TA supply work

[SnowCurl]

Hi there. I am after a bit of advice. I am a stay at home parent and really want to get back to work in schools as a TA. Am thinking primary. I currently volunteer one morning a week at a primary school and have done so since Easter. I worked as a TA in secondary school for a term before relocating and now have an employment gap from staying at home to raise the kids (5 years).

I have been applying for TA posts but have had little success in being shortlisted for interview. I recently obtained my first interview for a SEN TA and was really enthusiastic and quite positive about being shortlisted despite my lack of experience/formal TA qualifications. Feedback from the interview was that I lacked the experience to provide more detailed answers to their questions. On the back of this it was suggested to me to do some supply TA work. I would love to hear your thoughts/experiences of obtaining supply TA work. I have never done agency work of any kind so was surprised this might be an option without qualifications pertaining to the role.

There's another thread running currently about qualifications of those working in schools. It does seem to vary hugely, across the country.
In my LA, you wouldn't get a sniff at a TA job without Level three qualifications, but it seems that is not the case across the country.

I guess you can only contact agencies near you and see what they say.

Thanks for your reply. That is interesting. I know that there is a bit of a back log of qualified TAs looking for posts in our area but was hoping if I kept trying I might get lucky. I will have a look through the threads to see if I can find it.