Does anyone here work as a teaching assistant? (LSA)

michelefauk

Hi
I have been a TA for 4 years, wroking with 2 statemented children during that time, the current one I have been with for 2 years and will be going up to year 3 with him in September.
I had no qualifications in this field, previously worked in banking/financial services for 18 years although I had helped occasionally in my children's classrooms and to be honest I was kind of thrown in at the deep end when I started! I was very very nervous, especially as the child I was to be working with had very complex behaviour problems, and I knew absolutely nothing about how to deal with things. But you learn as you go on, patience is the key as some days are extremely stressful! You certainly dont do it for the money either.

BUT it is a fabulous job, I absolutely love it. Have done a few courses now, most recently a signing course as the child I now have doesnt have much speech. In our school they have general TAs who work in the classroom, doing lots of support type jobs (photocopying, getting equipment ready, also taking small groups of children for specific work, general crowd control!) and SENTAs (special needs TAs who work with a named child, this is slightly different as we report to the SENCO (Special Needs Co-ordinator) rather than the HLTA (Higher Level TA)

I know the teachers really do value us. At our school there are 16 teachers and over 20 TAs. We are included in planning meetings (if we want to be) and really feel like part of the team, maybe I am just lucky that our school is so good. Some TAs are also dinner ladies, I know it bumps the money up a bit, and you get a free dinner!

Hope this helps! Good luck x

chmmy

Sarahsaver wrote: »

MOST teaching assistants do a good job but there are widespread problems.
Heres how to get ahead - Have a poor level of grammar and spelling and if your kids attend the same school make sure you do not expect your own kids to follow the rules, wear uniform or anything. Unfortunately this has been my experience of some TLA's. If you can teach or think you have it in you to do so then train for that instead!

This has not been my experience. There are many TA's at my school with degrees, one even has a phD! There are also quite a few with their own kids there, including me.....I have 3 of my kids at my school, eldest DD in Yr6 got the best behaviour award . I am qualified as a teacher but working as a TA at the moment as it means I can drop my kids off and pick them up from school, and have time for them in the evenings to do HW and reading. It's also a much more enjoyable job and less stressful than teaching, the job is more varied as you arent always in the classroom for the whole day, and work 1:1 and in small groups. You can also bond with the kids in a different way and often move up with your class at the end of the year and become a link between home and school as well.