[senco-forum] Men as TAs (was: negative attitude)

From: David Bowles

Hi Janice and everyone

  I interviewed a male TA who was everything you said and more - but I had to talk him into thinking how far he'd need to travel to work with us and he had to change his mind.  Pity - we do need males in SEN Teams but I've only ever interviewed four in all the time I've been here.  Of the two we employed, one had taken early retirement and had a pension and the other left as soon as he could get a better paying job.  We just don't get males applying.

  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

WrayJanice Wray <jwwray14 at hotmail.com> wrote:
  ooooooooooh yes, I'd love a man TA - about 25 with dark hair and silky 
blackeyeleashes.............. no, stop it Janice.
Seriously I would really love a man.
A retired Dad offered a few years back but then he was taken ill and 
couldn't do it. I really think a man would give a whole different 
perspective.
I had a younger lady once - she was a post-grad and then went on to graduate 
training as a science teacher in another school but for a year she was a 
T.A. with me - a past sixth former as it happened and popular with staff - 
it worked well and she brought a different perspective as she could still 
remember being silly, naughty and understood poular culture which we didn't
Anyone got a 25 year old bloke ?
Janice :)

Janice Wray
Secondary SENCO, Herts

>From: David Bowles 
>Reply-To: David Bowles 
>To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
>Subject: [senco-forum] Men as TAs (was: negative attitude)
>Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 23:09:24 +0100
>
> > My girls do - they have particular subjects they like to support...
> >
> > 
> >
> > My girls also kow that they are better T.A.s than I was - because...
>
>Just a small point ...and one that's off on a bit of a tangent:
>
>I notice you've repeatedly used the term 'My Girls', so I guess this
>means you have no 'boys' working as TAs in your school. I'll further
>speculate this is because so few men (or none at all) have applied for
>a job as a 'TA' in your school.
>
>As a matter of interest I'm wondering; how teachers here have male TAs
>working in their schools? Furthermore if you do then what proportion
>of your TAs are male?
>
>Incidentally some seven years ago I had the experience of being
>repeatedly 'ignored' or 'passed over' as a potential parent helper
>simply because I was a man. In this case the problem arose because of
>one particular teacher who didn't feel comfortable having men helping
>in her classroom. In this instance I chose to let this pass and didn't
>make a fuss ...after all she was my daughter's class teacher for two
>whole years! However I can tell you I felt somewhat miffed when the
>mum of a child who was new to that school gleefully told me she'd not
>only be invited to help in her classroom but this was also likely to
>be a big help in fulfilling her ambition to train as a teacher!!!
>
>David Bowles
>
>
>

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Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall