How could a school become appealing to TAs?

[whataboutme77]

So, after our school has lost several really great TAs this year and struggled to recruit, this has just got me wondering.
Now I know the most obvious answer is "pay them better"
But apart from that, what else can or does a school that you know fo that makes them attractive to recruiting TAs?

@TrundleWheel76

I thought it would give me a good balance too and I don’t necessarily need to earn lots with my bottom line being low. Keep going. Something will come up even though at times it can feel hopeless. It is a job with zero perks.

I've always thought being a TA seems incredibly thankless for the work they do. Surely you'd be better off (in all senses) doing a 0.2 teaching contract, or 0.4 but without class responsibility - something like PPA. I'm pretty sure if I worked 0.2 I'd pretty much do my 8-5 and forget about it for the rest of the week.

@Flippper

I used to do just that! I did 1.5 days a week PPA cover plus the extra day here and there when needed. But we moved house so I had to leave. I haven't found the right new school yet but will keep looking.
Luckily for me I don't need to earn much, so 3 days a week as a TA is fine. But just not at a school that treats people badly.

Do you offer wellbeing days and/or a paid day for emergencies for sports days and sick kids? I don't think it would have them queuing out the door to join you though.

I was a TA in a great school to work in. I was respected, and my opinions were listened to on things/children I knew a fair bit about. Planning was shared with me, and planning/prep time given if I needed it. I was offered training, and was kept in the loop. This included school wide things as well as info about children I supported.
Sadly, a new Head took over and all that changed. We were treated like mushrooms (kept in the dark and covered in shit.) Since then, almost half the staff (teachers and TAs have left. None of the TAs have been replaced, so now there is extra stress on those remaining.

Treat TA’s with a bit of common courtesy. If teachers don’t respect TA’s, the children won’t either (or their parents). Include them in information sharing about the children, school changes etc. Treat all TA’s equally and fairly, rather than giving prefential treatment to a chosen few (usually the ones that complain the most). Pay TA’s what they are worth.

Make the hours more parent friendly, so they have time to drop/pick up their kids. Also when I was looking there were no part time TA jobs available, only full time which was annoying.
I was out of work for 10 years to raise my kids, I have a MSc in child psychology but because I had a gap in work history I really struggled to get a TA job, I ended up doing another masters degree so I could have a reference to get back into the workplace 🤷‍♀️ So yeah, maybe give people a chance if they don’t have any references!