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How much time does your child's teacher actually teach?

11 replies

clumsymum · 14/06/2006 13:54

DS (age 6, year 1) has a problem with having different teachers. His class teacher is very good, and he likes her very much, but when she isn't in the class, he has some problems focussing and tends to get into trouble.

Up to now, his teacher has had time out of class on Tues mornings and Thurs mornings, and her 2 replacements (different for each morning) now have his measure. I prepare him on those days for the change, and he seems to settle better.

However, since half term his teacher is not there on Wednesdays either, and he has a very young male teacher to get used to. I think it's expecting a lot of a child to get different teachers for nearly half the week.

Whats the situation at your school please?

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juuule · 14/06/2006 14:03

I had this problem with my dd in reception. She had toilet problems and has always been a little insecure. This was made worse by the fact that her class teacher was not in class a lot of the time. It would be one teacher taking her in the morning and a different one in the afternoon. Class teacher was also co-ordinator for something and had to have half-days to do that role. Also, half days away for training. Supply teachers were brought in and dd and myself didn't know who was taking the class on what day. She ended up waking in the night again and became clingy at home.
I have since removed dd from school and she is much happier and settled.

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Fimbo · 14/06/2006 14:04

My dd is in year 3. Her teacher wasn't arround due to various courses etc for two days last week and they had two completely strange teachers teach them. Every second Monday, they have a different teacher but she is someone who floats between different classes at the school so they are used to her. My dd likes her, but my friend's dd has had a few issues with her. Although their proper teacher is very PE minded and seems to prefer football to teaching!

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Blandmum · 14/06/2006 16:16

Teachers now have a right to PPA time, basicaly some time to plan, assess work, sort out schemes of work etc. so that might be some of the time taken into account. My son's teacher has one afternoon a week for PPA time

The young teacher that is new in might be a student teacher.

I teach part time. I work 4 days a week and I have one hour and 35 minutes PPA time.

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GDG · 14/06/2006 16:25

Hmmm, I'm not aware that this happens in ds1s reception class. I know they have football one morning and coaches come in to do that. He has music one morning and the school music teacher does that. Other than that, I think his teacher is there. There are 2 TAs in his class too and I think even when another teacher takes over they are still there so there is always someone familiar and that they are comfortable with around.

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DumbledoresGirl · 14/06/2006 16:29

I echo what MB says about non contact time. I know all the teachers in my children's school have half a day a week non contact time.

I would like my dd (also Yr 1) to be in the situation your ds is in. My eldest is in Yr 5 and he has 2 class teachers who job share, 2.5 day each, but in the morning, they split across the years and have groups for Maths and English and he has 2 different teachers for those subjects, so at the very least he has 4 different teachers a week, sometimes more. He seems to handle it with no problems, but I don't think it is an ideal situation for his age group.

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julienetmum · 14/06/2006 16:31

GDG A lot of schools use these special lessons to give the teacher PPA time. I know there has been an increase in demand for specialist music/sport/french workshops recently.

More worrying is the constant stream of adverts in my local paper for cover supervisors. They only ask that you are educated to GCSE level. I keep being tempted to apply myself.

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DumbledoresGirl · 14/06/2006 16:31

Dur sorry my second para should say I would NOT like my dd to be in your ds's situation.

Also (got distracted by phone) was going to add that if I were you, I would go into school and try to find out the reason for all these various teachers and see if you can talk to them about your son.

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clumsymum · 14/06/2006 21:56

I do know about PPA time, and accept that is necessary, but I just feel that the amount of time his teacher is currently out of the class is excessive. That's why I asked for comparisons here. Certainly she seems to spend more time out than the other contributors here experience.

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cazzybabs · 14/06/2006 22:03

It sounds like the two mornings are her PPA time and the WEds thing is a course to me! Why not ask her?

It is vyer difficult - but can not see it as a plus - he is getting use to diferent teaching styles and developing his different learning styles.

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joelalie · 15/06/2006 12:38

In my 2 childrens' classes the teachers spend half a day a week which seems reasonable. Mind you last year DS#1's teacher left on mat leave and he had a succession of supply teachers for the next few months until another teacher got back from mat leave to job share with yet another teacher. I know it couldn't be helped but it seemed to correspond with the time his work began to go downhill...

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clumsymum · 15/06/2006 13:39

Cazzybabs, the problem is that he isn't getting used to different teaching styles, he's just getting into trouble.

Half a day a week seems reasonable. Half a week doesn't. I wouldn't mind so much if it was the same teacher taking all the rest of the time, but they are all different on different days.