We’re Not the Help — Life of a Fed-Up EA
Let’s not sugarcoat it — being an Educational Assistant is a shit job some days. Not because of the students. Never because of the students. It’s the adults that ruin it.
This week (and let’s be honest, every week), I was reminded again and again how little respect EAs are given in schools. We’re treated like background noise — there to pick up the pieces, do the dirty work, and shut up about it. We’re shoved into roles without support, expected to be miracle workers, and then ignored like we don’t matter. And when we speak up? We’re “too emotional.” We’re “unprofessional.” We’re “disrespectful.”
You know what’s actually disrespectful?
Telling an adult where they’re allowed to sit at lunch like they’re in high school.
This week, a teacher actually told me I had to move from a table because it was “the teachers’ table.” No joke. Like I’m not a professional. Like I don’t work my ass off every day in the same building, with the same students, bleeding the same stress. I looked them dead in the eye and stayed where I was. I’m not playing that game. And guess what? That made me the disrespectful one. Of course it did.
That’s how it always goes.
We’re expected to be silent supporters — help everyone, challenge nothing, and definitely never take up space. But the second we stop playing nice, we’re a “problem.” Let me be crystal clear: I’m not here to play nice anymore. I’ve spent over a decade supporting students across every grade, in every kind of classroom, and I have earned my seat at the fucking table. Literally and figuratively.
And I’m not alone.
EAs across Ontario are burnt out, fed up, and drowning in expectations that no one wants to talk about. We’re expected to:
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Handle violent behaviors with no training
and no backup.
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Step in for teachers who can’t manage their class.
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Be one-on-one support, hallway monitor, lunchroom supervisor, personal care aide, counselor, and scapegoat — all in one day.
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Keep smiling while being treated like second-class citizens by staff who wouldn’t last a week doing what we do.
And we’re supposed to be thankful for it?
Nah. I’m done pretending.
This blog isn’t about playing politics or making people comfortable. It’s about finally saying out loud what so many of us whisper to each other in the staff room — the one we’re allowed in, if no one else is using it.
So here it is: If you’re an EA reading this, you’re not crazy. You’re not weak. And you’re definitely not alone.
We deserve better. We are better than the way we’re treated.
And if that pisses some people off?
Good!