Gove at it again

[ozydave]

IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION FROM GMB UNION

 

Dear Colleague,

 

As the Union for all School Support Staff, it is unfortunately with a great

deal of anger that we at GMB are contacting you today.

 

The Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced that he wants to see ALL

Teaching Assistants in schools lose their jobs.

Yes, ALL Teaching Assistants to go, because according to him, there is no

benefit to be gained from having what he considers to be a "mums army" in

the classroom.

[elsiegee40]

Thius has been in the news for a couple of weeks. GMB are exaggerating slightly, but the DfE's view is that Teachers should be doing their own chores and differentiation should cope with most learning need. Therefore, TAs are unnecessary in almost all cases.

 

The DfE needs to get real!

[ozydave]

My finger is not on the pulse. I catch up eventually

[elsiegee40]

Forgiven. I am a school governor... I try to keep up as Gove's fag packet planning has such a drastic impact

[CAM]

Thius has been in the news for a couple of weeks. GMB are exaggerating slightly, but the DfE's view is that Support Staff should be doing Teacher's chores and differentiation should cope with most learning need. Therefore, TAs are unnecessary in almost all cases.

 

The Gove needs to get out of office!

 

Fixed?

[sonofsanta]

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-chat/114782-open-letter-mr-gove-about-teaching-assistants.html

 

 

(suffice to say, as with all Gove's ideas, this is daft and short-sighted)

[Sdrawkcab]

I don't understand why anybody thought he was in any way qualified to set policies for schools, the man has never worked in a school in his life! On top of all that, the school he attended for the vast majority of his childhood was an independant one, so he has literally no idea how state schools operate.

 

But then, would you expect anything less from this current crop of MPs?

[korifugi]

The man lives on another planet - he has no idea how schools operate, nor anything about the multitude of jobs that happen in a modern classroom...

 

This...

@korifugi

 

Gove is a little high end. I only do the low end - mid table jobs.

 

However, for petrol + £40,000,000, i'd do it.

 

...gives me an idea - what can you apply for on kickstarter?

 

All I'm looking for is enough to hire @Sunnyknight to go and kick him square in the nuts (I was going to say the balls but that might get a bit confusing with Gove's predecessor).

[Gibson335]

I don't understand why anybody thought he was in any way qualified to set policies for schools, the man has never worked in a school in his life! On top of all that, the school he attended for the vast majority of his childhood was an independant one, so he has literally no idea how state schools operate.

 

But then, would you expect anything less from this current crop of MPs?

 

Out of interest, how many previous education ministers had worked in schools? Genuine question, as I have absolutely no idea.

[broc]

Estelle Morris - She became a minister in the Department for Education and Employment and was promoted to Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2001. She was a comprehensive school teacher.

[tmcd35]

Apparantly about 6% (out of 616, that's 37 MP's) + same again for Lecturers:

 

http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/file/Who-Governs-Britain.pdf

 

That's just listed as ex-Teachers. I wonder it their are any ex-Network Managers (tmcd35 for PM )

Edited July 5, 2013 by tmcd35

[Michael]

I think less than 1/5 have operated within a business or run one themselves. I do think this gap in knowledge is really important as to how the country runs and generates growth. I agree also about applying new laws/regulations to education - little or no experience is just asking for trouble.

 

In theory however even if the Government got its way, they'd be many legal challenges and protests. It could take 10 years to actually come into play. You'd think the country would have sorted out its finances by then.

[Gibson335]

Looks as if rather more education ministers haven't worked in a school than have, then - and that it's much more likely to continue this way than change any time soon. I doubt education is alone in this.

[Sunnyknight]

The man lives on another planet - he has no idea how schools operate, nor anything about the multitude of jobs that happen in a modern classroom...

 

This...

 

 

...gives me an idea - what can you apply for on kickstarter?

 

All I'm looking for is enough to hire @Sunnyknight to go and kick him square in the nuts (I was going to say the balls but that might get a bit confusing with Gove's predecessor).

@korifugi

 

As i'm in need of some gear, £190,000.

