Becoming a TA?

[HakunaM]

Are there any TAs on here that might be able to help me with the path to becoming one?

I'm 40, have a good uni degree and have been working in various private and public sector roles for the past 19 years.

I think I'd like to be a TA - I'd like to be a teacher but I don't think the work life balance would work for me. I have primary school age children and a sibling with special needs who I help look after. My parents also need more and more help as they get older.

I think people might say 'get some classroom experience first to see if you like it' which is very sensible but I work FT at the moment so would have to resign to do this. Before I do I'd like to know as much as possible about the route into becoming a TA (is additional education essential) and what it's really like. Can you actually work just school hours? Is it easy to find a job? Do you enjoy your work?

Thank you

You can take annual leave to try a few days/week in a classroom. Bit less drastic than resigning. The jobs tend to be 25 hours term time only or less. The term time only bit impacts on the salary quite alot. All the TAs work their hours but not much more. They all seem to like thier jobs and we have a range of experienced TAs or ones that do on the job training. In my area its quite hard to find a job and schools are cutting back TA hours to make ends meet.

Thank you @Grasspigeons . Really appreciate your response.

Are there significant advantages to doing a course first? And if not doing a course, is it simply a case of contacting schools to see if they need someone?

I’d look for jobs in your area first. Schools in my area are cutting TAs hours every year. Four years ago, every class in my school had a TA full time. Now they work only the mornings and then do the lunch duties apart from the ‘apprentices’.

I would compare the salary and if you can stay in your la pension-the wages are very low.

Agree, get into school and get some volunteering experience. TA jobs despite tbe pay can be quite difficult to get into, and experience will stand you in good stead for the observation as well as having something to talk about at interview.

We are mostly on 25 or 30 hour contracts, term time only. Money is poor. Very few actually work those hours, most put in extra for free, including in the holidays. I wouldn't say it's a particularly stable job, with funding cuts - those leaving not being replaced.

Get some class experience before you make the move!

With school budgets the way they are, TAs are usually the first to go. I work in a one form entry Primary and we've been told that if a TA leaves they won't be reolaced, and that hours will be cut drastically in the coming year.

Get some voluntary experience first. It’s very poorly paid. It can be very hard work - but not as stressful as teaching. You don’t necessarily need training. I got my post on the back of some playgroup/lunchtime supervisor experience plus having a degree in English. Have an exit route planned as it’s not a career.

Thank you very much for responding... ahh a little sad to hear the issues associated with the role. I thought I might have hit upon something that would suit me and combine with a good work life balance...

I don't mind so much about the salary as I could make that work, but the fact that the jobs are disappearing, and quite a lot of work outside working hours might be required, is concerning..

If you’re willing to work in SEN, there are more jobs as 1:1s working with children with EHCPs. It’s incredibly rewarding but incredibly badly paid.

And if not doing a course, is it simply a case of contacting schools to see if they need someone?

No-you need to find out how jobs are advertised locally and apply for them via the application form.

Pay is seriously shit (not much more than minimum wage), but much more work/life balance than teaching.

The TA role has changed hugely recently. It’s not so much supporting teachers in classrooms, it’s often running interventions with specific children, working with very challenging and complex children and covering teachers’ planning time. For the money you get paid, it’s ridiculous.

I would (and did!) train as a teacher then work part time.

It's rewarding but very poorly paid work. Talking circa £11k. You'll be expected to do lunchtime duty and will be paid less for that. Level 3 TAs are often expected to plan and run intervention sessions.
It can be highly skilled work but there is little status to the role and you'll often get looked down upon by a variety of people both in school and out.

However you do get the joy of teaching little people without any of the stress, no work to take home and no expectation to do anything beyond your contracted hours.

Job security isn't great for TAs. Recent announcement to raise teacher wages but no extra cash for education budgets... schools are going to have to make further cuts and support is often the first to go, depressingly.

It will depend in each area.

For job availability look online at adds for hours/wages(but keep in mind most of them will be pro rata). Check if there's a teachinyour area/county website.

At my school hours are 8:30 to 3:30, I negotiated an earlier leave time at interview.

Some TA's pick after school club/homework club or breakfast club for a bit of extra money.

The pay is quite shit.

Responsibilities in the classroom again will vary, but it will definitely involve working/marking with at least one group, plus extras like checking reading records,being responsible for spellings etc.

Again, it will depend on the school/area as to what qualifications they want/need. I was lucky enough to walk into the job,but proved my worth many times over. In other schools I probably wouldn't have even been asked for an interview.

