4 different teachers!

[1234cakes]

My 8yr old child has had 4 different sub teachers since September, my child is quite anxious and takes awhile to adjust to new changes, I understand things are difficult with the pandemic and her actual teacher may have health issues which she is unable to return so that is totally understandable, I just feel it is unfair on her class to keep chopping and changing the teachers, do you think I would be being unreasonable if I emailed the school and asked them to take that into account for next September and try to ensure they have a permanent sub or a teacher that has a good track record for attending?

YABU to email the school. It is perfectly reasonable to be concerned but emailing won’t make any difference. There is a teaching shortage and schools don’t have options. If you don’t like this being the new normal then remember this when you’re voting next time because the state of schools and the teaching profession is a direct result of poor government policies.

I am a supply teacher. Firstly for longer term contracts, you don't always get a good daily rate as the supply agency takes an awfully big cut so I have covered a class and worked out that my pay was below minimum wage. After 12 weeks I am entitled to be paid to scale and it's only then that the extra workload and responsibility for long term supply is worth it.

Is the class particularly difficult? I'm often requested by schools but sometimes the behaviour is so difficult and if it feels as though there is no back up from slt, I will not stay. This isn't fair on the children but it is a fact that will have an impact on a teacher's decision to stay or not.

If a school treats me well and the staff are nice, I will put myself out to help them.

Unfortunately, at the moment Covid will be causing so many more problems. At the moment I only want to work in one school to reduce my risks. I don't want to be moving around and despite my agency's pleas, I am turning down work at the moment as I am in my 50s and work with ks1 where social distancing cannot happen.

Many supply teachers just don't want to work full time due to caring responsibilities. This is where a school will perhaps have more succes getting 2 teachers to job share. I have done this many times and it means I am more likely to stick at the job as I don't need to take time off for taking my parents to hospital and gp appointments. Maybe this approach would be better.

The school will be trying their best to make sure your daughter has a stable teacher next year, that is a given and doesn't need to even be mentioned. Talk to the school about your daughter's stress though, including any current teachers she has. They will want to help.

@CeibaTree

I think as has been said already you need to work on your child's anxiety and try and build us some resilience in her. I'm not entirely sure what you think the school will say, I don't think you are going to be pointing out anything to them they don't know! It's not like they would be purposefully changing teachers just for the fun of it.

This 100%. There’s a huge resilience problem with children at the moment. Secondly, there’s a massive teacher shortage. No school wants to give a class 4 substitute teachers for the fun of it. They most likely can’t find a permanent teacher.

I’m SLT in a primary school. We had this a few years back with a teacher who broke her leg, the class ended up with 5 different supply teachers in the space of a term. Believe me we were all well aware that the class needed a constant teacher. They were a well behaved class too, so no issues with that putting the supply teachers off. But the constant supply teacher just didn’t exist.

Teacher recruitment has been challenging for years, both for supply and permanent positions. We need more teachers and we need more of them to stay in the profession.

Forgot to add - of course you can speak to the Head or a member of SLT about it. But chances are they will not be able to do anything as they will have already been trying to secure a constant teacher for months.

@SeasonFinale

Funnily enough, yes it did.

Plus parents shouting at me, having nowhere quiet to do my my PPA, having a TA who just couldn't do the job, etc etc

Ok thanks for your replies, I failed to mention she had the same teacher the year before aswell (pre-COVID lockdown March 2020) so from that 2019sept-March2020 she had 3 different subs for weeks at a time for teacher being absent/ ill, before people say I’m being hard on teachers, I’m not I understand if your sick your sick you shouldn’t be in school, I said I totally understand circumstances in life change,I’ve worked as a preschool teacher myself and one of the first things parents are told to ask when looking for good settings is what’s the staff turnover like cause consistency is so important for childrens development but just because they are afew years older and in ‘big school’ is that not supposed to matter anymore and they are just supposed to deal with it so many different changes!! People being ‘smart’ sayin take the crystal ball out for September and they will take it into account for September well the knew how “absent” throughout the year the teacher was and still gave her the same class the this year, how would you feel if it was your kid! So do I just sit back and hope she doesn’t get the same teacher again,

Has any one poster on here said that consistency for young children doesn't matter?

I think you should raise your concerns with the school and ask them what their plans are for improving stabililty for your child.

well the knew how “absent” throughout the year the teacher was and still gave her the same class the this year

Maybe they were hoping she wouldn’t be absent and there would be consistency in having the same teacher for another year that they’d started with previously. But you crack on and tell the headteacher how they should be doing their job, as a former pre school teacher I’m sure you know best.

School will be well aware but this and covid has caused issues. This sort of thing generally stinks of a poor management or an extremely tricky class.

"This sort of thing generally stinks of a poor management or an extremely tricky class."

