Should my child's class have a qualified teacher everyday?

[Jap26]

Aibu to expect that my year 5 child has a qualified teacher everyday at school. Teachers have been announced for the next school year and the year 5 teacher is part time doing 4 days a week, no teaching cover has been arranged and the plan is for various TA's to cover the 5th day. The school have confirmed that with ppa time for the class teacher they will only have an actual teacher 3.5 days a week. None of the TA's have any relevant qualifications. As an ad hoc arrangement to cover sickness I think this is fine but they are planning do to this every week. Before I complain I just want a reality check on if this is standard practice

There is no requirement for this.

It's been standard practice for some time to use TAs or HLTAs to cover absence and this has been permitted for a number of years.

Many schools now use people who are not trained teachers (cover supervisors) to cover absence whether temporary (a few days) or longer (months).

No, this is not the norm, or at least was not in any of the three state primaries my children have attended over the years.

I would bring this up with the head teacher and then with the board of governors if no joy there. That's outrageous. In an emergency, fair enough, but this seems to be being presented to you as the permanent arrangement.

Schools are struggling massively with recruitment and retention of qualified teachers. You can complain all you like, but if that is the best they can do then that is the best they can do. They may not be able to find a qualified teacher to do the extra day.

Yes they should. Unfortunately this is the reality in so many schools these days. Often to save money. ( we can't attract teachers at the school I work at/ aren't replacing those that have left. We have non specialist teachers teaching English, Maths etc)

Have you actually been told this by the school officially? or is it rumour?

I presume at least 2 days they will do PE, so if that falls on the PPA time and the 'TA day', and if they also put music, French, assembly etc on the TA day, all of which usually have seperate teachers, they they will in practice have not much time with the TA. That's what I would be looking for in any discussions with them- how have they organised the timetable so this has minimal impact.
My daughter had a teacher only 4 days per week last week and was absolutely fine as the non teacher day was forest school, music, assembly for half of the day, and then it was Friday afternoon where tbh they are too tired to learn much anyway.

What exactly do you expect the schools to do if there's a shortage of teachers ?
And how do you know the TAs have no relevance qualifications ?

My child had this set up one year. I complained to my MP who thought it was a marvellous workaround and good financial management. As did the LA.
I didnt complain to the head as I assumed they came up with the best solution available to them.

It’s not unusual, it’s not against the rules and it has happened in my child’s school in the past when they’ve had a teacher who only worked four days a week. It actually worked out fine for the children as the TA concerned was extremely good and covered ppa time too (she was actually a former teacher and in some ways better than the class teacher!) but I do think it’s completely unfair to expect it of someone on a TA wage.

Given the current teacher shortages it’s probably all the school can do. They will be fully aware it’s far from ideal.

You're not unreasonable to think you and DC deserve better, but to expect anything to change isn't very realistic.

This won't be someone's first choice, is down to issues with funding, workload and recruitment, and is miles better at 3.5 days a week of qualified teaching than it is elsewhere.

How do you know what the TAs' qualifications are?

If you do complain to the HT, what are your expectations as a result?

Yes, they should.

In a state school, that's the current situation unfortunately. It doesn't get any better in secondary.

You can "complain" but what do you think that will achieve? It's worth making the point, but the head will be well aware of the problem but won't have any magical solution.

It depends on what is happening on the days when the teacher isn't in. It could be eg swimming ( which doesn't require a class teacher to escort them) or music from an outside provider, which simply requires an adult on hand from the school to help with behaviour. In my school, getting the children to and from swimming takes up most of the morning, and music is for an entire afternoon. If PE is taught by a specialist, then again that will take a large part of the morning afternoon, by the time they have got changed. By the time they've had a handwriting lesson, a spelling lesson and a spelling or tables test, there's not much time for anything more academic.
Don't assume that TAs are untrained; they are often highly educated and then trained for whatever their role is in school. All the TAs in my school have degrees.
I suspect you have nothing to worry about. But if you do have concerns, speak to the teacher or SLT about how it will work.

My grandson has had a teacher missing on sick leave from October until after Easter. She's now back one day a week. It's not ideal.

Dd has this next year and had it this. Works really well. Yabu. Don't know what you expect the school to do ..magic a teacher out of the air. If unhappy with swt up move schools but it's very common solution to a massive problem at the moment

For me it depends what is being covered in the teacher's absence, and whether there will be some consistency in who will be in charge. "Various TAs" would worry me more than the teacher being part time.

My son had a part time teacher one year, but since she was only out all day Friday and one afternoon and they had a rock solid TA instead, it was fine. She taught the new stuff, and the TA was fine to do the maths and literacy one day a week.

It's been confirmed by the school today and they have also confirmed about the TA's not being qualified. I would ideally like my child moved into one of the other classes who do have full time teachers.

I do understand about the struggles facing schools and it's interesting about external providers, music etc that's not something I had thought about so will ask that question.

At our primary a HLTA for a full day a week was quite usual. She was introduced as the PPA cover person but in practice she covered PT teachers' classes on their days off too.

I am not sure you realise that "full time teacher" is very unlikely.

In Primary, the class will be taken by a TA at least half a day or a full day a week anyway, while the main teacher is busy working elsewhere. You might not notice because the kids have their "music" or "art" lesson or whatever, but it would be surprising otherwise.

Plus you cannot predict if someone will get sick, injured, pregnant and take time off anyway, even in the other classes.

We had this in reception. It's different in reception and KS1 because of the legislation around class sizes. The legislation defines a "school teacher" and that doesn't include a TA or HLTA.

Our head teacher told me that a teacher is anyone she defines as a teacher, which makes you wonder why they bother training teachers at all. She also wasn't correct in terms of the legal position.

I complained, as did other parents. Nothing changed for us that year, but they have since employed a teacher to fill in the part time teachers' timetables.

Not much of an answer, but I've read so many comments on here where teachers are treated like dirt that I'm not surprised nobody wants to do the job.

Whenever teachers have pointed out the unsustainable working conditions, there is a chorus of " Well leave if you don't like it"

There's now a shortage of teachers.

OP I fully understand your concerns; they are valid. But the situation your child's head has found themselves in has been building for years and moaning parents (not you) are a big part of the problem.

It’s increasingly the norm. Lots of parents don’t even realise because they don’t always know which staff are teachers and which are TAs or HLTAs.

I’m a school governor. I would imagine the governors are already aware and have accepted it as the least worst option. If it were the school I’m a governor at I would be asking the headteacher what arrangements were in place to provide appropriate support to the TAs, how they would ensure work was properly planned and that there were effective handover arrangements etc and otherwise I’d not have much to say. Budgets are tight, applicants for jobs are few and I’d take 3.5 days of a regular teacher plus TAs known to the school and children if the alternative is a full vacancy and a parade of supply teachers. If they can even get supply teachers. My children’s school came within a whisker last year of having one class taught entirely by the part time and theoretically non-teaching headteacher and TAs.

There is no money and even if there was money there’s increasingly few people that want to teach - supply, PT, FT or otherwise. I honestly can’t blame them.

If you’re outraged then you know how to vote on Thursday…

But why would the school give your child special treatment and move them to another class? That would be them "admitting" it's unacceptable, but doing nothing about the other children.

They won't move your child to another class 🙄otherwise every parent would do this.

The school gave you info on the TA’s qualifications? Seriously?

Or did they simply say they weren’t qualified teachers?