Yr 1 teacher

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Sorry this is so long but don't want to drip feed...

So DS found out his new class on Tuesday he’s happy he is with a few friends and he knows his new teacher a little bit from around the school, so all good in this respect.
He will have a teacher share (totally fine with this) but his teacher on Fridays I have a few issues with, she has only got this job a few weeks ago to start in September and this is where my potential issues start.

1. She has no primary experience (she has been going in twice a week for an hour at a time this year to her child's class FS to help with reading).

Her original job before she had children was a dance teacher at a-level age - hence a teaching qualification, but no experience at all with younger children except her own child.

1. She has been open and loud in her words “I’ll have to get (her child’s name) to teach me phonics, I have no f*ing clue what I’m doing”

3.Today I have been shown screen shots from another parent group she is on bitching about another parent in her DS's current class. laughing that her child has been put in Mrs * class "I hope she's disappointed she's got the worst teacher"

1. She’s a very loud rude person in general, her child used to attend the same tennis class as DS, she would bring her dog into the playground while we waited, myself and 2 other mums have toddlers, who she used to shout at to keep out the way her dog is prone to be vicious around children, when we said they are in a playground she was very defensive saying she has to wait somewhere?!?

5.The job wasn't even advertised, I know at least 3 people who are primary trained with plenty of experience with great references who would of applied for this job so they can hardly say there is a shortage of people for the job.

I asked for a meeting with the headteacher today, I started to voice my concerns about her lack of qualifications and experience teaching my child she shut me down extremely quickly, stating that she has of course got a teaching qualification and that she would only be teaching topic work!?!? Then she proceeded to escort me out her office without even letting me bring up other concerns I had.

She will be the teacher on Fridays for the next 2 years as the teachers remain the same in yr2.
Am I just over reacting or should I expect the teacher teaching my child for 20% of the next two years have at least some primary experience?

I don't want to separate DS from his friends and I know the other classes are full so insisting he moves classes maybe impossible, other schools in our area are good but he is so settled moving him makes me worry.

What do you think my next steps should be? emailing the school governors? Please help, I feel I need to stick up for my child but I do feel a bit trapped, I know at least 2 other parents have also voiced concerns about this appointment but nothing seems to be helping?

If she has QTS then she can teach any year group.

Plenty of teachers will teach a year group for the first time at some point.

She may be employed as a HLTA or Cover Supervisor so doesn't need a teaching qualification at all.

School is probably just pleased to have anyone in place for September - beggars can't be choosers.

Print out screenshots of her bitching about other teachers and post them to the Head anonymously. If this lady’s knowledge of phonics is not secure she will not last 5 minutes in Year 1 as due to the phonics screening check it’s pretty much the year of phonics.

Probably 50%+ of classes are covered by a TA for the equivalent of one day a week.

You don't like her dog nor her out-of-school manners, but actually you have no idea what she is like as a teacher, and the Head was correct not to listen to idle gossip. Lack of primary experience is none of your business, everyone starts somewhere and she'll be following the school curriculum. If she was a new graduate then lack of experience wouldn't be worrying you, you're annoyed only because you personally don't like her.

When she is your child's teacher and there's a specific issue, then you can take that to the Head. After your performance today you'll have a harder time being taken seriously than if you'd behaved appropriately and given her a chance though.

@Luxell934 100% the truth all of it.

@WGACA The person who has the original messages is going to show the head next week, she originally didn't want to get involved as it would be obvious who it came from, but she has realised the seriousness of this situation and has had a change of heart last night.

In hindsight I should of done. When I told the head about the phonics comment she just brushed it off with "well she won't be teaching that so it doesn't matter".

Thank you for your opinion, I was just hoping my child would have a primary trained teacher for the next 2 years.

I genuinely do, all of which have been on maternity leave or been at sahm for the past few years, why would I lie about this?

This genuinely has happened, it has been revealed this morning there are more incriminating messages. The recipient of these messages has changed their mind and will be showing the head, she originally didn't want to be involved but has had a rethink.

I am completely genuine, I have no reason to make this up.

Clearly school are cutting costs by using a cover supervisor. They probably can't afford a teacher to cover ppa

She sounds awful. People on MN are so quick to defend teachers at all costs even when it's appalling behaviour like this.

I think the head needs to see the screenshots of these messages and I'd escalate higher than the head if she isn't going to listen.

Yeah I was coming on to say this.
You are one of ‘those’ parents by the sound of it.

Do nothing, you may find she's the best thing since sliced bread
If she's not she will get support
You may not like her but don't turn it into a witch hunt, let your friend deal with the comment thing which is indeed a big No No

Thank you for your support, if I hadn't heard and seen all these extra things i'd be more than happy for her to learn on the job etc but there are so many things with this appointment that don't make sense it's all very confusing. Thankfully the parent with screenshots is coming forward next week.

I really really do not want to turn it into a witch hunt at all, she's not my cup of tea but in general she's done nothing to me, I have nothing against her personally. The other staff in the school seem so lovely and supporting I really hope this is the case.

I’m sorry to break it to you but unless the teaching crisis resolves itself very quickly, you are going to be very very disappointed if you expect your child to be taught by a fully qualified teacher at all times (especially one with experience). I know how ridiculous that sounds but that is the truth of the matter at present.

It's so sad I never knew this was an issue, it's awful, health and education are well and truly being destroyed it appears.

I'm not sure you should have questioned the headteacher's recruitment decisions. Wait till your child starts secondary school, my DCs have had different subs for various subjects for almost a whole academic year.

All schools are struggling to recruit as no one wants to teach.

"I genuinely do, all of which have been on maternity leave or been at sahm for the past few years, why would I lie about this?"

SAHM - possible, but if they have been on maternity leave they will need to return to their original school for a period of time or they will have to pay back their OMP, so doesn't sound likely/believable.

I never knew this was an issue

Really?

Yes, it’s a problem that’s been growing for years but has really come to a head in the past 12-18 months.

Teachers have been trying to warn the public for a good 9-10 years but we’re vilified by the press and made out to be work shy professionals who should be grateful for all the perks like working 9-3 etc (which just isn’t true). The public and media told teachers to stop moaning and if they didn’t like it to get another job. And, unfortunately that’s exactly what many of them, myself included have decided to do.

Strangely enough, those who said it was a super easy job don’t seem keen to train up and replace us and so 1000s of classes up and down the country, both secondary and primary, are taught by unqualified staff everyday. I am of course a qualified teacher but have been called on over the past few years to teach subjects I haven’t studied myself since my GCSEs in the early 2000s. Maths was a highlight…concepts I have no recollection of ever studying myself. My maths teaching involved reading the textbook before the lesson and deflecting questions I had no clue about…so sad and not what I went into teaching my own subject for.

This is the reality…. There are funding cuts in schools so they employ ‘unqualified teachers’ who are paid using an ‘unqualified teacher pay scale’. This is what’s really going on.

It doesn't sound like she has done her pgce, teaching dance doesn't make you a qualified teacher. It sounds like they employed a TA to cover topics, cover supervisors are very popular at the moment.