AIBU or is this teacher being very unprofessional?

[UnprofessionalTeacher]

Have name changed for this incase I get flamed for being so inconsiderate, etc. Can't take a pasting atm. Am not a troll, poos in memorable places, mile for Maude, Cod, etc.

DD is in Yr 1. She's in a class which emcompasses reception, and Yrs 1-2. Obviously a small school, but class is fairly big due to different years.

DD's teacher has a daughter who started at reception in a different primary school in Sept. This primary school only did half days for first month. So every afternoon the teacher's DD would be dropped off at school and spend the afternoon in the classroom with her mum while her mum worked.

Now this other primary school isn't far away and finishes 30 minutes earlier. A friend of the teacher's picks this girl up and drops her off with her mum every day. IE; with my daughter's teacher in the classroom for the last 20-25 minutes of the day. Now according to dd and a couple of older kids there is a fair amount of the last 20 minutes of the day spent with the teacher having her attention focused on her DD, listening to what she did in school, etc.

So one of my friends has written to the headmaster asking if he's aware of what's happening and that parents aren't happy. He's written a letter back saying as far as he's concerned it can carry on. The letter is snotty and states that he would rather have this arrangement and have his staff happy than have them pulling sickies all the time. Direct quote.

I can't believe how unprofessional it is. Its maybe not the worst thing in the world but its 20 minutes a day for the next few years where the teacher isn't focused. Not good enough in my book.

I'm very surprised at this - certainly wouldn't be encouraged in any school I know.
If this happens everyday and she has a mixed class that goes up to Y2 then the older ones will most certainly not be spending the last 20 mins tidying up or playing.

And as for GraciousLife's comment:
No teacher is allowed to teach their own child, so this should be the same.

Sorry, you are wrong - certainly secondary teachers sometimes end up with their own DC in their classes. It's not ideal and usually SLT try to place the DC in other class sets but sometimes it's unavoidable e.g. in a small school.

A childminder can!

It is not like she has a rabid dog in the classroom, it is her 4 year old DD in a classroom of other 4 and 5 year olds FFS!

I think it sounds like a lovely community-minded little school apart from some snotty parents

I am a teacher and I think this is not acceptable on a daily basis. Fine for the odd one-off so long as the daughter sits quietly at the back of the room and reads a book or does some colouring or whatever while the teacher gets on with the end of the day with the class she is paid to teach. Not fine if it is every day, she needs to find someone who will pick up her daughter and provide childcare for that half hour.

Ooh it's just like the Waltons. With Olivia and Elizabeth.

It sounds like the class has a wide range of ages in it from Reception to Y2, so it's not "just" about the reception children.
I wonder what happens at the end of the day when a parent wants or needs to speak to the teacher, can a parent do this? Or is the extra child in tow?

TBH the child being there wouldn't bother me at all. BUT the teacher's focus not being on the class wouldn't be right.

If the teacher's DD is going to come into school fiair enough, she should come in, a quick hello and then sit in a corner and look at her school books, etc.

But at the end of the school day the teacher needs to be sorting out the class, checking bags are collected, letters sent home and children delivered to their parents. Last 20 minutes of the day is very rarely anything academic but it is tidying and sorting out and getting children safely to a grown up - and teacher should focus on this.

FWIW I work in a Y1 class as a TA and my DD has been into school with me - either for 10 minutes or so before I finish (lunchtime) or for a full day. DD was in Y2 the first time, she's in Y5 now. She's always been welcomed in - was actually head who suggested it. It's only ever once or twice a year at most and the class children love it. Now she's older she actually sits with a group for a specific game or whatever. In past she joined in and helped out as required. My focus always remains with the class and not my DD. I don't ignore her but I don't spend time focused on her other than to tell her about a specific thing I would like her to do - takes a few seconds. Parents have come in afterwards saying how much their children have loved it too.

GraciousLife - lots of teachers teach their own children. It is definitely allowed throughout England. Individual schools may have policies but it is not a country wide policy.

DD is always signed in as a visitor so no H&S issue.

Have known other work places, offices, etc where children have popped in for a little while at the end of the day. Depends on how it is dealt with as to how well it works or not. Doesn't have to detract from work and not always means unprofessional.

I think it's incredibly mean spirited to care about this. This arrangement started in september for one month - your original post says - so it's already over. Having her child there for some time for a month is no deal at all imo. It will have made no difference whatever to the education of your child.

I think it's really mean spirited.

I do think the half day every day for a month is too much though - that's not really on at all. But maybe there were mitigating reasons why the headteacher felt this would be okay in this particular situation.

Op said it was afternoons for first month and it's now for 20 minutes every day as other school finishes earlier. Sounds like an ongoing thing rather than something that lasted a month.

