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

I work in secondary and there are people less qualified than TAs in front of classes! We have one teaching a core subject who doesn’t have a GCSE in it yet!

Generally speaking if a kid has an advocate they get better treatment. If everyone kicks up a fuss they'd have to make changes which would be better for everyone. So if in doubt I suggest you speak up.

If everyone asks and let's the school know they're unhappy and then kicks up a stink they'll have to make changes to appease parents. Let them make cuts and before you know it we'll be paying for school on top of our taxes.

Holy heck that is WILD

I’ve been teaching a subject for over 25 years that I don’t have a GCSE in !

I suppose the A stands for assist. Its not a T for teacher.

There's a shortage of medical professionals, but I don't want them drafting in someone unqualified to prescribe my medication or perform surgery on me.

I understand its not the same, but it is reasonable to want consistency and secure learning for your child. And if they had the "relevance qualifications" to be a teacher....surely they'd be being paid as such. No one qualified would willingly do the same job for less money surely.

@RatalieTatalie agreed! The comparison I made up thread was cabin crew instead of pilots. That wouldn’t be acceptable even if they’d clocked thousands of miles around the world. But our children? Bah, who cares.

sorry was skim reading and didn't see all the responses before mine, but yes exactly this.

I don't think we can keep saying teachers are undervalued and underpaid...and then also say but we can regularly replace them with unqualified staff as and when needed without impact. Both can't be true.

Yep, see also GPs (medical school, 2 year FY and then 3 year specialist training) vs 2 year training physician assistants. They all have a role, but let’s not kid ourselves it doesn’t matter who teaches your child, who looks after your health. And it’s all down to austerity and underfunding.

The difference with schools is that they need an adult in the room. If there is a shortage of pilots they reduce the number of flights, if a shortage of doctors they increase the waiting lists. Schools have to put an adult in the room they can’t just send a class home and put them on a waiting list until a suitable adult becomes available

This is very true, good point!

@crumblingschools quite, but let’s not pretend this is good enough. Kids need teaching by properly qualified staff.

@RosaRoja I’m not saying it’s good I’m just saying why it is done. My username doesn’t just apply to the state of the school buildings but education as a whole!

@crumblingschools I think we’re on the same page on this. Maybe it’s not the best analogy, but it’s despair at how little we’ve come to value teachers and our kids’ education. Or rather how brow beaten that we’ll accept lower standards.

It's definitely not all down to underfunding. Every teacher I know who has quit or gone part time, it wasnt due to the salary, it was due to the behaviour of the children and the parents. These teachers are fighting to improve the life chances of children when their parents sometimes couldn't give a shit (pardon my language) about it, take them out on term time holidays, don't support with homework or correct uniform, argue with and undermine the school at every oppurtuinity and in denial that their little darling could ever be anything but perfect.
And to an extent the same in true in parts of the nhs. The number of missed appointments, abuse of staff and property is ridiculous, so much wasted time and resources, which then stop care being provided to those who truly needed. NHS funding has never been higher,bit the level of entitlement we experience when trying our best to provide good care is mind blowing. That's what will force me out into private practice - it won't pay much more, but hopefully my skills and knowledge will be respected

They should have a qualified teacher but the current state of education, limited budgets etc means it's not guaranteed.

@Bushmillsbabe I recognise a lot of this degradation in society. But how did we get here? Lack of education, of aspiration, standards, respect. We’ve also had 14 years of Tories, not the best example. (I’ve said elsewhere that this is, first and foremost, an individual fault, but we all live within a society.)

I’ve been teaching for 18 years and have come across many a TA who actually is a qualified teacher but has stepped down from the role because of the workload and conditions. You would be surprised…

But the problem is that there isn’t a qualified teacher standing in the wings to fill the gap, so we have to make do. Nobody is saying it’s ideal, but it’s a wide spread problem.

It happened in my sons Yr 4 class this year. One afternoon a week was covered by a TA.
He loves his TA more than his actual teacher and she has played a huge role in their national times tables tests. He got full marks and she is affectionately known as Mrs. Times Table. She is kind and funny and knows them all inside out.
I genuinely don’t see the harm for just one day a week unless she is failing massively to teach the curriculum or manage the class. Probably be a nice change for them.

It’s highly unlikely that they will move your child’s class. You do it for one you open the flood gates. People get really cross when teachers strike for better pay but ultimately unless they are paid a better wage for what is a very difficult job, this problem will continue.

This will most likely be the case but just to say, as a union rep, teachers are not paid to plan for days they don’t work so should not be expected to do this.

As a secondary school assistant headteacher some of these responses do make me chuckle. Of course every child SHOULD have a teacher who specialises in the subjects they are teaching. However there are no teachers..I’ve taught numerous subjects that we have to teach but can’t get staff. When parents complain I understand why but at the same time it’s like they think we are hiding all the teachers ready to pluck them out of the cupboard when we think a class deserves them. Not the case.

“Teaching” “ Assistant “— able to deliver, and feedback on, learning planned by a teacher.