want to become a teaching assistant

furby-2003

Hi, I've decided to have a change of career and become a teaching assistant. I want to start in late september. I have no idea about wages, or even if the will take me on whilst doing the qualification. Im to old for an apprentiship so i can't do that. But I must earn because of having to support my family. So i can't live off a really bad wage. I also don't know how the summer holidays work with pay. If anyone can help me please let me know.

thanks

candygirl

If you want a good wage don't even consider it.the ones on grade 2 are on about £600 per month after tax and on grade 3 £800.theres much easier ways of making a living.the only plus side is the holidays!!mind you if you have a family and you're only earning this you will be entitled to working familes tax credits!! :j

apples1

I used to have an excellent career and salary to match. As planned I didn't return after my maternity leave. I wanted to give 100% to my daughter and couldn't possibly have done the job well and be a mum anyway. My daughter is now nearly 3 and a half and I have been a full time mum during that time. She now attends pre-school nursery school for 3 hours each morning and I started work before Xmas as a teaching assistant.

The money is terrible but the hours fit. I didn't do any extra qualification. Although I had not done teaching before I did manage to use the experience from my previous career to help me secure the job. I must say though that competition was tough. The school had over 50 applicants for the post, they interviewed seven and I was the only one who was not already a T.A. They ended up offering two positions - one full time school hours and the one I do which is just mornings. If I can help anymore let me know.

emma_b_4

i used to love bein a teachin assistant i worked in reception class it was lovely!
i used to help the children with their work, reading etc, do one to one with any children with special needs, was involved in planning with the teachers, went on school trips! put up displays of the childrens work.
most of the other ta's were parents, i was a student doing my nvq in childcare and education (the age limit at my college was 24 and i got paid £70 a week and was on day release to college every other week)
the ££ isnt great but like you say the hours are good to mix with a family. you would have access to training opps too.
you dont need specific quals, just a friendly manner, exp with children. they usually start advertising in the summer for TAs. some are on annual contracts that get renewed evry year (or dont as the case may be)
i really enjoyed it and hope you do too! i have gone on to train as a childrens nurse, which is also a job you can fit around school hours and has flexi work opps. i dont have any children yet but i am thinking ahead for when i do
good luck xx

NOWSE

The majority of job vacancies in schools are posted on the website of the school's local authority, so this is a good place to start for your search for a job. There are many non-teaching posts in schools these days, especially in secondary schools, which offer term time only working. Teaching assistant posts tend to require either a qualification or for you to work towards a qualification, whereas qualifications are not always required for other roles. I recently started work as a cover supervisor(I supervise a class when their teacher is absent) for which I didn't require any formal qualifications. This post is grade 4(some schools pay at grade 5) whereas , qualified teaching assistants in my school are on grade 2. I'm not recommending my job to you as I find it challenging(some of the kids are very challenging!), merely pointing out that there are other options available in schools if you look for them.

chugalug

You could always consider going to Uni to train as a teacher - better pay and a golden hello so no debt!!

furby-2003

im a mum and need an income my other half is at uni, i couldn't possibly. but thanks for all your advice :-)

outofdate_2

I work as a Learning Support assistant in a primary school and the pay is pants! On the positive side the hours, hols etc fit in with my kids and i love my job. I get paid for 43 weeks per year, but the pay is divided equally between 12 months, so that makes claiming other benefits easier. It has also given me an insight into schools today. You can do a level 2 classroom assistants course at college(just a few weeks),when you can do paid or vol work experience in the classroom, which gives you good underpinning knowledge and then go on for the level 3 TA course, which takes a year.
Hours can change each term as school finances change and there are lots of people applying for each position, but getting a foot in the door is the most important part. Good luck :j

TIGs

Hiya

Have you thought of going into a local school maybe one day a week if you have the time to spare, at least then you will have some experience to show when you apply for a job, also if a job comes up at the school you do voluntary work at you might have a better chance of getting it than just applying from the out side.

I work for the east riding of yorkshire council and you can go onto their website and register to have jobs that come up e mailed to you, so when any teachers assistant jobs become available in your area you would recieve an e mail telling you about it.

I also recieve a sort of council newletter ever week which has jobs in so worth looking to see if your council does the same.

As for school holidays you still get paid, wages get worked out over the year rather than the hours you work through the month. plus like candygirl said you can claim for working tax credit and family tax credit which can make your money up.

Lisa45

Hi,

Would have to agree with most posters, the perks in the hours are good, but the pay is not great.

I have worked in a secondary school just over a year now and I love it, even though I can get very stressed sometimes, mainly with the kids behaviour. It is no longer a nice easy job with lots of cups of coffee and well behaved polite children. You have to be firm and calm and be able to get on with children from all walks of life and many different backgrounds, some not pleasant and I do have to put up with abuse and bad behaviour sometimes.

I used my experience from a totally different career when I applied and I had no qualifications in childcare or teaching, apart from experience in bringing up 2 kids of my own. I think many schools today can see from you if you will be able to do the job even if you don't have any qualifications, ie, your personality and tempremant.

There is one woman in my department who wrote in and volunteered for a couple of mornings a week. We all thought she was mad, but it has worked as she has now been given some hours when they came available. Funding changes every year as it depends on the number of pupils coming to the school with special needs and which children need a Teaching assistant, this is why our hours can change annually.

For the first year I was on an hourly rate and just got paid for what I worked, so I got no money in the holidays, but since September I have been on a contract so I get paid over 12 months for term time work.

I am also taking my NVQ level 3 and hopefully will move up a few points on the salary scale when I finish, but I am finding it very hard to fit it in with family life and everything else.

The local government websites are an excellent source of vacancies and I would keep an eye on these.

It is a good job if only they would put the pay up to recognise the hard work and effort we do put in. My day can include everything from toiletting a disabled child, to doing 1-2-1 lessons with another child, from preparing differentiated work for a lower ability child so they can still take part in the lessons, to working with very badly behaved groups of kids to get them through their subjects. If you still fancy doing it after reading these posts, then go for it !! The amount of job satisfaction I get from it is immense. Good luck !!

furby-2003

ive asked at the local school to work every other wednesday voluntry until september. im hoping ill have enough experience behind me by then. Im going on the ncq level 2 sept and have already started posting my cvs :-)