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

A school only has to have a qualified Senco (who has to be a qualified teacher) and a head teacher . Obviously that’s a bare minimum but yes a TA can cover classes long term.

@Trebormints74 actually I am not sure about a headteacher. Local school has an executive headteacher they share with another school and deputy heads. So even that is no longer a given.

They could at least rotate the actual teachers of the school for that one day a week, so all classes are in the same position. It would mean a TA cover day maybe only once a term.

No they can’t.

neu.org.uk/advice/member-groups/support-staff/hltas-and-cover-supervisors#:~:text=Can%20HLTAs%20teach%20whole%20classes,absence%20of%20a%20qualified%20teacher.”

It may be “the norm” but it shouldn’t be . Not the schools fault as they no doubt are hugely under funded . However if I was a teacher in this school I’d be contacting my union . And if I was a TA I’d be doing the same . (And it makes no difference if they are qualified or not they are employed as a teachers assistant and not as a teacher ) As a parent I’d be writing to my Local authority and also to my Mp to ask what their party was planning to do about the underfunding . I’d make sure the school knew I wasn’t blaming them though .

Mines had a substitute all year! Second year too. Luckily she’s very nice but no idea if she’s qualified. Hes also a year group that missed all that time due to Covid.

Its rubbish but nothing we can do.

It's probably also worth saying that the poor TAs do not get paid any more money than their normal minimum living wage for teaching these whole classes which is shocking but yes sadly it happens frequently.

Yes this is a thing. Qualified TA's can cover PPA, management time, SEN time and sickness as long as the work has been set by the teacher. This is no different to TA taking a group for an intervention and delivering the lesson.

No you are not being unreasonable at all. They shouldn't have negotiated a 4 day contract with the teacher. It's hard to find teacher cover for just one day a week. You should definitely query it.

If they hadn't then the teacher would probably have left and they'd have likely ended up with supply for an extended period. One day a week of an HLTA is quite usual and the children usually love it. Their work will, of course, be monitored regularly by the SLT to ensure that good progress is made.

Our DS school recently became an academy and they can have snyone teaching who is deemed qualified in the headteachers eyes. Not necessarily a teacher. Same with my DDs high school that just became inadequate and has been forced by ofsted to also become an academy.
My DS reading age was massively improved by a TA (and we are talking by two years within 12 weeks) after covid occurred. She worked with him relentlessly, she never gave up on him. My DD has also had a wave of different sub teachers in YR9 who never really got to understand the pressures of the kids they were teaching (building crumbling, temporary classrooms, limited space, restricted timetables with no "fun" lessons). Don't dismiss TA's outright, a lot of them work damn hard and go beyond their job description.

I work as a primary school teacher. I have a day out of class every week (half a day PPA and half a day management time as I’m on SLT). My class is covered by a HLTA (higher level teaching assistant). She also covers when I’m sick or have a course or meeting (which is quite often).

She is incredible and the parents have never complained. She has worked in education and at my school much longer than me. Believe me when I say that in education, experience will always trump qualifications. We work as a strong team and as she works in class with me when I’m there, she knows my expectations.

This is common practice in most primary schools. Teaching assistants that cover will be experienced with cover/teaching and held to the same standards as teachers by SLT.

As mentioned in previous posts, she does do French and PE for me - and as a former cricket coach and fluent French speaker - she can teach this far better than me!

She will also teach some Maths and Literacy for me but again, she is experienced, my kids enjoy the break from having me and my class always make good progress.

Incredibly naive post. The huge majority of teachers who work part time are the most experienced teachers that the sector relies on to maintain standards and support less experienced teachers. If given part time posts it says a lot about how the school values the teacher, they would not give it to a weak teacher. The fact is teaching is not a family friendly role and schools have to adjust and be flexible in order to retain good teachers.

This is the way the education sector is shifting and if it doesn't they will just lose even more good teachers that will just exasperate the current staffing problem.

It's hard to find teacher cover for just one day a week

I bet you most heads would have absolutely no difficulty in finding someone to do one day a week-probably an ex member of their own staff.

It is the norm now I’m afraid, especially in smaller schools. Budgets.

There is no shortage of primary teachers. This is a cost cutting exercise. I am a supply teacher and started this academic year covering teachers who were working for days - ie I was the 5th day teacher. It worked well, but then the head had to cover the lastest staff pay rises out of existing budgets - and I was made redundant. My days are now covered by a variety of people including assistant heads and Sendco.

There is no shortage of primary teachers.

I agree-there plenty of supply teachers out there but TAs are cheaper.

There is no shortage of qualified teachers in the country either when it comes to recruitment and retention-there are hundreds of qualified teachers out there who loved their jobs but don’t want to work in schools the way they correctly are. It would be good for the new government to see what changes they could make to make it a happy job again.

There is a shortage of teachers who want to be teachers

I agree. There is also a shortage of primary teachers in some areas of the country as the cost of living varies so wildly. It just doesn’t pay very well.

@BeautifulBee May I ask if you would lead a subject without a TLR?

Would you continue with your SLT role without the additional pay?

Why is this expected of a TA/HLTA?

I certainly wouldn’t in secondary but sadly for primary colleagues it seems leading a subject is expected and that TLRs are only given for very specific roles as a norm.

my sister is a primary TA and is paid marginally more if she teaches lessons in a day.

@Sooz817 every time I see this happen the member of staff gets their union involved and they negotiate.

Teachers and teaching staff deserve better.

There is a huge budgeting issue but there is always room for negotiation if you are willing to raise it.

Sadly sometimes when these issues are raised it can create a very toxic environment.
In my last year in my previous role there was over £100k paid out to staff and parents due to negligence and discrimination etc. These are the cases I am aware of.
I have spoken to so many other teaching staff in similar situations who have had large payouts. Maybe it’s time staff were treated better.

In one of my very early jobs, early 70s, I was timetabled for a subject in which not only did I not have a qualification but I'd never done it at all! It was Technical Drawing and I more or less kept a few pages ahead of the boys, only boys did it then, and we all did well. In a later job I was preparing a worksheet for my subject, Maths, and I was drawing 3d solids, people were amazed at what I could draw freehand!

It is not legal. TA's and HLTA's can only be used for short term cover ie teacher absence. They should not be used for PPA cover. All timetables should have a qualified teacher in place.
Print WAMG Note 15 (d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net) - government document.

I would add to that lack of thinking and questioning.
A curriculum which forces tiny children to pick up pencils and sit in groups learning. Where any independent thought is crushed. Where creativity is sidelined to half and hour on a Thursday afternoon with an expert who is bought in.