Not necessarily at all.

@ilovechocolate07

School will be well aware but this and covid has caused issues. This sort of thing generally stinks of a poor management or an extremely tricky class.

Or just really bad luck.

For a long term sickness usually they manage to get a long term supply teacher in, not day to day. I wonder if the class is very difficult to manage, hence the constant flow of different teachers.

YABU.
Perfectly acceptable to email and explain your child’s anxiety issues and mention that the change in teacher is affecting it - we’ve had similar emails (although not that many teachers!) and I think it’s fine, it’s factual and giving relevant information to help the staff support your child.
It is unreasonable to “ask them to take it into account”, when they already will be desperate to find a long term supply teacher, and painfully aware of how non-ideal the situation is.

@crimsonlake

For a long term sickness usually they manage to get a long term supply teacher in, not day to day. I wonder if the class is very difficult to manage, hence the constant flow of different teachers.

That relies on being able to find one, and the sick notes being long ones.

It's understandable that you're concerned, but frankly ridiculous to think that you could make any comments or suggestions to the Head that he/she would not have already been taking into consideration. The school will be doing whatevee it can within the situation in which it finds itself. Parents do not get to have input into school staffing issues, and neither should they.

It’s perfectly possible that SLT chose for the teacher to remain with the class for long term consistency as last year was so disrupted but weren’t to know that this member of staff would be ill again.

Pop off at the school if you must - you clearly want to - but, again, you won’t be telling them anything they don’t already know.

@crimsonlake

For a long term sickness usually they manage to get a long term supply teacher in, not day to day. I wonder if the class is very difficult to manage, hence the constant flow of different teachers.

Well, obviously that is the ideal, yes! I mean, no head is going to PLAN to cover long term absence with an many people as they can find.

We have found in recent years that it’s really difficult to get good long term cover. We managed to cover one term with a great permanent person but they had a regular commitment on Fridays and so we had to get someone different in to do that day. They then had already accepted a booking for the next term so we had to find someone else and couldn’t find anyone wanting full time, so had to get a 2/3 split of job shares-then one of them got pregnant! Absence can be very difficult to cover, especially when you don’t know how long it’s going to be for. I know loads of people who left teaching to do supply in recent years purely for the flexibility-they want to do a few days a week, or every day but leaving on the dot-not signing up for long term with all of the marking/planning/parent stuff that comes with it. They will also be let go, the minute the ill person comes back-so that’s why many try to hang onto regular 1/2 day a week arrangements in familiar schools. That’s their right.

Yep. There is a teaching crisis. Please remember this next time you get an opportunity to vote. Your children's education is not the priority of this government.

@EnoughnowIthink

Yep. There is a teaching crisis. Please remember this next time you get an opportunity to vote. Your children's education is not the priority of this government.

There really aren't teachers sitting at home, waiting for a school to offer them supply work and available long term. Why would there be? They'd be in jobs if they wanted to work full time for a period for which they could get a contracted role.

Any cover for someone whose length of absence isn't known from the off, is going to be a jigsaw. There is a teacher shortage, and after Covid it will only get worse.

(sorry @EnoughnowIthink - quoting you there looks as though I'm arguing with you rather than backing you up!)

Lol
It’s almost like we’ve been living during a worldwide pandemic.
Also it’s almost like teachers are people with illnesses, and family problems (like bereavement etc) How dare they not be robots that are stored in the stationary cupboard overnight when your precious darling goes home.
Get a grip- the school will be WELL aware that the teacher has had time off, they will not be planning it that way deliberately. Obviously. So pointing it out seems pointless when it’s beyond there control.

Any cover for someone whose length of absence isn't known from the off, is going to be a jigsaw

This, completely -it’s a total jigsaw.

Contrary to popular belief, there aren’t endless outstanding teachers sitting on supply agency books waiting for one phone call for a long term placement in an unknown class and wanting to take on all of the ‘challenges’ that a full time position brings. On a long term sickness cover, heads would still expect planning/marking/assessment/displays/observations etc to be done and parents would still expect reports to be written and parent consultations to take place.

I have three friends who do supply-all are excellent and each has a regular slot with a local school (release time for SLT usually) giving them a regular income but no pressure. So, whilst they might be up for day to day supply or covering eg a part of a job share for a maternity, none would want a long term role as it would bring with it all the things that made them leave their permanent role in the first place.

This sort of thing generally stinks of a poor management or an extremely tricky class

Sometimes. Not always though. Depending on the reason for absence it can very much be week to week. Long term sick notes aren’t that common - and decent supply teachers get snapped up.

It’s a massive headache - and a huge expense. We try and cover within our dept ourselves as much as possible because it’s just less hassle and stress for everyone - but that means teachers giving up their (already tiny) PPA time.