The first step I'd say is to find out how and where school recruit and see there what the wages are, what requirements they have etc.

If I were you I would talk to the teacher or head at your child's school. That's how I got all the info I needed to apply for the job I have now,plus a glowing recommendation after volunteering for a few months at the school.

Thank you so much @StockTakeFucks. I'll try and find someone approachable at DC's school for a chat.

The hours of the remaining TAs at our local secondary were recently cut from 32 hours a week to 25, so they are only now paid from 9.30-2.30. It was a substantial pay cut and they got paid peanuts in the first place.

We have no TAs at my primary except for children with EHC plans.

You're welcome . Feet on the ground is the best thing to do, since as you see things differ massively from area to area. Even school to school if you have state,academy,private and church in the same rough area.

Ask around first to get an idea of what's what.

I worked as a TA in a secondary school for sn support. The pay is terrible, but that wasn’t why I was doing it. I was scheduled for various hours within the school day, not the full day, and had classes where I was providing general support to a large number of students, and classes where I was allocated to one, two or a smaller number of students with higher needs.
If you are interested in working specifically for sn support, be prepared to be enormously depressed. There is so little funding, and so little time that students are not being given what they need. The system can’t cope with the sheer numbers involved. Everybody does their absolute best, but it is woefully inadequate.
I worked in a great school with a great support base, but needs were not updated, just rubber stamped and rolled over every year as no time to properly assess and update needs. As a result there were kids getting more support than they needed, and kids getting nowhere near enough. In some high needs classes I would be trying to support 8 students with very different needs while the teacher tried to keep the class moving.
Some classes were just exercises in crowd control for the teacher. I chatted to one in particular and asked how he retained the momentum to keep teaching when it was obvious there were only one or two children learning, and the rest working hard to be as disruptive as possible. He said he wanted to keep trying, to show these kids that he cared enough them to want to make a difference in their lives, and that perseverance might lead to gradual change. A too reactive response/ punishment would convince them he didn’t care about them and he would lose them forever. I don’t know if that’s true, but it gave me a real insight into teaching in secondary.
As a TA you are essentially powerless, doing your best in an overloaded system, on very poor pay. You need to have shit hot resilience.
Primary would be easier, as long as your forte is cutting out and photocopying the issues with pay and hours would be the same.
I have a good degree and a lot of experience with sn kids. I didn’t need any further qualifications. My previous experience (as a parent and voluntary sector in pan-disability spaces) was actually the worst part - I knew the frameworks COULD work to provide the support needed, but I was experienced enough to recognize that no one was able to keep up with the paperwork required to be able to meet the needs on the ground. I have a lot of sympathy for everyone involved, but mostly the kids. A frustrating time.

Primary would be easier, as long as your forte is cutting out and photocopying

Really?

I love my job, I am 1 to1 for SEN in mainstream primary. it is very rewarding but the pay is rubbish and most days I come home covered in bruises. It can be a very emotionally draining job, you have to be very resilient, you have to be able to take a child throwing furniture at you, hitting and kicking you and treat them with love and kindness and never hold a grudge.
I honestly wouldn't do anything else.

I'm a TA in a primary. Just to give you an idea i'll list some things.

After tax, NI, pension etc my take home pay is just over £1300 a month. Which for me is fine as my kids are still in primary, I can walk to work so don't have any travel costs etc.

I work 36.25 hours a week. My hours are 8am until 4pm with 45 mins for lunch (never happens!) This does mean that my kids have to be in both breakfast and after school club which costs a fortune but it's only for the next few years.

The school I work in requires at least Level 3 TA qualification but I would assume if you have a degree and interviewed well then most schools would be open to that.

I've worked in both Early years and key stage 2 and prefer the older children. Both roles involve interventions and phonics planning and a lot of bloody hard work but i adore my job and it's much preferred to my previous office based job I had prior to having kids. I do very little photocopying and cutting out. but a lot of listening and comforting.

The cutting out and photocopying was tongue in cheek and based on the whining in the staff room when I was running a reading programme. Apols if offence caused!

You ask whether it’s worth doing a course; I think you might be underestimating the job. In my school all but 1 of our TA’s are qualified teachers who have stepped down. There are simply not enough jobs to go around for an unqualified person with no experience to even get an interview.

There are simply not enough jobs to go around for an unqualified person with no experience to even get an interview

I did just that. Unbelievably lucky, I agree but I did. She won't know until she starts asking around.

pengweng that's really good pay in my experience. Usually around the £1k mark is closer to what I've seen and experienced personally.