DD8 going in to a job-share class in September. I'm royally hacked off about it.

[Doodlez]

DD is 8. She's going in to year 4 in September. She is profoundly deaf in one ear.

Year group is being reduced from three classes to two. DD has copped for the one sodding option I didn't want which is the job-share duo who work 2.5 hours per week. One is known as the 'Dark Cloud' and the other is the 'Ray of Sunshine'!

She's also been separated from her friendship group. She's devastated

My worries - will her needs around hearing be met? Will I have to repeat everything that's happening with her audiology situation twice? Will the message I give on Monday at 8am be translated properly at 12.00 noon on Wednesday when the second teacher kicks in? How the hell do parent evenings work?

Job share - primary school teachers = stupid to me but hell, what do I know?

Any views? Any job-share teachers who can slap me down?

[Hassled]

My DCs have had loads of jobshares along the way - and while no deafness, two of them are SN. And really, it's been fine. In many ways it's been better - teaching is bloody knackering, and this way there's no "clearly exhausted and can barely speak" knackeredness by Friday. They're always fresh, they always have energy and enthusiasm - obviously FT teachers can manage that as well, but I think it's sometimes more guaranteed with jobshares.

And they communicate with each other. They handover well, and thoroughly - it's not like one finishes on a Wednesday lunchtime and that's it. They're often a good contrast (the more mumsy cuddly one, the takes-no-shit one) which works well. Parent Evenings - both teachers always present.

[catonlap]

My ds was in a job share class last year. It was fine. I didn't have to repeat myself and they were both there at parents evening. When one was sick the other would cover instead of getting in supply teacher.

[Danthe4th]

The school my children go to have always had job share teachers. One does 3 days the other 2 for years 3,4,5,6 and all in one classroom. I've never known any difference so I suppose its just what you get used too.
Years 3 and 4 also have a different teacher in the mornings for numeracy and literacy.
At parents meetings both teachers are available together at our school.
Theres a whiteboard for messages in our school but it can also be written in the homework diarys.
Give it a chance and suggest ways that work if you have a problem.

[blackeyedsusan]

it is not stupid, it is great.

2 sets of expertise, a fresh teacher mid week, teachers with time to plan interesting lessons (in their own time) 2 lots of classroom resources as teachers provide a hell of a lot themselves.

there are usually well established forms of communication too, including a hand over meeting mid week.

both teachers attend parents evenings, you talk tto both.

you probably have a problem with the dark cloud, but it could be worse, your dd could be in her class for the whole week.

[MmeLindor.]

DS has had job share teachers this year and it has worked fine. I actually think that it can be advantageous for children as they are getting a second opinion - ie. if the one teacher misses something, the other teacher will likely pick up on it.

Why don't you wait and see before getting worked up about it.

[edam]

ds has teachers who job share. Works fine. No problem with messages being passed on - they are experienced job-sharers who have figured out all the practicalities. The children seem to enjoy having two teachers as well - someone said it's probably better as they don't have a knackered teacher on Fridays... On parents' evenings both teachers turn up, btw. They also volunteered to be the staff governor, so give extra time to the school above and beyond their paid hours.

But of course I don't have your extra concerns, might feel differently about it if I had. Such a shame dd is being separated from her friends - could you ask them to reconsider? I imagine you might be justified in being particularly concerned about that - does her deafness have any impact on how she copes with all the noise in the classroom and how she relates to the other children? Is it a bit harder for her to make 'new' friends than it would be for anyone else?

Can you ask for a meeting with both teachers so you can ask them how they will ensure information is passed on, and how they both plan to meet your daughter's needs? I'm sure ds's teachers would be quite happy to do this for any parent who had concerns.

[funnypeculiar]

Dd & ds are in R & Y2, and out of 4 years of education, 2.5 years of those have been job shares. The 1.5 years when they didn't have job share were the ones where I was least happy with their progress, and with the teachers.

