Withdrawing / suspending University and teaching assistant advice

[buryboy]

Originally Posted by BevS97

Regarding the levels. If your think about it, your daughter has already done two years of college to get to uni. A levels are a level 3 qualification.

First year of uni is a level 4 qualification.

A completed Degree is a level 6.

gov.uk/what-different-qu...ication-levels

Whether an employer prefers a level 4 partially completed degree to a level 3 fully completed college course is hard to say. I do think they will want to see some experience in the classroom.

See more...

Thank you Bev
I hadn’t appreciated that these levels are an ‘ across the board’ thing - ie for all subjects .
I was thinking it was a teaching specific grading
It now makes more sense .
Thanks again

[buryboy]

Originally Posted by °o°-Hannah-°o°

I agree with this RE TA wage, it barely comes out as minimum wage for all the work they do and they absolutely work for every penny they get. An absolute godsend in any classroom.
I don’t agree with the comment about teachers getting paid holidays, we don’t. Teachers are also paid for 39 weeks of the year and our wage is spread across 12 months.

BB primary teaching is very high pressure and I see many people who have had enough after only a couple of years in the job. It’s very intense. It’s also not a job that ends when the bell rings and there are many many unpaid hours.
I gained my teaching qualifications on a SCITT course which meant I spent the whole time on the job with release days to uni and paid for the PGCE top up, so I’m not as clued up on how Uni ways work but I’d say she’s not getting the on the job side of things at all so far. Trainee teachers have set hours that they are expected to teach and this usually starts with 1 lesson each day of either maths or English before picking up more hours but never unsupervised and the mentor will observe and give a grading based on what they’ve seen. I see many uni based trainees overwhelmed when they finally hit the classroom because they only do short stints of the job and the rest of their training is in a lecture hall. Teacher training is a long hard slog and newly qualified teachers, now called ECTs are expected to complete a further 2 years on probation and subject to further observations and monitoring. So 3 years of uni and a further 2 being scrutinised.

If your daughter completes this year, those points are locked in and she could opt to return at a later date and complete the course. Did she have classroom experience before signing up for the course? A TA and a class teacher are very different roles and teacher is also very competitive especially primary where there isn’t the shortage that the government keep pushing.
There are so many apprenticeships for TA work, but as above, schools seldom keep the apprentice once they move up the pay scale. And I’ll repeat that the wages are very poor for such a necessary role.

If she would still like to be a teacher but doesn’t want to stick with full time uni, I’d suggest looking at school direct or school centred teacher training which is hands on and a true look at the expectations of the role.

If you’ve got any questions or your daughter does, feel free to message.

Good luck to her whatever she decides

See more...

Thanks Hannah
I am definitely learning now.
The pay for a teaching assistant does seem poor .
I guess because of the relatively low entry requirements but still with the experience and exams required / looked for , it does seem a tough ask for the money.

[buryboy]

Can I just say what a massive help everyone has been .
I really haven’t understood much about teaching or teaching assistant roles until these last few days , so it’s great to be given some insight from those doing the jobs / with experience .

I have explained about the levels with DD this morning . And the other alternative for teaching assistant of going to college .

DD doesn’t have any classroom experience at all . To be honest I wasn’t really aware until recently you could ‘ volunteer’ at a school to get this . Maybe this is something DD could have done but I guess with the pandemic that would have been unlikely .

Anyway while I haven’t suggested which way to go ,

1 - I do think trying to become a teacher at this point is too much for her
2 - it would seem daft if she does want to consider teaching assistant to not try to complete this year
3 - it would equally seem daft not to finish the year now if she harbours any hopes of becoming a teacher in the future
4 - M&S can’t offer her more hours at the moment.

She will obviously make her own choice up
Her tutor has a message on her email saying she is back on Tuesday so hoping she can get a teams call or similar with her this coming week to clarify a few points .

But whereas I felt a few days ago that DD would just stop , I do think there would be little benefit in that now .
She will not see what it’s like being a teacher or TA without attending these next couple of months.
And financially she won’t have to pay back the extra loan anyway if just on a TA or M&S wage so on reality the cost almost isn’t real

Thanks again for everyone’s input

[storm]

DD is a primary teacher up here in Scotland where you need a 4 year teaching degree or a post grad 1yr teaching qualification.
She initially went to college and did her early years education qualification as she was unsure if she really wanted to teach.This allowed her to get great school experience as placement was in a school.She worked for a child care provider around uni and was paid well as she had the required qualification.
Is there an option for your DD to gain a nursery qualification, take time out working to decide. Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable encouraging DD to have remained at uni if she wasn't happy as studying & struggling with the choice would be so very difficult. 10% of DD uni course dropped out by the 1st year. Of her close uni group some have never worked as teachers as they hated the job only sticking it out to gain a qualification & are saddled with debt. Others work abroad, home tutor, work in supermarkets. So many decisions to make but tutors can help with options leave ,return later, change course etcPlease don't base the choice based on finances.

