Power struggle with my TA - not listening and undermining me

[ImAMinion]

I would appreciate some advice on how to work with my TA as this is without a doubt the most difficult pairing I have had to navigate.

I have been at my school only a couple of years, my TA about 10 and has been a TA for some 30 odd years (and she reminds me of this daily).

I’ve been qualified for 6 years so not brand new to the game.

TA has been tricky from the start of the academic year. I went in over summer to sort the room out - labels, general tidy, arranging it etc. Spent 3 days (I changed classrooms) getting it how I wanted. Arrived on inset to find all my labels had been replaced (with ones she liked), found she had emptied out a whole tray unit (6 trays up 4 across) of maths resources and filled it with her own resources, and had rearranged the desks.
I left the labels as she admitted she had taken mine home and that she had made them and just wanted to be helpful. I physically switched the room back and took back the unit. The result is there is now a huge stack of her bits and pieces in clip boxes which is growing by the day.

As the weeks have gone by, she is undermining me constantly. She talks over me. She changes my instructions. She overrides everything I say. She argues back everything - I said to her that I needed her to take and stay with the class in assembly as I had to make a phone call to a parent - she cried and said that was “her time” (it absolutely is not, she gets her full half hour break where she can sit and relax on the staff room - I never get to do that). She took them down, came back and made a point of sighing and tutting and claiming her work load was so high she needed that time.

We have two EHCP children - she has taken a shining to one in particular whose needs are extremely high. She has made herself this child’s one to one unofficially and is now ignoring all other children and tasks. Whatever I communicate and ask her to do, the reply is “I will but I’ve got to get this done for X first”. The time table I made for this child has disappeared. I reprinted, put it on the wall and found it in the bin. She’s completely ignoring the plan and routine this child follows which I inherited from the previous teacher and have been putting in place. Child is now completely dependent on this TA and has gone backwards to be blunt.

Yesterday I had PPA. I returned to find my classroom rearranged and seating plan adjusted. SEND child’s timetable again was in bin and tasks such as working with a certain group ignored. Cover teacher was pissed.

I have found out this afternoon, when the parent arrived, that TA had arranged a meeting with this child’s parent (without me and without me knowing!!!) to discuss ongoing plan! Turned out parent had the date wrong, it was tomorrow - TA said again how experienced she was and let her sort this one out…..I am fuming! SLT have already spoken to her but tbh they’re a bit crap - I’ve been told by other teachers she always oversteps every year and I’m not the first but WTF?? What can I do? The strain she is adding to me is causing me so much additional stress to an already overwhelming job.

This sounds absolutely horrendous. I’ve had some very assertive TAs in my time but nothing like this.
Can you arrange a professional meeting with her to clear the air and reset things? I’d let your immediate line manager know you’re doing it. Good TAs are worth their weight in gold but ultimately you carry the can and you need to take control of it. If things don’t improve I’d go back to SLT. Feel for you big time. The job is hard enough without this aggro.

Wow this sounds tricky. I’m all for valuing TA experience and working as a team. She’s clearly not a team player.
Whats the SENCO like? You could try to get the SENCO to approach her as some of the things she’s doing may be in breach of a legal document ( if the child has an EHCP)
As half term approaches I’d be asking for a meeting with the Head and maybe the SENCO where you both go and air grievances. The head needs to be making clear what is and isn’t acceptable day to day in the classroom.
Half term will then give a cooling off period. Once back I’d try the “ let’s start again approach” but if she’s still undermining, ignoring and putting resources in the bin I’d keep a note of everything and take it back to the Head. Make it clear that you can’t work like this and it’s adding to your stress levels. SLT have a duty of care to look after your mental wellbeing. Good luck!

I had a TA like this once. She was horrendous! I’d been teaching about 3 years by that point and she’d been at the school for years. She kept reminding me that she was much older than me, had been at the school longer and that she loved the previous teacher. She undermined me constantly, spoke over me, didn’t follow instructions and decided to get her TA friends involved. I raised my concern with the head and I was told ‘it’s just the way she is and the TAs are stronger characters than the teachers here’ ‘She’s a governor and is fully involved in the PTA, we don’t want to upset her!’ I knew at that point that nothing would be done. She complained to the head that I always put her with the bottom group. This was because it was them who needed the help and when I let her support the top group with maths (Year 4) she taught them wrong and I had several complaints from parents. Luckily I was only covering a secondment for a year but it was such a horrible experience that I chose to do supply the next year to avoid ending up in another awful school. You need to keep a log of all the issues and be firm.

I think the thing I don’t get is that I was a TA too before I did my teacher training and there’s no way in hell I would have had the nerve to change the classroom, throw things away etc.

@Stiffnewknee I think every school has that staff member who “that’s just the way they are” and get away with everything that anyone else gets a bollocking for. Drives me bonkers.

I had a big chat with my SENDCO yesterday who was understanding and said that she knows the child in question is not meant to have a 1:1 and she is a class TA - she said my timetable was fine because the aim is to build this child’s independence. I told her about the arranged meeting and she is dealing with that. To save face with the parent, she or I will be doing it but I don’t know what action will face my TA for it.

