I was a primary school teacher from '92 to '02, and to be honest, there isn't as much change as you might think, at least in some areas in some schools. In two classes I taught, year after each other, nearly every child had some kind of SEN, and a good proportion of statements One was a throw the unifix cubes and chairs kind of child. He got excluded in the end. I spent most of my weekend planning the week ahead, and every evening marking and preparing displays and writing up records etc, and every morning from 7.30 am getting the classroom ready for the next day. I had a classroom assistant, less so when I went from year 1&2 to year 3&4.
I was pointed in the direction of the Kent County Council teachers free counselling service at one point, when I was having a breakdown but didn't know it at the time. It was pretty crap to be honest, either that or I was excellent at hiding my feelings, or both.
What has changed is that there has been a sharp rise in the amount of children with special educational needs being educated in 'normal' primary schools. If you are a teacher on your own without any help for these children it is very likely that these children would either be overlooked or lessons would overrun.
Lesson planning takes up way more time then it did 10 years ago because of the rise in needing differentiation and hitting targets.
Teachers are also expected to run lunchtime and after school clubs,10 years ago there were a lot less of these clubs and people from outside of schools would run them.
Smaller class sizes wouldnt make much difference because class size wouldnt affect workload apart from maybe a little less marking.Smaller class sizes wouldnt be feasible in England for the most part as now most primary schools are dual intake and still schools are so over subscribed that a huge amount are being built just for the class sizes now.
This.
My point Claire was that teachers are busy doing all that stuff whic is why T.As are so bloody useful, as a drama teacher I rarely had one but on the occasions I did it was such a relief
Obviously my school (Scotland, so a totally different system) was being run in a different way. Like I say, there were no TAs. There were a couple of specialist SEN teachers, who very rarely assisted in-class with pupils, but otherwise the teachers were left to do what they do. Surely if there was such a need for TAs, it'd be a widespread thing?
In my work I have a million and one things to be getting on with (and all without the salary to go with it!), But that's the job, and that's the sector.
It is pretty widespread....if your system is completely different then thats probably why its not as prevalent there,although maybe it has changed since you were at school?
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
Perhaps, but it wasn't that long ago when I was at school, and teachers had all the same issues then as they do now. I went to school in a very socially and economically deprived area, where educational attainment is below average, so it's not like the teachers had an easy ride.
I think trained TAs should be deployed to support children within the class to ensure progress rather than just be seen as a means of reducing workload. Personally it annoys me when TAs are used to teach whole classes. I trained for 4 years at university and have qualifications beyond degree level and it devalues all that training. I also think considering the huge gap in salary that it isn't fair on them either to do the work without the salary.
Perhaps, but it wasn't that long ago when I was at school, and teachers had all the same issues then as they do now. I went to school in a very socially and economically deprived area, where educational attainment is below average, so it's not like the teachers had an easy ride.
Thats the point I think....that they probably did need TAs as much as they do now but it wasn't accessible. I think those teachers probably were struggling just as much but there wasn't much that could be done.
Also economical factors do play a part,more deprived areas/schools employ less support staff.
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
I think trained TAs should be deployed to support children within the class to ensure progress rather than just be seen as a means of reducing workload. Personally it annoys me when TAs are used to teach whole classes. I trained for 4 years at university and have qualifications beyond degree level and it devalues all that training. I also think considering the huge gap in salary that it isn't fair on them either to do the work without the salary.
Thats a bugbear for a lot of TAs,doing the work but not getting the money!
TAs shouldnt be used to teach classes,teachers that use them for that are not good, but most TAs wont pull them up on it as they think they have less rights than teachers.
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
My TAs mounted work, did cleaning up stuff the kids couldn't, organised things, dealt with the cranky kids. The basics really.
I must admit it felt off when I did supply and sometimes the TA took a class and yeah. I was treated quite badly also by a lot of TAs when I was on supply. Which didn't help me get on with the kids either. Mind you, supply is the pits of a job, especially in inner London, any inner city!
Sadly a lot of schools use TAs to cover PPA as it is cheaper than paying for a qualified teacher.
Yeah I know only too well!The amount of times I have covered PPA is ridiculous!
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you.
But there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.
I aint no abacus but you can count on me.
