Why do teachers assume TAs are not allowed to have other tasks.

Is it only me who thinks that teachers work in a cloud and not actually realise how versatile TAs are? TAs have many different roles in their school. In my school TAs have management roles such as EVC , Health and Safety Officer, Risk Assessment and Inclusion officer.What other roles do TAs have in your school?,

 

Are you Secondary or Primary?

 

I don't think teachers do work in a cloud, no.

In my school, teaching assistants work in classrooms assisting the teaching or working with small groups/individuals outside of the classroom. None of the roles you mention are held by teaching assistants.

 

I work in a primary school.

 

We appreciate that TAs could hold those roles however this would have to be timetabled into their working day which would mean removing them from the classroom. That, to me, is the dilemma.

 

Plus it also depends on the mind set of the TAs. I am taking over a dept where TAs did nothing but go into the classroom - no support lesson planning, no mentoring, no small group work which according each of the job descriptions should be doing. This isn't their fault but the previous SENCo not leading them appropiately and failing the dept. They are slowly getting on board but not everyone is willing to work unless they are given more time and paid extra for it even though they are already paid to do these at our school.

 

I work for a great headteacher who has given me time before school to help with me with all the extra tasks that I have.

 

I have an additional ICT role. We do not have an ICT coordinator but instead have curriculum teams. I am on this curriculum team with my class teacher. To carry out my additional ICT role I have half a day a week to work on ICT issues such as the school network, buying software and choosing the new laptops and trolleys, liaising with the LA technician etc.. I carry out staff training, Internet safety presentations for teachers and parents, and work on a one to one basis with individual teachers at their own request. We have an inset training day next week on ICt and I have booked and liaised with the 'outside' trainer who will deliver it. I manage the school website and lots of other ICT related work in school. It's a skill I have which can support the school and staff. I also have specific ICT related qualifications and really enjoy using it in school.
I also have a great boss and work with a great bunch of teachers who really do work as a team. It doesn't matter if you are the teacher, TA or dinner lady, if you have a specific skill you are encouraged to share it with others if you wish.

 

I like the sound of the school described by bluebell27. Speaking as a teacher in a secondary school I have often found that when you are working with different teaching assistants it can be more difficult involving them in terms of planning and making sure I use all they bring to the party. I think that the more TAs can be linked to departments within secondary schools the better. If a TA is part of the department it makes it a lot easier to have those little 'catch up' chats that can make all the difference in the long term. I also think that TAs are often under-appreciated in terms of the skills they bring to a classroom.

 

I am our Infant school International School Co-ordinator. There is no extra pay, a LOT of extra work, but I love it! I have taken part in a Connecting Classrooms project which enabled me to visit 3 schools in South Africa. I attended a contact seminar in Bruges to find Comenius partners and have visited schools in Oslo and Ghent. My latest success is a newly formed Global Schools partnership with a school in Nepal and will be visiting there in February.
In my small Infant & Nursery school, TAs are as important as teaching staff and valued highly.

 

I also work in a primary school, in the Foundation Stage. I help with the dinner register and sort through the home/school diaries for any messages for the class teacher. some of our T.A's are also Midday Assistants. I personally feel that T.A's, especially in Foundation Stage, are essential to the class teacher as we can talk to the children in a less hurried way that the class teacher can. I have my r'jobs' in the classroom and the teahcer has hers. Surely if you work together and there is trust and friendship between you, it ensures a happy environment. I am working with an NQT who is new to our school, so we are both learning at the same time. I have been in foundation stage for quite a few years now and helping, I hope, to guide my class teacher through the way things are done and she guides me through how she works. It works very well.

 

Sounds great bluebell27, teamwork - just as it should be.
I'm a TA and work closely with my teacher who is PML co-ordinator, together we set up PML in our primary school. I studied languages at Poly, and I'm delighted to share my knowledge with school. I get no planning time or pay, only time snatched in quiet periods in school. The role doesn't take me out of the classroom, any extra time spent on PML is my own decision, because I love it. Skills are skills, no matter who possesses them - teacher, TA, caretaker. We have a super head and staff who agree with this, just like Bluebell27.

 

I totally agree, sounds fab bluebell27.

