HLTA vs teacher pay for covering absent colleague

[Lancrelady80]

After opinions here as feeling a bit hard done by and not sure if unreasonably so or not.

I'm a part time teacher at 0.51 but also employed as HLTA for 2.5 days a week. The HLTA is to cover my colleague's PPA and tutoring time, and to deliver interventions.

I am increasingly being asked/expected to cover my colleague while they are ill, needed out of class for other things etc. My colleague supplies planning for their class. Any time I cover for them, I am paid at HLTA rates rather than as a qualified teacher, which I am.

In the past, hours were adjusted so I did less HLTA hours but more teacher hours in weeks where this happens. But we now have a new head and they say the MAT's HR department refuse to do that, as cover is part of the HLTA role. I don't mind the "hour here, hour there" cover, or covering for part of a day, or medical appointments. However, it now feels very much as if I am default cover rather than even attempting to get in a supply teacher, as I don't cost anything.

For context, we're a tiny school with no wiggle room for shifting staff about.

Goodwill has gone out of the window with several staff members for various reasons this term, relating to the new head's policies regarding what is /isn't paid. They are very much sticking to HR's rules, whereas previous head used a bit of discretion eg docking pay over leaving 15 mins early for a hospital appointment. Doesn't cost much money wise but is killing goodwill.

On one occasion last half term, I covered a colleague for 3 days which meant I lost my PPA and also had to pull off a half planned and prepped event for the whole school. I have been given 1.5 hrs of teacher pay to replace my lost PPA " as a gesture of goodwill." That was all.

Can't work out if being unreasonably cross about this all or not.

I would consult your union.

As a qualified teacher you could and should be being paid as such even if covering PPA/running interventions, appreciate that your contract may state differently.

It's tricky isn't it? With it being v small there isn't £ for the remaining hours at full teacher rate, hence being offered HLTA. If I didn't take that, then someone else would have been employed for that and I'd have distinctly less in the pay packet each month. So I'm okay with that for PPA and interventions; I knew the score. It just feels wrong that rather than try to get a supply teacher in, they fall back on me (logical in some ways - I'm on hand, know the children, know the routines and behaviour policy etc) but don't pay me the same as they would if they did get someone else in.

As I say, I'm possibly being unreasonable and that's what I get for taking on the HLTA role at all, but things seem very one-sided at the moment and there's a lot of stuff our TAs willingly do that's being taken for granted or assumed they will do, with no flex or give from management when it might be considered judicious. Resentment is beginning to grow and not just me. Hence asking for opinions and experiences of others to see if it is colouring my feelings about covering a colleague.

If you're covering a class on your HTLA days you should be paid as such, however the work must always be pre-prepared. If the cover is on the days where you are paid as a teacher, you should be paid as a teacher, however it would be reasonable to expect you to plan a lesson. I'm a teacher, however all our cover is handled by two cover supervisors.

Op, I’m a part time teacher, but if I were to go into work in another role on my days off, it would make more sense to me, to have a full time teaching role, instead of being a hlta for half the week.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, why don’t you look for a full time teaching role at another school as I doubt things will change.

Thanks for your replies. I've not long got back into teaching and have been attempting to have a work-life balance, with two children both with various levels of very different needs awaiting assessment for ASD/ADD. Part time didn't quite pay enough, so HLTA seemed a good way of increasing pay (and pension contributions, albeit with LGPS not TPS) whilst limiting additional workload.

I've been questioning for a while though if it's actually working out like that, and whether to just jack in the HLTA role - but £, especially as coming to end of fixed rate mortgage. To be honest, still haven't made up my mind. Need to run figures through a calculator to see if eg one day supply a week might make that an option.

I don't actually have specific teacher / HLTA days or hours set down in a contract or anywhere. Just 0.51 for teacher, and a certain number of hours as HLTA. But no clear definition of when those are. I've asked for clarification but not forthcoming so far. But should I decide to quit HLTA, I guess that would clear things up! . Our timetable can be a bit of a moveable feast so flexibility is key.

You really need to leave and get a full time job. They are taking the piss.

I am now retired but in my previous schools the PPA teacher was a qualified teacher and paid as a teacher. Why are you working as a teacher but being paid as a HLTA? Your HT will only pay you what they can get away with. Leave and get a fulltime teaching job.

My sister went through something similar. Schools like this will just exploit you.

Look for a new job. She is better treated at her new place.

I understand the situation with the SEN - I have similar - but I've always aimed to maximise my PT teaching earnings and if I choose to freelance a bit on days "off" that's up to me. That's in quotes because I teach GCSE and A-level so you can imagine what I normally do on those days...marking...

Why wouldn't the school try to get away with this? Other HLTAs would be used for the same thing, it's just that you are annoyed as you are also a qualified teacher for some days! You need to get a full-time teacher's position (maybe as PPA cover if you don't want class responsibility?), or do supply work if you want to be paid as a teacher every day. It's not ideal but I can totally see why the school are doing this. HLTAs are always going to be used in this way unfortunately. I know schools where they use TAs in this way and don't pay them any more! It's not right. But with school budgets as tight as they are, I don't think it's going to change any time soon.

Thanks for replies. I can see why they do it too, with budget constraints- just wasn't sure if they're taking the piss by not even trying to get supply cover and using me as "on the spot" supply without paying me as such, or if it is the case generally that HLTAs are used instead of trying to get in supply teachers.

Re:PPA and interventions - it's pretty much standard practice in this area (full of the same MAT schools) that an HLTA teaches those. A decade or more ago things were different and I had two regular supply teacher posts in different schools covering PPA, one of which morphed eventually into maternity cover and then a job share. But now PPA tends to be covered internally using existing staff.

I understand using HLTAs as emergency cover whilst trying to sort out supply teachers, but it seems wrong that they aren't even trying to do that now and just rely on HLTAs full stop.

Might start having a look around in the new year, I'm not convinced things are going the right way in my school.