I think it's the approach isn't it - as Hulababy and babybythesea have shared, if the child is going in and doing her own activities quietly without distracting her parent or anyone, that is fine. Likewise, if I worked in a shop and my child came in and did her own thing quietly without distracting me or other customers that is fine. But not if I spent ages chatting to my offspring and ignoring customers at the till.
However, OP's DD and some other pupils have said that the teacher appears to be switching off her responsibilities and having a long private conversation with her own child instead, which is not appropriate. And it wasn't just a couple of rare occasions, this happens every day. It's all down to how it is dealt with and in this case the teacher doesn't seem to be dealing with it right, nor the headmaster. (FWIW, the headmaster must have a very low opinion of his colleagues if he thinks that they will pull sickies just because they can't find a good childcare arrangement??!!!)

VnV - teacher can generally finish as and when she wants after end of school day. Some stay after school and work there, some leave and work from home instead. I assume some nights the teacher must have meetings though so not sure what happens then as the child wouldn't be able to sit in on them.

Im not sure how i feel about this tbh, as another poster pointed out the last half an hour of reception tends to be tidy up /story time/handing out letters/ getiing them all to get coats and bags etc.
If no parent is in the class ,how do they know that the teacher spends all that time talking to her DD about her day etc ? Surely if she was then the other children would be very late out of class every day .
Im going to sit on the fence over this ,because it feels a bit like sour grapes as far as other parents are concerned .

Well, gardenpixies32, children aged 4 to 6 can be quite accurate in some regards. For example, with they may not take any notice if a child walks in and sits quietly doing something else, but if a child has tried to get the teacher's attention a few times and the teacher has said, "Wait your turn please, I'm busy talking to my daughter right now", the child would definitely feel it was long enough (maybe not in terms of minutes but long enough to take their teacher away from the class), especially if it happens very often - although they might not put a value judgement on it like adults would. Likewise, if the child's classmates have encountered the same thing, they would surmise that she is giving an awful lot of attention to a visitor/her own child while she is still supposed to be in charge of them. Children aged 6 might not have the same priorities as adults, but they are not wholly unreliable either - in fact, I have observed a few 4 and 5 year olds have uncannily accurate memories of certain things people have said or done while the adults have forgotten!

What surprises me too is that the teacher's child was allowed to spend entire afternoons with them for a MONTH, when not registered as a pupil at the school. (And in effect getting 10 hours of free childcare per week!)

(ignore the "with" in the first line.....should have been deleted!)

Let;s put the boot on the other foot. A mother gets a part-time job and can't pick her child up until 20 minutes after school ends and would like the teacher to keep an eye on her. Would teachers approve of that bit of tweaking in the name of childcare. As an occasional thing in an emergency I would say it is OK - on a daily basis it isn't - working parents have to arrange child care whilst they are working and that includes teachers.

School doesn't finish at 3 o'clock for teachers. Most are in their classes or attending staff meetings till gone 5. So I was wondering what this teacher does with her daughter during the time that she should be busy planning/tidying/meeting with colleagues? It is very unprofessional imo and wouldn't be allowed at the school I work at (I'm a teaching assistant).

My friend is a teaching assistant in another school. The teacher she works with brought her daughter into school (aged 8) for a whole day because she couldn't go to her school as she had that awful hand/mouth virus - blistered hands and sores in her mouth which is apparently very contagious. She was esconced in an empty office for the day but when school had finished for the day was allowed into the empty classroom to play with the toys/equipment.

Gracious-I taught both of my children-lots of teachers have their children in the school and teach them at some point.It was never a problem.

"The child needs to be put into a different class, not the same one as her mother. No teacher is allowed to teach their own child, so this should be the same." - That is totally untrue!

OP, this arrangement is unprofessional, and the head shouldn't have been so rude, but I don't think any harm is being done here. Wouldn't we all love to work for someone like this headmaster? Realistically though, the teacher needs to find proper child care. Next thing you know she will be keeping the her child with flue in the stock cupboard for the day.

I guess she can't have much choice - no CM is going to use one of their vacancies for half an hour a day. It's a shame she can't sit in the school office / staffroom with some colouring though. I wouldn't complain unless you were absolutely sure it is affecting your children's teaching, yr 1 and yr2 children v likely to be jealous and complain. It would be nice if all our workplaces were this flexible and accommodating over what is after all only half an hour out of the day.

marriedinwhite Let;s put the boot on the other foot. A mother gets a part-time job and can't pick her child up until 20 minutes after school ends and would like the teacher to keep an eye on her. Would teachers approve of that bit of tweaking in the name of childcare

Not at my DS' school they wouldn't no. They would expect you to put them in after-school club, and pay for it! Obviously if it's a once off, ie, you are stuck in traffic, then the child could sit in the office, but if it's due to work then no.

I assume if teacher is tidying/sorting for next day then child is in the room too, playing or whatever. No idea how she managed meetings though.

Have known lots of teachers who have their own children come into their classroom after the school day has finished, that isnn;t that unusual ime.