Your experience as a teaching assistant

[Hippopotas]

I’m curious what it is really like to be a teaching assistant. I’m 33 and looking for a fresh start and considering this as a possible career move but want to know what the day to day is like and your experiences good, bad and ugly.

I've never been one but I'd say stand by for very little pay, lots of appreciation and hard but rewarding work if my super Ta is anything to go by. She can do everything bar walk on water, including my job if she wanted to.

I absolutely love it but the money is shocking. I am an HLTA and earn less than 15 grand a year. Think very carefully before you make the jump.

This is what I did yesterday.
8.15. Arrive at work. Set up hall for sensory circuits
8.30-8.55. Lead sensory circuits for 10 children with SEND with another member of staff assisting me
9.00. Listen to two different children read while class teacher does register.
9.15. Lead a Yr 5 Guided Reading group
9.45. Lead a Yr 6 HA maths group.
10.40. Break. My break duty (I have one a week, other TAs may have more)
11.00. Saw 4 different children 1:1 for interventions
12.00-1.00. Lunch. I’m not paid for this but I did go and deal with a first aid incident as all the lunchtime staff were busy.
1.00 - 3.30. Covered in Yr 1 as teacher absent.

I’m never bored! And I’m lucky to work in a lovely school with a very supportive head who is keen on career development for TAs. My school paid for my HLTA course and various others relating to SEND so I feel confident performing my role. But, sadly, this is not the norm for any TAs.

*all TAs that should say. Not any!

Our TAs, do a frustratingly difficult job for very little pay. They love the job, but it's becoming much trickier to find TA positions as they're being cut due to budget problems.

I loved being a TA most of the time. But it's very reliant on who you are working with. It would be a poor career move though, as the vast majority are cutting back dramatically on TAs due to budget restraints.

I'm a one to one support in nursery. Usually an EYP but got asked to take this wee one for a few weeks while they looked for someone and ended up enjoying it. It is £2.50 an hour less than my practitioner pay but I have done training I couldn't have got such as playboxes and talking Groups. It will enhance my return to practitioner next summer.

Very similar to bluemidnight but I am not a HLTA I am only paid a TA wage.
I also run breakfast club so am at work for 7.30 each morning.
I work for an academy so my role is to ensure each child I come into contact with makes quantifiable progress.
In reality this means I teach maths/English/reading and social skills.
I have to prove that every child has made progress, my job depends on this.
I have asked to be a HLTA but to no avail.
The HLTAs at my school are more or less the same as teachers. They work through their lunch and attend meetings before and after school.
This week I have also been expected to look after 2 send children who normally each have their own 1:1 and I still have to make sure my groups make progress.
I have also covered a class with another TA.
The job is rewarding and interesting.
However for all this I earn £12,500 that's for 7.30 until 3.30.
It's been great having school holidays off but I would not do it if I didn't have school aged childten, I would find a much better paid job with less responsibility.

I am a TA in reception, working 32 hours a week (paid), in reality a lot more than that!
My take home pay is £1250p.m. after deductions.
I work in reception in a large infant school so we have 70 children over 3 classes.
My job includes all the usual setting up of the classroom in the morning and clearing up at the end of the day. I am often in before 8.15 and if I leave by 4pm that’s a good day!
I also teach phonics, guided reading, booster groups for lower and high ability groups, attend planning meetings, some staff meetings, twilight sessions and parent meetings ( which can go on until after 7pm with no breaks).
I spend a lot of time outside on Continuous provision which is great when the weather is warm and dry, not so great in the cold and rain.
You never get a minute to yourself, there is always the next job waiting, or a child needing attention. I get sick of hearing my name being called every 10 seconds....
But, I absolutely love my job, the children are mostly lovely, we get great job satisfaction from seeing them achieve and learn, I’m never bored ( knackered maybe but never bored😂). The holidays are fab but it does make going away expensive and once I am home I can forget about school, unless I am making play dough!!

It's a lovely lovely job that I enjoyed dearly.....but the pay is terrible and the stresses (as per all roles in schools) are ever increasing. I am now a teacher and I have 2 brilliant TAs who I couldn't manage without.

attend planning meetings, some staff meetings, twilight sessions and parent meetings ( which can go on until after 7pm with no breaks).

I think it is unusual for a TA to be expected to do these things, but I think you also get paid a higher rate than most TAs, as £1250 a month after deductions would be higher than most take home for 32 hours a week.

I'm a 121 TA and I do love it but the pay is abysmal. It is very full on as the child I work with is high needs and I end up supporting other children too. I work 8.30 - 3.30 which is perfect for me as it leaves me time to run around after my own children after school, and is why I wanted the 121 role rather than class TA. In theory, I should be supporting the child learning what the teacher has planned. In reality, I end up having to work out what to do myself a lot of the time.

TA work is drying up though, there just isn't the money for them. Our school used to have a TA in every class. Now only reception and y6 have TAs. Other than that and 121s there's a couple of HLTAs who end up covering classes rather than being a TA. That's the depressing side of the job, seeing children who desperately need more support but there just aren't enough people available for them to get it.

Oh, and I have to do staff meetings/twilights/inset days but that varies depending on where you work.

I wouldn’t say being a TA is a terribly great career move-there is simply no progression and the pay is absolutely dire.

I absolutely love my job. I work in a secondary school, across all years, across all subjects. No two days are the same. We do interventions in tutor time (reading, writing, social group). Today I supported students in Year 7 maths, Year 10 maths, year 7 English, 121 Yr 8 science for anxious student who cannot go to normal lessons, Yr 7 technology. I went searching for student who went for a wander, I coaxed a reluctant student with ASD into maths, I helped boy whose brace had broken, I reported some bullying. I support students with ASD, ADHD, emotional, social, medical issues, etc. I do soldering and sewing, I play badminton, I chop onions, I tie shoelaces, I try to stop student eating gigantic bar of chocolate in 30 seconds in back of science class, I help the poor teachers (bloody difficult job), I smile a lot, I definitely make a difference.... It's rewarding, fun, crazy and very frustrating. I love it! The only bad bit is the pay which is absolutely terrible.

The job has its pros and cons.

Pros:
Good hours.
Incredibly rewarding.
Fun.
Awesome holidays.
Decentish pension.
Lots of appreciation from parents/kids.
Never boring.
Very little stress/responsibility.

Cons:
Dreadful pay.
You can't choose when you're off like other jobs.
Holidays in school holidays are expensive.
Always ill due to kids spreading germs.
No career progression/promotions.
Little responsbility = little input.
Currently poor job security - school budgets are at an all time low so jobs are being cut.
Low staff numbers means we're expected to do more with less people.