In my comment earlier I forgot to add that my dept TA actually did my maternity leave - at my request as I didn't trust anyone else to do it (they are KS4 SEN behavioural group so rely on trust and atmosphere rather than authority, and would rip a new member of staff apart). Now I have been promoted she is the person who is taking over my lessons and has since enrolled into teaching post 16 education. I agree honky - it should be about skills and enthusiasm, I started of as cover supervisor and now am one step off assistant head, 6 years, later all through willing to work for the kids and train in my own time.

 

No it's not!!!
I instigate Eco schools and managed to get us to Silver Award. Also instigated funding etc for the raised beds. Now am Eco Schools and gardening coordinator. Yes it's ment to be a whole school issue but everyone expects me to organise everything but no one wants to give me time to do this.

 

That seems a bit unfair that you are not given time with roles like that. I did the eco-schools and in return got free school meal (before my qualified, salary days) and I know how hard it can be without time - I think people underestimate the scale of eco schools. I now deliver it in lesson rather than my own time. Well done for coping so far. Have you tried asking for time / extra pay, since it is a good, highly credited award which can be added to the pictures on letters?

 

In my school TA's and NN's have many other responsibilities, including responsibility for the creative curriculum, cookery room, library, sport and fitness etc

 

I'm am a HLTA and also senior LSA in a primary school, we encourage our LSA's to express their ideas, have their own opinion and we welcome their feedback on any issues. Not only are they teaching assistants with 1 to1, small groups and interventions they can also run after school clubs if they wish. I believe that LSA's ( TA's) have a wide range of skills that schools should capitalise on. They are all worth their weight in gold and more.

 

When I was a TA, I offered teachers the following support not including general classroom support:
Planning
Feedback
SEN Resource suggestions(I supported SEN throughout the curriculum)
SEN Differentiation only as far as what usually worked better in a classroom settings ie seating, learning style and what their particular SEN was (I knew the SEN pupils as followed them around ALL DAY!)
Advice on pupil's IEP's
General help to ease their workload

Guess what, none of the teachers ever asked for my help or even asked me about the SEN pupils!
I couldn't believe it! They were too busy to ask for help! Now this smacked of bad man-management as far as I was concerned or snobbery toward T.A's or both.

Just a few questions
Why do we assume Teachers make good managers?
Why can't teachers utilise T.A's who have degrees in other avenues, for support-surely these educated individuals have the capacity to learn AND bring something valuable to the table?
Why do 'some' teachers think they're something special-surely after a 1 or 2 years in a post, they'd have 'honed' their curriculum/tesson plans and after a few years, they'd be teaching the same thing every year! Not hard is it?
Discuss!

 

The dilemma is surely down to the fact that TA's are paid so much less than NQT's and teachers for obvious reasons and if the TA's are to work to their job description or single status job evaluation then really anything which is not written down , is seen as extra work which is beyond the remit for their pay. We are having this discussion currently in our school, the difference in our council between a level 2 & level 3 TA is huge and there are some duties a level 3 ta will be allowed to d that a level 2 will not. Another of the problems we have is that we have TA's who can work with children , Ca who are there for admin duties, filing, preparing resources, etc and ASW who work 1:1 with children with specific physical /behaviour problems, - but we find that no one keeps to their specific role, so you end up with everyone doing what ever theyr are asked to do I see ASW's putting up displays, TA's preparing senior mangers files, Classroom Assistants - taking children in a maths group. I wonder sometimes who's fault is this, the non teaching staff - because they do as they are asked or the teachers-for asking them. One thing is for sure it is making the job very difficult with all these grey areas. the roles are not clearly defined and sometimes people are too pressured to turn around and say No sorry I am not here for that. ( I stress I write about my own situation)

 

I work in a secondary school as a TA in a specific subject department as part of the inclusion team.
We do early morning reading and literacy sessions,
assist SEN pupils in class,
plan and organise particular one-to-one withdrawal lessons, (including preparing resources, awards, certificates, learning packs for children)
have our own duties i.e. breaktime and first aid rota,
we work as key workers and contact parents with regular reports and updates,
and keep records on all children we work with, we plan with teachers,
take after school clubs,
liase with various professionals who need info on the children we work with or when we want info on how to help particular children.
We support all of the teachers we work with and the staff in the inclusion team. I do not think all of this is in the job description as I often have to work over break time and lunch or else stay late to finish making resources etc. We do it because the work needs doing and ultimately to give the best support we can to the children we need.