Student teacher taking place of LSA

[GreenTeacup]

I am about to do my primary teacher training SCITT in the school that I have been volunteering in for a year. I am looking for some advice as to whether this is normal or if I should be speaking to my course team.

The school have released the information of who is going where and in the class where I will be, they have not allocated a TA (they have in every other class). I am doing the uni SCITT route so be paying £9,250 and taking a loan to cover the cost of the course.

I am a bit aggrieved by it. If the school had offered me the paid route, I would have happily covered the TA role and only completed QTS but as I am doing the other route, I have chosen to also do the PGCE. 2 children have allocated support hours (one has 25 hours) but the school say that they do not have to provide a designated person as long as a person is available. They are providing another person to cover the day that I will be attending university.

Am I right in thinking that they intend to use me to fill the role of the TA? TA’s work so hard and I am not sure I need that pressure.

Definitely OP - God loves a trier so there's nothing wrong with them having a go, but you are paying for this experience so you get to dictate at least some of the terms and ensure that they are sticking to the rules. For the first term, you'll be all over the school observing year groups, individual child shadowing etc etc. You won't be able to get what you're paying for if you are stuck in one class.

fedup21 I have Qualified Teacher Status without a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. I have a separate Masters degree and did the old graduate teacher programme - straight into teaching my own secondary class completely alone on day 1 of the job, observed and mentored by the head of department and an advanced skills teacher about 10% of the time, did observations of other teachers at my school and a "beacon" school (probably all outdated terms now). I had TEFL qualifications and two years of full-time sole responsibility school based EFL teaching experience with the same age groups (abroad) before applying for the graduate teacher programme leading to QTS though.

I'm confused as to why the possibility of QTS without a postgraduate certificate is causing confusion You can also do a postgraduate diploma (worth more than a certificate but less than a full Masters) or a masters without doing QTS.

I will need time throughout the school day to work on my own portfolio.

That’s really not how it works with scitt course. The expectation is that folder work is done at home.

I’d be more concerned about having time allocated to go and observe other colleagues.

The TA responsibilities will fall on us to share. This is additional responsibility that I neither want or need. If I was doing the paid route, I would expect to take on the additional responsibility but I would not be doing the PGCE route.

What “additional responsibility” do you think you’ll have?

I am not a qualified TA either. How can I support a child who needs 25 hours care? I would be letting her down completely.

I would have to concur with the previous poster who mentioned this could be a great learning opportunity (as long as it fits with requirements of SCITT). When will you ever have the chance again to focus on a struggling learner and give them time? Learn to differentiate the work?
When you say the child with an EHCP needs 25 hours care , are you talking about a child with a high level of medical needs? Or are you assuming because they have an EHCP they need care not education? It’s worth making the distinction.

I think you’re right myself. Your role in the classroom should not be that of TA, but of observing and participating teacher. They’re different jobs.

Sorry: slightly longer answer.

1. You need to be focusing on your own emerging practice: design of teaching activities, implementation and reflection. Being the class TA is a different job.
2. As you are self-funded, they have used this as an opportunity to cull a TA. It’s very unfair on you.

I think you need to talk to your course provider about your concerns. During your placements you should be:
Observing the class teacher (which isn’t always possible if you are acting as TA)
Observing other class teachers (so you won’t be in the room)
Taking small groups / starters, which should be planned around your needs not just who needs the TA (they might of course overlap but not always).

The school is receiving money to take you and as you say you are paying for your course. You are not just another body in the room.

I agree with you that they are totally taking the piss. If they want to use you as an employee then they should have put you on a paid, QTS-only route. I think you should speak to your provider about the situation.
I paid tuition fees and took the PGCE route and whilst I spent one lesson per week as a TA as part of that, the rest of the time I was teaching, observing, planning and completing my reflections and portfolio.
Teachers need to stop accepting this sort of bullshit as being just the way things are in teaching.
It’s exploitative and, whilst seemingly common, doesn’t happen in every school. I honestly believe that my school is as successful as it is, precisely because we don’t do this sort of bullshit. All teachers get more than the minimum PPA, no written reports, only 2 data points per year in non-exam years and 3 in exam years, our trainees are given a properly reduced timetable, apart from trainees and NQTs we only have 1 observation per year etc.
Schools don’t have to do this sort of thing and our recruitment and retention crisis won’t get any better until they stop.
I can’t find the article now but I read some research about people leaving the profession and they were saying that it isn’t a uniform problem. The people leaving the profession are actually leaving in very large numbers from certain schools. Government policy is undoubtedly playing a part but school-level management issues are what is really driving the crisis. Anecdotally, I know several really good teacher who left our school for promotion or relocation and then within a year or two quit the profession entirely. We’ve had others leave for a promotion and then come back to their old job after a term or a year if we get a vacancy.
OP- this might well be a sign that your school might not be a great place to work!

It is slightly different as I did PGCE placements rather than SCITT, but on each of my placements there was no TA in the class, as I was another adult who could support groups/do the TAs phonics group. Obviously you’re not there as a TA but as you probably know from volunteering, TAs quite a bit that teachers do, eg teaching small groups, supporting children. The key thing on my placements was having the correct amount of PPA or non contact time- it was two half days for me, one for planning, one for uni work. Also, my uni stipulated that students couldn’t do playground duty at all or teach PE without another teacher present. At these schools, they were seriously short staffed so even when I took over most of the timetable I didn’t have a TA most of the time, unfortunately this is just the financial reality at many schools.

Also one of the things you have to evidence is effective deployment of support staff - how would you do that if it's you?! I'm about to finish my pgce year. Whilst I would say I haven't had time to sort my folder at school, there is evidence to collect, observations of other staff members and children etc. You should not be used as a TA.

While the OP is teaching, presumably the class teacher will be the TA.

The class teacher is there to observe and advise while you are teaching so although they may be able to do a bit of TAing in addition they can't provide quality support to a child requiring 25 hours. Obviously they'll be time you aren't teaching that you will still be allocated to the classroom but ideally this will be in a different class so you get wider experience. I think the school are understandably trying to save money but for your teaching experience you should really be asking for a different placement.

noblegiraffe

Usually I agree with everything you say but not on this. Being the TA for a child with guaranteed 25 hours of support comes with paperwork, meetings, policies, etc., that really fall outside the JD of a trainee teacher. She has other things to do in the time that has been allocated for one to one support.

that really fall outside the JD of a trainee teacher

Of course they do. There’s no way that the student will be expected to do it.

Like I said before, it’s the class teacher that has been dropped in it, it will fall to her.

And it’s shit, and should be contested, especially by the parents, but money is such an issue in schools that lots of things happen that shouldn’t.

And it’s shit, and should be contested, especially by the parents, but money is such an issue in schools that lots of things happen that shouldn’t.

Definitely.