[Flatpackhamster]

Estelle Morris - She became a minister in the Department for Education and Employment and was promoted to Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2001. She was a comprehensive school teacher.

 

Mmm, and she wasn't much cop either, although she was popular with the unions.

 

AFAICT the problem is that the number of TAs has tripled since 2000. Instead of doing what they ought to be doing, which is offering assistance to children with SEN to enable them to integrate, they're now taking half or whole classes, and they're neither trained nor qualified for that.

 

Anyone who's in favour of quality teaching in schools should balk at the use of semi-skilled labour. The teachers themselves ought to balk at it because it's doing down their profession.

[synaesthesia]

Ignoring the actual reasoning behind it, is the GMB run by the same people that own the Daily Mail perchance?

[X-13]

The teachers themselves ought to balk at it because it's doing down their profession.

 

They don't care. They're still getting full pay for doing less work.

[mthomas08]

Not sure what to say about the OP, when I was in school there was no TA's. Maybe from the Gov's view if your a teacher and you have no control over your class then why are you teaching? Then again I have seen teachers control their classes and other teachers who let them run riot, just the same when I was a kid.

 

Can you guess the abuse of IT equipment of those who let them do what they want?

[Gibson335]

My wife is a TA in a Primary. Her main responsibility is to work one-to-one with disabled children. Very often she does 'other duties' and has also often been left to be responsible for a whole class of kids for lenghty periods.

[pcstru]

Not sure what to say about the OP, when I was in school there was no TA's.

 

I think when I was in school, there were whole schools which specialised in provision for those with more severe difficulties. Those don't exist any more which is where TA's came in (?).

[sparkeh]

The value of TAs depends, like all jobs, on the quality of people recruited, training provided, management and deployment.

 

I know of schools where TAs are treated well with appropriate training for their role and are used well, eg taking small groups, working one to one with SEN kids and they are vital to the success of the school (and have had this recognised by OFSTED).

On the flip side, I have seen schools that use them purely as admin assistants which I don't really think is the point of the role.

[sparkeh]

I personally think TA's started out with all the best intentions but like most things Schools find a way to implement it the wrong way.

 

I cant comment on other schools but I know here I know of TAs who teach like a normal a teacher, prep like a normal teacher and is expected to function like a normal teacher but are TAs. I see lots of jobs which they really should not be doing and because they are TAs are term time only and dont have to attend insets for essential information.

 

Id go along with the notion personally, get rid of the TAs.

Whilst I agree that using TAs as cheap teachers is wrong I think that axing them all is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Tighter job descriptions and restrictions on duties would be a better option. This would probably lead to few numbers anyway and make schools concentrate TA use to duties that they were initially created for.

 

Also, what will happen to pupil who are entitled to a certain number of hours one-to-one time which is currently covered by TAs?

[sparkeh]

You could argue the ifs and buts all day long. Does not mean the Ta is qualified to perform the one to one time.

 

I can imagine a TA would not be fit for purpose with a one to one student doing french, unless she knew french of course.

I know of 3 TAs here who help students in ICT lessons and both TAs have absolutely no clue about ICT. They are not contracted for insets and training and have no interest in doing it unpaid.

 

A qualified teacher is better, but they cost more.

Interesting point, I think there are possibly separate debates to be had over TAs in primary schools and secondary?

I don't really have any knowledge or experience of secondary schools so can't comment on that.

[Ephelyon]

A TA does not necessarily require subject knowledge if they are working one-to-one or one-to-small-group with children with additional needs; what they do require knowledge of is those children themselves. They are acting in support of the learning process; what exactly is being learnt isn't so much at issue.

 

Another reason to deploy TAs in a classroom including e.g. a few SEN kids with disruptive behaviour issues is to contain the disruption to that particular child, such that the negative behaviour does not spread to the rest of the learners.

[beagle]

IPPR put out a paper called EXCELLENCE AND EOUITY, which quotes this ...

 

"This is largely because schools used TAs to work directly with lower attaining

pupils, which in turn deprived them of contact time with a trained teacher" (Blatchford et al 2012).