inexperienced ,unqualified supply TA covering lessons in secondary school

[sunnyhills]

I came on here to ask if this is unusual ,an accident down to missunderstanding between the school and agency or not unusual .

But having looked at some of the threads I think it's just another small example of the education system going to hell in a handcart .

My son is 24 ,currently doing supply work as a TA for an agency .He has only ever done supply in primary schools .He was offered a day at a very local good secondary school so thought he'd try it .En route it's cancelled and he's offered another place at different school .He was told he would be "supervising" and that other support staff would be with him .

At reception he was given a sheet detailing which classrooms and when he should be there . He then spent the day with music ,geography and science classes .On his own .Notes had been left with instructions .In one class the questions were on the whiteboard but ,surprise ,surprise half the students didn't have the necessary text book .Or pens .Or so they said .

He let some leave to get books and of course they didn't come back .

He left at lunch time having been told by school to finish then but the agency called him and said no no you're there for the whole day .

I think this must surely be a mix up between the agency and the school . And son should NOT have gone back after lunch .

But shouldn't the school have checked ?

I said he should have sent a pupil with a message to the SLT . But I have no idea . He says the child wouldn't have come back .He said during first lesson a member of staff popped in with a booklet of procedures for him and made some remark about it all looking ok . Son said booklet said method of contact for help/emergency was email .But he had no log in details .

I'm not concerned on son's behalf ,think it's good experience .And he was silly to stay . But I'm a bit shocked at the school ( a London Academy ,part of a big respected chain beginning with H .)

Am I being naive though ?

And very unfair on the pupils .

I'm a supply teacher (but with 20 yrs of teaching experience). The schools I work with (directly, not through an agency) would not do what this school did with your son. They are very careful who they employ. However, I live in a fairly rural area where there is doubtless not as much demand. It's very worrying, the position your son was put in. I'm guessing that kind of thing is happening a lot. Schools are desperate. Hell in a handcart is a pretty accurate summary.

Poor teachers .Poor kids .Poor parents .

What a nightmare .

This is becoming more and more common. A lot of schools now employ full time cover supervisors to do cover. They aren't in any way qualified TA scale or teacher scale but they will be CRB checked. They get shredded by the kids to begin with, stay a year and then leave.

He would have been hired as a cover supervisor rather than a supply teacher. A cover supervisor isn't expected to teach, just set whatever cover work has been left and mind the kids, and they don't need any particular qualifications at all.

Obviously he should have been made aware of school procedures and so on, but mainly schools are just happy to have a human in front of the class.

Thanks noble that sounds like an accurate description .

Son needs to wise up .If it had been me ,even redirected while en route to first venue ,my ears would have pricked up at the word "supervise" .

Lets hope that none of the kids who left the lesson "to get books" went on to find themselves in any trouble/difficulties . I'm not thinking disciplinary from staff ,I'm thinking more dangerous exploits outside the school .

Sounds like my DD's school - I've sent a message to Head of Year asking if she can tell me honestly if in September there will be qualified teaching staff, not cover staff, to teach all the subjects. She has not replied

A cover supervisor isn't expected to teach, just set whatever cover work has been left and mind the kids, and they don't need any particular qualifications at all

therein lies the rub ,doesn't it ?

Minding kids certainely does require skills ,attained by qualification or demonstrable by some other means .

The set work might as well be confetti if none of the children are engaged and are busy chatting amongst themselves .

Staples indeed .

They won't be able to say for definite Staples. A combination of long term teacher absence and terrible recruitment and retention into the profession mean that many school always have several internal and external cover supervisors in at any one time.
Parents really need to know how bad it's getting- cuts the non- core subjects mean that their child mine get half a term of music/drama/ food tech/art a year and maybe one Geog and/or History lesson a week
Then work load in core subjects means English and Maths teachers are dropping out in droves. And their lessons are covered by unqualified cover teachers because it is getting harder and harder the recruit. Over half my department (of 12) have been teaching less than five years. This will increase next year.

Sorry for all the errors: auto correct + feeding baby!

I've done agency Cover Supervising and it is horrific. The schools were unsupportive and the agencies were not bothered if I had any issues. I even had a deputy head scream at me in front of a class when 3 of the students stood in the corridor and refused to come into the room We live and learn!

I've been a cover supervisor for 10 years this September (all in one school) and my job is literally just to 'mind' the students and give out the work set by the teacher. Fortunately I work in a grammar school and the behaviour is generally really good (I wouldn't have stayed so long if it wasn't), and I do get a lot of support from the departments I work in - can always send unruly/disruptive students to the head of department if necessary, and SLT have our backs. We also get mandatory behaviour management training every year.

I've been there long enough that I'm a piece of the furniture, the students know me and know I feedback to their teachers after every lesson. They know by having me or another of the cover supervisors it is not a piss take lesson, which often happens if we have external supply teachers in. They do get on with the work set without much fuss.

The school is very clear in their expectations of me that I do not have to teach anything as I am not a qualified teacher, however I've done some of the lessons long enough now that I can confidently explain concepts and ideas.

I have a degree but that is not needed for the role - it is just a babysitting service really.

Minding kids certainly does require skills ,attained by qualification or demonstrable by some other means.

Yep. I wouldn't much fancy doing the cover supervisor work I do if I didn't have plenty of teaching experience tbh.

Of course, on the 'upside' , so many qualified teachers are quitting teaching in disgust and turning to cover supervisor roles (like me), that there should be quite a lot of experienced teachers out there to employ as cover supervisors. The fact that we are willing to take low pay, unreliable hours and minimal job satisfaction to effectively babysit classes, in preference to teaching the subject we love in the career we chose, speaks volumes about the unholy shitstorm that is the current education system.

Yes it is very normal where I am. I used to do this job for years (started in 2008) and as need for cover increased in the schools I worked in (staff sickness mostly) then more and more agency staff were sent in.

Some of the staff were 21 year old graduates, some were older but could barely speak any English at all. I have had experience with a few agencies round here and none require qualifications just a DBS and willing to be flexible.