Teaching Assistant

[Waves12345]

I’m considering home learning and a change of job into becoming a teaching assistant. I have looked online at a range of different courses and checking job descriptions, but is there anyone who can give advice as to which would be the best and most widely accepted please? Thank you.

Have you looked how little TA get paid?
Are you thinking primary or secondary? Around our area lots of primary TA are ex teachers so it’s a very competitive market.

I would ask a couple of local schools for advice. It’s highly competitive and one local school only takes graduates who are thinking of training as teachers.

I don't have any advice about TA courses, but agree that it's important to check out the schools in your area first to see how competitive TA roles are. My area is super competitive and has many qualified teachers in TA roles.
There are two levels of TA - if you take a higher qualification you can become an HLTA (higher level), which means you are more sought after than standard TA. Slightly higher salary too. Might be worth looking into this.

If you have your eye on certain schools I would ring them and ask for advice. At my school we have taken people with no TA qualifications to do some ad hoc TA cover. This can be a good way to get a foot in the door of a school and see if you like it.

Mean while, round here they can't recruit (secondary) LSA's due to the dire salary. If you were keen and prepared to learn they would probably take you on!

I did a Level Two Teaching Assistant Diploma and did it all online for £29.
I can get a TA job now and am looking currently. It's around £10/hour but with the right agency it can go up.

You want to try and wangle a job that will fund an HTLA course or take you on permanently and start stacking skills, SEN, phonics, things like that, and go for a higher paid job. Where I am you can get around £24/year which is more than enough for me so this is the route I'm taking.

This will get you into a TA job, it was one like this I did. Honestly they are not that bothered by which course you do, where I am anyway, and most jobs are via agencies. www.reed.co.uk/courses/teaching-assistant-course-level-2-cpd-accredited/109374?gclid=CjwKCAjwm8WZBhBUEiwA178UnHPI_zMhA24i7Q3maS5sQ6K_rskLaiepczutlh7m0DqfYwzIhk-lCBoCqRAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have no desire to be a teacher, but when it comes to academies, which a lot of schools are turning into, you could find the TA role evolves to something better/better paid.

It's a nice little job in the right school. I found some of the work boring and therefore unfulfilling so I'm going to seek out a more active role in a school I can really get my teeth into so to speak. There are at least 7 schools within 15 minute's walking distance to my house and many roles available.

Thank you, that might actually be doable! I have a friend whose a ta

Have you considered a TA course from your local college?

Please don't think the £29 online TA courses will qualify you as a TA. Our trust requires a cache accredited level 3 qualification at the very least. Like a poster said earlier, the majority of TAs in our trust our graduates/qualified teachers.

HLTA posts are like gold dust, again the 'online courses' aren't taken into account when recruiting into our trust and I'm sure (top of my head) a degree is in the 'essential criteria'. There's often a strong element of actual teaching in an HLTA role.

I’m a TA. In my area any kind of course, even those online £29 ones, are fine as they show you want to learn. You mainly learn on the job. You just need the right attitude, initiative and to be good with the children ahd you’ll be fine.
Better to volunteer somewhere to get experience with working with children rather than study full time. If you can volunteer in a school, even just a few hours a week hearing children read would help. Or volunteer at your local scouts/guides etc.

As mentioned above, the £29 online courses are simply not even worth the paper they are written on.

They mean nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It is actually illegal to advertise them as diplomas too but for the moment they are getting away with it.

I know this as I foolishly had my fingers burned. I thought it was too good to be true, and so it proved. Extremely limited, out of date information, takes barely hours to complete and a multiple choice test to get what they claim is a qualification.

I later learned, the body allegedly awarding you the qualification is owned by the very same people that peddle these courses.

I found this article shortly after I had enrolled:

schoolsweek.co.uk/how-schools-week-complained-about-a-job-advert-and-uncovered-a-strange-situation/#:~:text=A%20misleading%20job%20advert%20targeting,advertise%20a%20teaching%20assistant%20diploma.

A genuine qualification will require you to obtain some voluntary work alongside the course.

I am now studying Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools Level 3 Certificate through www.studyfromhome.co.uk.

They were the only place who took the time to speak with me and explain everything I needed to know, rather than just try and browbeat me into enrolling.

A number of our TA's start out as volunteers. They come in to support groups under the direction of the teacher, listen to children read and support certain activities initially. A few have been parents.

Obviously not everyone has the time to do this though.

If you want to do a qualification look for city and guilds or cache level 2 supporting teaching and learning. If you do the full certificate you will be required to do a placement in a school which will get you the relevant experience. Often at my school the volunteers/TA students end up getting paid hours.

This was the case at my old school. I can't see how you could qualify online as so much of the learning is practical and has to take place in school. The people who came as parent helpers and got their qualifications parr time usually were better imo than those who went straight from school to college and back to working in school.

You are exactly right.

The way it was explained to me is, the qualifications that are recognised always involve you having to do some work in a school alongside it.

The ones that are not recognised never include it.

Nearly all of the TAs at my DD school started as lunchtime supervisors and then applied to TA jobs within the school as they came up. This means that they are all mostly parents of children at the school too! Is this something you'd consider doing?

Out of interest, why are the roles so sought after by qualified teachers? If the pay is so dire and you have done your PGCE which is an absolute killer, why settle for a TA role?

A lot of TAs at the school I work in are qualified teachers or have degrees.
A level 3 qualification in childhood education or supporting and learning would be useful.

Have a look on your local council/authority job site to see requirements for TA posts. Also offer to volunteer in a local school.
I was a TA for 21 years and saw many people leave after a few months, it can be a really difficult and stressful job.

Ignore the online courses. You need first hand experience of working with children, look at courses at you local college that have placements.

You don't even need a qualification to TA (although you should). If you want to work in Primary it would be better to volunteer either in a school (although many don't allow volunteers now) or within a group like Brownies or Cubs. That'll get you familiar with both working with the age group and safeguarding and children's first aid. Look into the provisions of charities that provide support for children with disabilities and young carers too and visit or volunteer.

The OU offer various levels of courses in child development which would be useful and some free ones on being a TA and on autism too.

Learn BSL and Makaton. Read about trauma and Attachment disorders and how to descalate a chil (and yourself) when things get tough. Learn about autism and Adhd.

Know that TAs barely clear £1000 a month when starting out.

If you want to work in a secondary school sometimes TAs are linked to the subject providing specialist support and in some schools you have general TAs that follow the student around so think about what you can offer, do you have a degree in a curriculum subject?

@journeyofinsanity because you still get to work with children which many teachers love but with less of the stress, data and other paperwork. It fits in around the family well but can only be done if you have a partner that earns well or if you are eligible for top up benefits.

The relationship between child and TA and child and teacher are very different too. I loved working as a TA and small group work and felt like I made a real difference. When I taught a full class it felt like that difference was diluted with all of the other things that I had to do and the fire-fighting.