No or very few communication problems, no problems with favourite teachers.

But they've all been teachers with similar teaching styles - & for whom communication has been a priority.

Parents evening has been a mix: sometimes just one, sometimes both together.

Both mine are NT, but both their best mates have SN (physical & neurological) and haven't had any problems.

HTH!

[melpomene]

Agree with the other posters that the jobshare probably won't be a problem in itself, but it's sad if she's been separated from her friendship group. Does she have any friends in the new class?

If her deafness makes it more difficult for her to socialise and make new friends then I think you could legitimately ask to have her kept with her existing friends.

[elphabadefiesgravity]

DD had job share in Year nd this Year in Year 4.

There have been no problems and the teachers play to their strengths

[scotchbroth1]

I had a job share class in primary 6 and didn't think anything of it at the time. Looking back I wasn't impressed with either teacher but it would have been the same either way. As long as they communicate with each other and get through work together.

[concertvirgin]

My 7 yo last year had a three way job share thing with one teacher Mon/Tue, a second Wed / Thurs and the deputy head on Fridays! I thought it would be a disaster and was waiting for them to cock it up. Can honestly say he had a great year for all the reasons other posters have mentioned and it had no adverse effect whatsoever.

[c0rn551Lk]

I've done lots of job shares with different teachers and it's always been fine. We always used to do parents evening together. It really depends on the teachers as does any class. ds had a pretty crap job share one year as both teachers were miserable and unenthusiastic - far better than getting them one after the other over 2 years though! He also had a lovely job share the year after which worked really well. If you have a mix of personalities in the job share that can work really well for the children. Ask the teachers about change over time and how they'll pass on messages in case you have news about dd.
BTW doodlez just had a nosy at your profile - what's your dog's name?

[TeamLemon]

Do you seriously disregard the professionalism of teaching staff that much? Of course job-share teachers communicate and share information!


My job-share and I have a big book in which we detail our days, so we both can keep track of lessons covered, children's behaviour, home news and other school developments. This is on top of a verbal "hand-over".

I am terrible at teaching RE & PE, but my job-share is great. She hates teaching Science, but that's my favourite subject. Job shares often complement each other. And not just in subject knowledge, but in personal qualities too.

I think it helps children by seeing that different people have different ways of doing things. I'm a bit messy disorganised untidy but my colleague has everything colour-coded, laminated and alphabetical filed etc, but we still follow the school rules/policies and have a united front on behaviour & rewards. The children know where they stand with both of us.

I really think you need to give it a chance.

[emmanumber3]

DS2 had job-share teachers in Reception & it worked fine. Not one problem.

From Year 3 in his school the classes no longer have just one teacher anyway. They do have a specific teacher (much like a form tutor at secondary school) but some days they will only see "their" teacher twice a day for registration, which is 5 mins a go. Each child is taught by about 4 or 5 subject teachers during the course of a week. It may sound confusing but it does work, the teachers still get to know each child individually & I am not aware of any parent of a SN child having difficulty with the system.

I think it is always hard to take when you don't get what you hoped for school wise and I do remember several parents being annoyed (or plain pissed off) when their DC's did not get the teacher they wanted (and in some cases requested) during Reception, Year 1 & Year 2. I think it probably makes you feel even angrier if your DC has a SN which you feel would be better served in a different class. However, I am sure that all will be well. If not don't be afraid to march into school and see the Headteacher about things .

[mrswoodentop]

We have had quite a few job shares over the years,one was spectacularly wonderful,for all the reasons above and the fact that the teachers clearly knew each other so well they almost finished each others sentences.One other advantage is that if a child has a bad day with one teacher they get a fresh go the next!Most of the others were fine

Have to say ,whilst not wishing to go against the grain we did have one which was a disaster.The two teachers clearly couldn't stand each other ,did not talk to each other ,would not discuss anything which had not happened on their day ,and had two separate rooms for parents evenings.but in my experience this is very rare,needless to say these two were split up the following year as so many people complained,including the teachers themselves presumably.

