste of half a million. It definitely a waste of 15k!

My now 18yr DS2 had 1:1 from Yr2 through to Secondary. The TA was marvellous and thanks to her, he now has 4 distinctions in college courses. She persevered with him (I know how hard it was, as I tried to no avail at home to get him to read and do maths), and helped him by reading questions and working at a slower pace than the class. He was statemented with dyslexia and specific learning difficulties.

In my opinion, a good TA is worth their weight in gold.

It's not that they need more or less cash.

Not sure why the OP is being jumped on so personally she is absolutely correct that schools need better management of resources.
Most schools would have a much better budget if it was managed better. I too have seen it totally wasted on TAs that are surplus to requirement as opposed to being spent in resources that are genuinely needed.

It is a fact. This is happening. And whilst schools are crying they have no money they are also pouring it into holes. Unfortunately this seems to be something that is a widespread problem within all of our public sector.

I would have been prepared to listen to the OP were it not for the silly thread title.

"A widespread problem within all of our public sector." PMSL. Course it is.

Interesting how most high achieving independent schools have budgets that are significantly higher than the average state school funding per pupil, isn't it...

I have never known TAs surplus to requirements. I do agree that they can be poorly managed, both by the leadership of the school and within a classroom, and their use should be properly evaluated. That'a why I asked the OP how she sees her role.

Your school sounds as if it has a poor discipline policy and is not using its TAs effectively.

Most schools are not like yours and know how to use their staff to best assist pupils.

I am a TA and only last week we were reminded that the school could not function at the level it's at without us. Your school is just a bit useless, and your whinging isn't going to help it improve.

Ah Gaggle. You get a booby prize for falling into the OP's trap. It is very obviously not true that schools are pouring money down holes. Apart from this OP what's your evidence?

Having had two children go through school from age three with statements giving them TA support my experience has been if you get a good TA they are worth their weight in gold but a poor TA is little more than a bum on a seat and a waste of money.
From your OP if you are a TA then I'd surmise you are a poor one, a bum on a seat and a waste of money so do your school and the children a favour resign and allow the school to recruit someone better and more able to do the job.

My experience as a teacher within three different schools. One well managed and two poorly (in terms of budget management and staffing)

On tha 'agreeing with you', that's a really interesting point. Do they ACTIVELY agree with you, as in have they chosen to raise very similar points completely independently, raised it when you haven't started the conversation etc?

some have, some have resigned for similar reasons to. Some will agree if pressed, my closest friend there will agree, but saysit suits her to come back from 10 years raising a family, and have a first job with no actual requirements to full fill, and she like it

I have known a lot of heads of sixth form and they were all highly experienced teachers who have run their own departments/been heads of year/assistant heads of sixth form first.

Why on earth would any school hire a TA as their head of sixth form? It's beyond belief.