Teaching Assistant at a High School - anyone??

[Whizzz]

Is anyone a TA at a High School ?
Just wondered how their role differed than a TA in a Primary School.

Considering options, seen a vacancy & wondered whether to apply for the job or stick to what I initially thought of, which was primary school TA.

TIA !

you need roisin..... not sure exactly what her job title is tho!

Ta Yorkie, I'll keep an eye out !

not a TA myself but i'm a teacher who has TAs working with me. i won't have all the details that you need but can give you a rough idea. if i get anything wrong hopefully someone more qualified will correct me!

At my school, TAs are usually assigned particular pupils who are entitled to help through their statement of special needs. you will have a learning plan and targets for those pupils which you will be required to keep up to date and use in helping your pupils, in co-ordination with the SENCo (special needs co-ordinator). although you might be assigned to one child, you may also be required to support others in the class.

Usually at high school level pupils are set according to ability so ytou might find you are working within a lower ability group and you spread your support accordingly (but always giving priority to your statemented pupil). You might also find yourself working in a higher ability group with one of your pupils, depending on what their individual needs are.

the main difference i would say is that you work with individuals a lot more than in primary and you move with them to lots of different lessons so you need to co-ordinate with lots of teachers. and you will find some more co-operative than others!! on the plus side, there will (usually) be a lot less photocopying and admin for the teacher as you work more intensively with individual pupils and you can build up very strong relationships with your pupil(s) and a lot of the teachers. HTH

Thanks Moomin - the advert does say working with those with a wide variety of learning difficulties. I have little experience but unusually the ad doesn't actually ask for TA qualifications. Might be worth an enquiry.

Roisin is a cover supervisor (or something like that)
I work in a special school (but work with older pupils operating on changing teachers / rooms for different subjects you will find different teachers will have different idea of your role.Although you may be based in a subject?

bump in case of any more info

Right, I have the application form now & it still doesn't tell me much. Talks about support for SEN students & students with emotional & behavioural difficulties.
Scares me a bit as I know very little about those areas. 37hrs/week is what I'm doing now too...might stick with a primary school goal.

....but this one is on my doorstep......

oo what to do !

don't be put off! All of the CSAs I work with LOVE their job. I'd say the best qualification you can have is patience and understanding. Emotional and behavioural difficulties cover SUCH a wide range of special needs that you can't possibly judge just on these titles.

Is there any way you can phone the SENCo at the school and ask to visit the dept for a day or half day, maybe shadowing one of the CSAs or at least talking with some of them and seeing first hand the types of pupils they work with? I'd never 'blind' to a job in a school - you need to get a feel of the environment and atmosphere before you make up your mind.

i meant to say I'd never apply 'blind'

Yes I was going to do that - currently I have 1 day a week volunteer experience at DSs primary school (next door to this one!) - so I was hoping to have a look

thanks for the advice - I think the problem is that I hadn't really considered high school or SEN work but then this job popped up !

I also work with LSWs/TAs at secondary and agree with all that has been said. It can be a great job, it can also be a very tough job. I good sense of humour is vital, in my experience, and you can also need a thick skin. But you can make such a difference to a kids life! And by helping them, help the parents, taechers and the rest of the kids in the class as well.

Fantastic job. Some of our TAs are diamond woment who are boarderline saints, I kid you not!

thanks all

I started out doing that sort of job in a college. You can work with anyone from a student with specific learning difficulties, to students with visual impairment (where all I had to do was read text and copy from the board) the students with physical impairments. I had a lovely student with cerebal plasy who just needed someone to write for her.

It was a fabulous training ground, I went on to do a PGCE and I can honestly say I learnt more by watching different teachers over the space of a few years than I ever did on my course.