[buryboy]

Originally Posted by storm

DD is a primary teacher up here in Scotland where you need a 4 year teaching degree or a post grad 1yr teaching qualification.
She initially went to college and did her early years education qualification as she was unsure if she really wanted to teach.This allowed her to get great school experience as placement was in a school.She worked for a child care provider around uni and was paid well as she had the required qualification.
Is there an option for your DD to gain a nursery qualification, take time out working to decide. Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable encouraging DD to have remained at uni if she wasn't happy as studying & struggling with the choice would be so very difficult. 10% of DD uni course dropped out by the 1st year. Of her close uni group some have never worked as teachers as they hated the job only sticking it out to gain a qualification & are saddled with debt. Others work abroad, home tutor, work in supermarkets. So many decisions to make but tutors can help with options leave ,return later, change course etcPlease don't base the choice based on finances.

See more...

Thanks .
I don’t feel we have overpushed her . While she hasn’t necessarily been over-enjoying it , it is only recently she has felt that the combination of the Uni course and the way she has reacted to the pressure has made her realise that probably teaching at the moment is too much and not worth carrying on for another 2 years

The rest of this year ,bar one assignment , is all about the placement . She has no more lectures. So now it’s just about if she wishes to consider a TA role or not , and if so then the placement will in my eyes give her the experience in a relatively short period rather than starting another course .
But ultimately she will decide . We will give her the options and let her decide

Nursery is something else she may consider .

[Lisa123wm]

Originally Posted by buryboy

Thanks Hannah
I am definitely learning now.
The pay for a teaching assistant does seem poor .
I guess because of the relatively low entry requirements but still with the experience and exams required / looked for , it does seem a tough ask for the money.

See more...

Just to add to my previous post - I actually found out (too late) that I didn’t need to do a level 2 qualification. But I’d already paid for the course and as I had no real classroom experience, I thought it would be a good starting point.
I could have gone straight on to the level 3.

As for the pay, yes it’s really not good. It didn’t matter in my case as the money wasn’t needed, but it’s low for what the job entails imo.

I got a job straight after finishing my level 3, but left after a year as it wasn’t worth the stress for the money I was getting. I really didn’t like the place I was working though, because of the way I was treated 😕

[buryboy]

Hi all
DDs tutor is back in today . She is trying to get hold of her to speak to but the tutor has responded by email to the questions DD emailed her on Thursday / Friday

She has said
‘ Finishing the first year of the course does not lead to a part qualification ‘
And looking on the link that Bev sent from gov.uk there is no mention under the level 4 section of ‘ first year of university completed’ ?

Are those who are in this field saying that they understand ( if you have any links to confirm that would be brilliant) that although DD wouldn’t have taken a teaching assistant course , that by finishing this year , she would 1) expect to get some kind of certificate
2) that certificate would be the EQUIVALENT of a level 4 teaching assistant qualification ( though schools may in practice prefer to take on someone who actually has the level 4 teaching assistant qualification ) ?

Sorry, just a bit thrown by the tutors response as it differs from advice given on here

Thanks for everyone’s help

[Blue nose]

Originally Posted by buryboy

Hi all
DDs tutor is back in today . She is trying to get hold of her to speak to but the tutor has responded by email to the questions DD emailed her on Thursday / Friday

She has said
‘ Finishing the first year of the course does not lead to a part qualification ‘
And looking on the link that Bev sent from gov.uk there is no mention under the level 4 section of ‘ first year of university completed’ ?

Are those who are in this field saying that they understand ( if you have any links to confirm that would be brilliant) that although DD wouldn’t have taken a teaching assistant course , that by finishing this year , she would 1) expect to get some kind of certificate
2) that certificate would be the EQUIVALENT of a level 4 teaching assistant qualification ( though schools may in practice prefer to take on someone who actually has the level 4 teaching assistant qualification ) ?

Sorry, just a bit thrown by the tutors response as it differs from advice given on here

Thanks for everyone’s help

See more...

I can't answer your specific questions but by completing the year then there are only two more to go on and do if she decides to continue at a later date. It may be that she decides in 12/24 months she's in a better place and therefore will already be part way through the course rather than starting over.

[storm]

Originally Posted by buryboy

Thanks .
I don’t feel we have overpushed her . While she hasn’t necessarily been over-enjoying it , it is only recently she has felt that the combination of the Uni course and the way she has reacted to the pressure has made her realise that probably teaching at the moment is too much and not worth carrying on for another 2 years

The rest of this year ,bar one assignment , is all about the placement . She has no more lectures. So now it’s just about if she wishes to consider a TA role or not , and if so then the placement will in my eyes give her the experience in a relatively short period rather than starting another course .
But ultimately she will decide . We will give her the options and let her decide

Nursery is something else she may consider .

See more...

Sorry didn't mean to imply you have pushed her, far from it.

[buryboy]

Originally Posted by Blue nose

I can't answer your specific questions but by completing the year then there are only two more to go on and do if she decides to continue at a later date. It may be that she decides in 12/24 months she's in a better place and therefore will already be part way through the course rather than starting over.

See more...

Thank you bluenose
I think she is possibly looking at sacking Uni off after this year - though of course who knows in the future . Things do change and no-one could take away the fact she will have done a year.
We are just trying to establish what paperwork / certificate she will get to prove she has done a year