Teacher and cheaper
Anastasia De Waal, 11 September 2009
Last week it was reported that evidence had found the impact of teaching assistants in schools to be questionable. This week, research from London Metropolitan University is reported to have found that in eight in 10 schools teaching assistants are taking classes alone.
The most important point, that large numbers of pupils are therefore being taught by non-teachers, has been the main resulting concern from the research.
Again the fact that adults who are not qualified to teach are taking classes is a worrying indictment about the role of teachers in schools today. Firstly the fact that the unprepared and unqualified who have not even chosen to teach are considered to be capable of taking classes is a worrying reflection of our regard for teachers. In response to the London Met findings, Schools’ Minister Vernon Coaker has referred to teachers teaching as ‘good practice’. This is an extraordinary statement, which suggests not that only teachers should teach, but that when this scenario is achieved it’s an exemplary state of affairs.
An important question behind this large scale trend of TAs taking classes is where are the teachers? One answer is ‘off sick’ another is ‘off training/filling out paperwork’. In both cases proper cover, i.e. a replacement teacher, not a replacement body, is a must. In the case of ‘off training’, whilst professional development is welcome, endless courses which remove teachers from their pupils are not welcome at all. Equally whilst planning time is fairly welcome (though the amount of formalised detail required is highly questionable and a chief reason planning now takes so long) cutting down teachers’ teaching time to allow them to comply with bureaucratic requirements is a woefully misguided arrangement.
But there’s another issue which the critics of this newly reported reality have not touched on, and that is the raw deal TAs are getting. Teaching assistants are generally paid very little. It is wholly unacceptable that members of staff on an average salary of £15, 000 are being expected to do the job of staff on average salaries of £29, 000 (never mind the issue of whether teachers should be paid more). In theory, the expectations of teaching assistants correlate with their salaries. TAs are taken on often without experience or relevant qualifications, and, on the whole, paid as though they will be a ‘helping hand’. However particularly over the last few years there has been a tendency for TAs to be shifted into much more demanding types of work in school. In line with this, a raft of vocational qualifications for teaching assistants has sprung up. TAs’ pay, however, has not witnessed the same ‘evolution’.
We have seen the negative impact of poorly paid and poorly prepared educators in our early years’ settings. However, like their charges, we don’t seem to have learnt all that much from the experience.
Interesting.
In numerous private schools there are many excellent teachers who are not actually qualified to teach but have good honours degrees in their subjects. They tend to be in shortage subjects such as physics, or niche subjects such as latin. In some private primary/prep schools there are often many more non-qualified teachers who are, again, of a strong academic background and and clearly able classroom practitioners.
In my experience, many TAs are actually stronger academically than many full time teachers. They often come from a professional type of background in business, law, finance etc but have not gone back to these jobs for family reasons. Naturally, they are professional communicators with a high level of skills and experience. They tend not to have gone back to their old job/career as they want to do something with family friendly hours of work (assume that husband is now the main breadwinner) and, besides, being a parent has perhaps changed their whole view as to what a fulfilling career is.
But I agree that someone who fits the above profile should be paid more if they find themselves having sole responsibility for classes on a regular basis.
What really needs to come under the microscope is the entire QTS pathway, as it is clearly not fit for purpose at present.