My sendup has advised me to create next weeks time table and sit down with her and be firm that this is what she is doing, this is the situation for the child. Sandro is good and is trying to raise my assertiveness with her (this aspect I am struggling with because she is so domineering).

You’re right tho - I will keep a record and if needs be ask my SENDCO to sit down with us and go over everything and restart after half term.

This woman is honestly just on her own track and has no awareness.

This sounds like a difficult situation. Amongst the other things, a TA arranging the tables in your classroom, changing seating plans etc is totally unacceptable. She should not be doing this. You are accountable for the progress your children make (you will be questioned if children don't make the grade, not her!), and your seating plans / table arrangements are part of this.

If this continues, I would be going to the Head, threatening your resignation to leave at Christmas. They will act if they value you. Perhaps the TA could go to another class or something like that. SLT and leadership need to act / lead. You probably need to get a bit more "pushy" and "forceful" perhaps, pointing out what your role entails, as stated in your contract. I wound even be involving your union, because she is taking over your job. If you get nowhere, I would leave.

She sounds horrendous and is bang out of order! I am late 50s and currently a TA. I honestly don't know how the school let's her get away with this. I follow my teacher's direction. I am often with young ects and I can still learn things from them and always respect our mutually important yet different roles. I would go as far as saying she needs putting in her place!
I do think you need a firm plan with her that is actively supported by your line manager/ SLT.
She should not be allowed to continue to act in this way.

Quite simply... Take it to SLT again! She sounds controlling and maybe doesn't like being told.

This sounds awful. She is overstepping the mark in so many ways. I would write down everything you have put here and go to see the head, say you can't continue to work like this. Do you belong to a union you could involve? The kids are being disadvantaged by all of this as well, so highlight that the most.

I had a very good chat with my SENDCO today - the organising of a meeting with a parent has prompted a meeting with the TA and the Head / SENDCO next week and myself and the TA are going to have a meeting with the Sendco acting as a mediator to sort boundaries. This kind of meeting has apparently happened near enough every year (sometimes more than once) where she is basically told to listen and do as she is asked not go off on her own agenda. I have been warned that she will cry, she will guilt trip, she will say she “just wants the best for the children” and that she is going to justify everything as trying to help and she has so much experience and she will be extremely dramatic. That meeting she arranged might be a saving grace for me as it is essentially against school policy and rules……I let rip with a colleague after school yesterday who has had to deal with her for a few years and she says it’s like handling a stubborn teenager who is constantly on the edge of a melt down.

Of course what others have said to her in the past is if she wants to take charge of the classroom, get the teaching qualification!! But of course she doesn’t want the actual responsibility that comes with it….

The chat was yesterday sorry, I don’t work on Saturdays :)

That all sounds positive. It does sound as if they know exactly what she’s like. At least they are supporting you.

Glad you are being supported but I am actually surprised it has gone on so long in the school. She should not be allowed to do this every single year. Surely she has incurred warnings at the very least...

Be completely upfront and use the Teachers' Standards to back you up. She can't argue with your actual role as defined by the DfE. For example:

1. "establish a safe and stimulating environment for pupils" - not her job
2. "be aware of pupils’ capabilities and their prior knowledge, and plan teaching to build on these" - not her job
3. "take responsibility for promoting high standards" - not her job
4. "impart knowledge and develop understanding through effective use of lesson time" - not her job.
5. "know when and how to differentiate appropriately ... etc" - not her job.
6. "use relevant data to monitor progress, set targets, and plan subsequent lessons" - not her job.
7. "have clear rules and routines for behaviour in classrooms" - not her job.
8. "deploy support staff effectively ... communicate effectively with parents" - not her job, instead it's your job and so she needs to do as she's told.

Ask her line manager to make clear to her what her actual job is within the context of the Teachers' Standards. If she's still driving you nuts after this, contact HR, start a formal grievance.

Document everything including the statements from others that this has happened before.
Look up your schools grievance policy. Put in a formal grievance stating what has happened and your disappointment that previous softly softly approaches have obviously not worked, and the situation has not been monitored as part of this person's performance management - hence the need now for a more formal procedure.
If you are in a union, contact your Regional Rep to support you in your complaint ( you don't have to, but it can often galvanized the SLT into action )
Make it plain you are not going to put up with this

What happened op? I’ve been a TA/ HLTA 17 years and have never seen cheek like that! Surely that’s a capability issue with the head?

I forgot about this thread! So suddenly thought I would return (I’m not actually at the school anymore and this was partly why)

I was told after reporting that I need to be sympathetic of her past trauma. Each and every month seemed to be an anniversary of sorts and basically when this woman is confronted she breaks down and says this is a trauma response for the need to control - she also has physical health problems that she basically uses as her shield for discrimination. I just kept getting told and told that I must communicate explicitly and absolutely clearly what I needed her to be doing. She’s basically also in the SLT’s favour - my Head has a clique and I’ve established my TA is part of it (hence their crappy response). She was given a warning for the meeting but - this actually just unlocked how shady my school is. This TA is a close church friend of one of the governors and…..yeah

I’ve left that school now, and from what I’ve heard the teacher who now has her has already put in her notice too.

Schools literally come down to management. Shoddy management leads to this kind of thing. It’s horrible.