Using TA/HLTA to cover teacher absence

[Benjispruce4]

I’m a HLTA and cover PPA across the school. I also cover teacher absence due to training or sickness. Lately there has been several weeks of teacher sickness and I am covering. Teachers, who are at home sick, are asked to supply me with planning and I don’t feel comfortable with that but obviously it’s preferable that a quality teacher plans core subject lessons. There is never a mention of supply teacher cover. Is this standard procedure in your primary schools too?

*qualified not quality

Yes it's pretty standard in my experience. We would send in weekly plans but if I were sick I'd not be doing more detailed planning than that - it's just not worth it, I'd rather just go in and teach it myself!

I hope you are being paid supply teacher rates to do a supply teacher job otherwise you are being taken for a mug.

Sadly, school budgets are such that this is becoming more and more frequent.

No I get paid my HLTA rate. It’s a tricky area as it’s part of a HLTA role to cover short periods but no time period is stated.

Really not fair on a sick teacher either.

Pretty standard for teachers to send in planning from their sickbed. If they are unable to, their manager should be doing it.

Ok thanks.Small school so manager is head teacher.

I normally agree with you Noble but I really don't think it is the norm in primary. Weekly planning if already made, but otherwise not. It is not the same as in secondaries.

I think the waters got muddied during lockdown. I covered the class of 12 key worker children for 8 weeks alone. The teacher Zoomed in for 20 minutes a day. Obviously she planned the lessons but I had the daily care responsibilities all day for that whole time on HLTA rate and other TAs covered other classes as a pair. It was just taken for granted

TeacherTapp asked about this, and although more common in secondary than primary, still the majority of primary teachers said that they would be expected to send in planning.

It’s standard in my primary to cover with a TA if a class teacher is off sick. When I worked in a single form entry school then I’d have to send in planning from home if I was off work ill. Currently I’m working in a two form entry school so if the other teacher in my year group is off I’ll share the planning with their TA and prepare resources. They do the same for me if I’m ill so we don’t have to email in planning from home. It’s very rare that a supply teacher is booked to cover a class.

When I cover a sick teacher I am alone whereas the teacher has me as support. It’s harder work for the non teacher on low wages.

Who then covers you Benji? As in the role you are employed predominantly for and would usually be doing?

Sorry - posted too soon. I'm concerned about the normalisation of LSAs/TAs covering classes especially for extended periods but one thing I haven't seen mentioned in discussion of the issue is who covers the LSA? I'm presuming no one so potentially sen children are left without support or the role you normally perform is not done or remaining LSAs are spread more thinly?

I'm concerned as to how schools are maintaining their duties to children with funding for support when support is being used as free supply iyswim on top of the other concerns about this practice.

Nobody covers me.

So far this term I have covered two teachers on training. I have had to cover without support and my role in class as TA has not been covered. We have very few TAs and all apart from me are 1:1.

As I understand it HLTA is the same level as the old Cert Ed.
Having mentored several HLTAs through training it is very similar to ITT.

But in the end it is down to your contract, and what it says about you covering.
Where I am HLTAs are no longer recognised. so you would get instructor pay.

So does that sometimes mean that you are covering the class that you are usually the TA in but you don't get any support in class? So in a sense worse working conditions than a fully qualified teacher who would have had your support in class?

I do think it's a bit much especially on TA pay. I did worry during covid that some things that were being done as sort of above and beyond good will work in exceptional times might come to be expected as the norm.

Sorry to hear your contract is as vague as our own - 'short periods' being left undefined is unfortunate. Much like our, and any over hours necessary to do your job type clause.

@swallowedAfly exactly that. Only yesterday I covered a mixed year1/2 class of 28, alone. The teacher had planned and provided most resources and she was thorough. However, with that young age group, the behave management and supervision over transitions is full on.
I’m not sure what a Cert Ed was/is or instructor rate. Is that in an academy?
I’m not really sure what I’m hoping for. I enjoy many aspects of my role and feel I bring a lot of school experience and am capable. I just feel so underpaid and undervalued.

*behaviour

If you are spending the majority of your time as a cover supervisor, surely you should be paid for that role and not RA rates. If you are in a union, I would raise this via them. Given the amount of cover it sounds like you are doing, you'd still be cheaper than day supply.

In terms of planning, day supply won't plan either, though.

Alternatively, if you just want to work as a TA, a lot of places are struggling to recruit. If you'd be willing to work in secondary, you'd be much less likely to be asked to cover.

What is a cover supervisor salary? They don't exist in primary. The hourly rate for HLTAs is actually quite high; when I qualified it was similar to an NQT, although I appreciate it won't be now the ECT role is better paid relative to other points on main scale and UPS.

Usually they're paid on the unqualified teacher pay scale (unless they have a teaching qualification, obviously) - so outside of London up to 28.7k depending on skills and experience. If they made OP start at the bottom of the pay scale it might be a pay cut, but otherwise I'd assume a pay rise. I don't know any secondary TAs earning more than about 20k at best though (once their pay is pro rata'd for the holidays). If OP is earning more then maybe it wouldn't work out for her.

😂If I was there’d be no complaint!

Here cover supervisors earn between 16 and 19k (at the very generous/desperate end) per year. No planning or marking.