Become a Teaching Assistant or go back to old career?

[Zig27]

I have nearly finished retraining to be a teaching assistant. After training I feel that due to covid I don't have a real understanding of the job. Lots of teachers and teaching assistants seem to be leaving the profession and have said covid was the final straw. Teaching assistants are always moaning about the pay on the Facebook teaching assistant groups. I honestly didn't know the pay was so bad as the job adverts for some reason put pro rata and the real salary.

I have recently been doing some temping in the housing sector. I did this work before but left as it was very stressful. The temping this time round is better than my old job and manageable. I have seen a job come up and it would pay £2-4k more than being a teaching assistant. Should I apply or move forward with my new career?

I don't want to fall into the trap of being stressed in housing again but the low pay of a teaching assistant means I will struggle to make ends meet or buy my own property.

The pay is objectively terrible; I'm really surprised that you retrained without realising this. In large part it's competitive because the upside is working term time only and fitting in well with one's own children.

We will not be paid better anytime soon - if ever - so it's not unreasonable to prioritise a better-paid job if it's the difference between making ends meet and not. I love being a TA but it's not without its stresses; I don't think many jobs are.

Go and work in housing. Being a TA is terrible, and it is certainly not a career. You’ll be the teachers dogsbody, you’ll be poor, and you certainly will not be thanked.

@Chillychangchoo

Go and work in housing. Being a TA is terrible, and it is certainly not a career. You’ll be the teachers dogsbody, you’ll be poor, and you certainly will not be thanked.

That's not my experience, apart from the being poor bit. It's not a "career", but it can be a stepping stone into other things if you want it to.

Is your long term plan to do something else within education? Being a TA is not the best paid job, you can earn more in lots of places for probably less stress. It is ideal if you need a term time job for any reason.

If you planning on retraining later as a teacher or educational psychologist etc then go for it.

I’m surprised you’ve trained as a TA without realising the pay is so awful-it’s not much above minimum wage, isn’t enough to buy a house on and isn’t a professional career.

@Michino

Glad you’ve had a nicer experience but if you do not want to progress to a teacher it’s a dead end job.

It’s a great job if you want to only work when your children are at the same school as you.
Apart from that, the pay is shit and you are treated like a dogsbody.

If you want to be in the classroom and make enough to survive, be a teacher. If you can rely on another salary in your household, need spending money, and holidays with the kids, being a TA would be fine.

What's the salary for the non T.A job?

I'm a TA at a primary and earn £21,000 a year for 36 hours a week, 39 weeks a year, (FTE of about 27K) which considering I don't then have to fork out for child care over holidays for my own children I think is fair enough. Also get a decent pension (employer contributions are triple what I pay in) and I love my job. It's bloody hard work, incredibly frustrating and some people I work with are knob heads. But most of them aren't and they are the ones who make it worthwhile along with the kids I help out.

It's not a career but actually I don't really want a career, I want a job that makes me happy and for now that's this one. I also have a degree and experience in other sectors so I guess I could always go back to admin or recruitment if I wanted.

Take the job that will make you happy. If that's the one that will give you more money then take the one in housing.
However if you left one job because of being stressed out then I would possibly avoid the education sector.

Good luck in which ever one you choose.

Our TAs are paid 9-3.10, not sure about lunch-that’s half an hour and probably unpaid, so probably paid for about 27.5 ish hours a week.

My cousin left teaching on UPS pay and became a full time TA. She took home more per month working 2 days a week as a teacher as she did working full time as a TA. I think she said it was less than £700 a month take-home pay about 5 years ago. That sounds awful, but I’m sure that’s what she said??!

@Howshouldibehave

Our TAs are paid 9-3.10, not sure about lunch-that’s half an hour and probably unpaid, so probably paid for about 27.5 ish hours a week.

My cousin left teaching on UPS pay and became a full time TA. She took home more per month working 2 days a week as a teacher as she did working full time as a TA. I think she said it was less than £700 a month take-home pay about 5 years ago. That sounds awful, but I’m sure that’s what she said??!

Sounds about right. I work 30 hours a week and take home around £930. 8.45 to 3.15 with half an hour unpaid for lunch.

The 21k figure above is not anything close to any of the TAs I know or listings I have seen in my area.

Thank you for all of your replies. They have been helpful. I do know a TA who is on 22k and that is not pro rata as I have seen their wage slip. Though they have been there for 20 years.

@Pengweng The salary for the non TA job is 20-22k. If I could get pay like your 21k then I would not go back to housing.

@Pengweng - wow that's amazing for a TA salary! Is this state or private? Not even HLTAs are paid that much around here, and we are London home counties. I am seeing HLTA roles advertised for longer hours (8.30am to 4.30pm) for much less money than that. Sounds like you've got a good deal!