[OracleInaCoracle]

ds's class is a jobshare and its wonderful for the reasons given by the others on here. he has really come onb light years since being here.

[BikeRunSki]

Give the jobsharers a chance. I jobshare (although not a teacher) and the situation works so well for my jobshare partner and I personally, that we work damned hard to make sure it works for our colleagues and clients professionally. We leave each other detailed notes, lists of loose ends to pick up and have a hand over meeting on Wednesday lunchtimes.

In 2 years we have never "dropped the ball". Our line manager said she was dubious when we started, but she thinks it has worked out so well, she is considering making it a more common arrangement. Our clients and colleagues are still a bit surprised when I go back to them with an answer/carry on a conversation etc which my partner started.

We also have 2 lots of different experiences, 2 heads to solve problems and so on.

Give them a chance, you may well be pleasantly surprised.

[Northernlurker]

I think you're being very narrow minded about this. Job shares work very well as all the other posters have said. My dd has nearly always been in a job share class. Offering job shares means that the school hangs on to good and experienced teachers who also happen to have dcs and want to work part time. A good school manages all these situations.

[JemimaMop]

DS1 had job sharing teachers in Reception, it was great. One was nearing retirement and was a bit like an extra Grandma to them all. One was in her twenties and full of energy and spark. They complemented each other really well.

He is now in Year 3 and although it isn't a job share he is taught by different teachers for different subjects. Once he goes into Year 5 he will have a job share again (teaching head plus another teacher, one 3 days a week and the other two).

It all seems to work just fine.

[LIZS]

dd had this in year 4 and the key was good communication between the two. Each brought something fresh and renewed energy to the classroom. The main negative I found was that because they divided the subjects(oen might do comprehensiuon , the other creative writing) it was sometimes a wekk or mroe before dd got her piece of work back so it wasn't as immediate in terms of feedback. Having said that from year 5 they have different teachers for each subject anyway so good preparation. Parents evenings were with both together. If you are concerned then put everything in wiritng (email ?) to both. tbh I'd be more worried by a lack of any friendship group at this stage than the job share.

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

Ds had a job share in YR, which was fab. He's also had an NQT who (iirc) had to have one development day or somesuch a week, so that was a kind of job share too.

Both the NQT and the job share years have been his best to date (currently in Y5)

[madhairday]

I worked a job share for a year, 2.5 days a week teaching reception.

It was fabulous. We bounced ideas off one another, shared difficulties, came up with solutions to help struggling children, etc etc. We had a meeting every week to catch each other up and hand over. There was a real freshness and vitality in that classroom, different to when I taught full time, and the children responded well in different ways to different personalities. We had a profoundly disabled child in our class and worked together to help him have the best of what he could within the school - in the end we were so concerned that he was miserable we jointly referred him to a specialist unit where he was incredibly happy (he had 18month old brain and didn't want to be in with 5 year olds, one of the situations where integration doesn't work, mostly it does)...just saying this to show how jobshare teachers can be a significant advantage in looking after SN children. Don't worry - dd will be fine.

[onepieceofcremeegg]

Just wanted to add another positive experience. dd1 had 2 job sharing teacher in Year 2. It was a great experience for her.
Some parents did complain, but it was only one or two and they love whinging and being negative generally so this just gave them something else to moan about imo.
Everything everyone else has said about different strengths/weaknesses. Also on school trip days (our school does loads of little localish trips/visits) both teachers juggled their time and often both went with the class.

[crazygracieuk]

I think that having "dark cloud" and the being split up from her friends are problems but the job share issue isn't. Children are usually used to having more than one teacher as their normal one will have time off for planning.

My experience of job share teachers has been very positive. Others have already explained the pros so I won't go into why. I think that it's very forward thinking of schools to offer this option to teachers and that this sort of flexible employment helps retain great teachers.