Unqualified teacher

[ladybirdsmum]

My DS is starting in Reception in September. There are two Reception classes and he is in one where there is a job share. The other class has one full time teacher. I just found out that one of his 'teachers' is not qualified. I looked her up on LinkedIn and saw that she has worked at the school as a TA for 3 years and prior to that she was working in admin in a non educational setting. She does not have a a degree. Apparently there is someone else currently teaching at the school who is also unqualified. She is not on any sort of training programme so I don't think this new teacher will be either (she is replacing the other one as she is leaving). I feel like this will not be a great start for DS and wish he could have got into one of the other schools in the town. Can I do anything about this without coming across as a difficult parent?

Unfortunately this seems to be the way teaching is going. I know that one of the job shares in my school has a HLTA every week on the Friday. Saves the school money.

It makes a mockery of teachers though, imo. We are professionals, and there's a lot more to teaching than just sitting in front of a class delivering the content.

My DD is in year 6 and there is a qualified teacher three days a week and a HLTA for the other two. I can hand on heart say that the HLTA has been the far better teacher and single handedly got them through their SATS. The teacher is useless.

How do you know for sure that they don't have degrees?

Reception have to have a ratio of 1:30 with a qualified teacher even in a MAT. Maybe she is going teacher training on the job?

In maintained schools like most state primaries Reception classes must be taught by a qualified teacher with QTS. The statutory ratio is 1:30 only if the person leading the class has QTS. If not the adult doesn’t count towards the ratio at all.

Even if the Reception teacher is part time there must always be a qualified teacher present when the children are in school. You can’t have a HLTA or TA leading the class solo for part of the day. Every session needs to meet the legal staffing requirements under the EYFS statutory framework.

My concern wouldn't be that she didn't know how yo teach, it would be the assessment side of things. Who's assessing, planning, report writing? Im sure they've been in a school long enough to do sone good phonics, hands on maths etc. But it's the rest if the job I'd ve worried they didn't know. Worth asking.

HLTAs (higher level teaching assistants) can (perfectly legally) cover class teaching.

TAs make incredible teachers.

I would be more concerned that she’s doing the job and not getting paid properly for it.
Hopefully they’ll put her through her teacher training soon.

Actually all the evidence shows that if children don’t make their expected milestones in reception they’re likely to fall behind for the rest of their schooling and earn considerably less than their peers at age 25. No point trying to catch up in year 6 - too late! And the qualified teacher should be implementing the curriculum and deciding pedagogy, not the TA.

There should absolutely be a qualified teacher in the reception class of a maintained school op. It’s the law. Do double check. If they’re failing to meet the basic legal standards I’d be wary of sending my child to that school.

Whilst I appreciate you are not happy, what do you think you can do? I'm.a qualified teacher who is not really in favour of unqualified people doing the job too. There is a recruitment crisis. It is not an attractive job for many. Better this than a string of supply I suppose

@BCBird I agree. I do wonder if it's actually part of the recruitment crisis because it's at the heart of the "respect for the profession" issue. How can you respect a profession and pay a salary commensurate to that, if you also say that it is possible to palm the job off to someone unqualified and that you are paying a small amount to with no ill effects? Either having qualified teachers matters or it doesn't.

Well yes but the teacher would be in charge of all the planning, assessing, pedagogy, etc. as you would expect. All I did was deliver the task, adapt as I saw fit (because as a trained TA I was taught how to scaffold and challenge for all abilities) and then wrote up the assessment form for the teacher to do her stuff with.

Most PPA cover is done by HLTAs who generally have no more qualifications than the rest of us. The planning, marking and assessing is still done by the teacher for those sessions, I can't imagine what OP's school is doing is much different. Students aren't going to fall behind having an experienced TA taking their class for 2 days a week

You would be surprised how often a class gets left in the hands of a student teacher, a TA, or a special needs assistant. I know people working in these fields who often find themselves in sole charge of a class of thirty kids. It's all very last minute cover, and it doesn't seem like the parents have any idea their kids weren't with a teacher all day.

Everyone's trying their best, but there are major recruitment issues.

And do Reception teachers only learn that through taking a degree?

OP, it's Reception. Pupils have been taught for centuries by people who didn't have degrees. Your little one will be fine.

It's shit. It's the way things are going. We've been warning parents for years about the recruitment and retention crisis in teaching.

As a qualified teacher of 30 odd years I'm very against it. It basically says to me, 'Anyone can do your job. The don't need qualifications or training' and it basically gives the message to students that 'Your education isn't important. As long as someone is minding the classroom'.

I'm secondary, and I very much object to unqualified cover supervisors, teachers and supply. I think it's disgraceful that TAs are expected to cover for teachers without the pay, qualifications or training. It's putting too much on their shoulders. I'm also aware that schools often have no options.

Locally in a rural area we don't have primary recruitment problems. There can be 40 applicants for a primary job so newly qualified teachers can end up working as teaching assistants or having to convert to secondary. It would be a worrying development for them to also have to compete against teaching assistants for a job due to school budgets.

@Hatty65 absolutely!

But we know more about child development now and we have higher expectations about what all children (not just those of the elites) should achieve than they did 'centuries' ago.

I'm not saying that one lesson by a TA will be disastrous but there is a reason why strong early years education has been shown to be so important.

I actually think it’s MORE important in reception than when they’re older - knowledge of child development is so important. These years are the most crucial to get right.

I would not be happy - but this happens too often in schools so sadly not surprised to hear of it.

I think it's sad that some people don't mind that their child's teacher is not qualified even though legally teachers in maintained schools have to be. DS is currently taught by a qualified teacher in nursery.

Some of the other parents have said they are going to raise the issue with the Head but I'm not sure I'm brave enough. I will be putting his name on the waiting list for another school and hope something comes up before September.

I'm sure TA's can be amazing, but they aren't necessarily qualified to degree or post graduate level. The dumbing down of the profession to save money is a disgrace. These employees should be recognised and compensated appropriately if they are responsible for teaching a class.

This just wouldn't happen in Scotland. The English setup is like the Wild West.

It’s not sad that people wouldn’t mind. You seem to be basing your opinion purely on the existence or lack of or a piece of paper, which is perfectly understandable if this is your first child going to school and you have not other relevant experience. I’ve had two children got through primary, have known lots teachers and TAs, have friends who are primary school teachers and TAs, and am currently training to be a secondary school teacher. I wouldn’t mind my child being taught by a TA if the TA was a good teacher. I would mind my child being taught by a qualified teacher if they were a bad teacher. I would very much mind my child being taught by a qualified teacher who was abusive (that did happen, I complained to the head, thankfully it was just a sub who did not return to the school). It’s very likely that you won’t be able to change to a different school now so my advice to you is to wait and see what this TA is like when you’re child actually starts school. Some of the TAs at my kids primary could very easily have been class teachers.

Why are you bothering to train to be a teacher if it's just a piece of paper? You seem to think you could just go out and do it now.

How will you feel a few years down the line when people give the job you have trained for to a cheaper, unqualified alternative?

Early Years is critical for child development and you absolutely do need a huge amount of pedagogy to get it right.

I 100% agree that some TAs are fantastic and excellent at taking a class for a short period. 2 days is a large chunk of the week! It’s not fair on the TA who is being paid a low low wage and doesn’t have the training to plan and assess with impact. It’s not fair on the teacher who will be doing the work of a full time teacher for 3 days pay. It’s not fair on the children.
If the TA is good, the children will be happy and safe, but they deserve more.

I could go out and do it now. I’ve been doing it for seven years before I started my training. I’m doing the training because I want to be a better teacher, and I also have ambitions of moving into educational research where the piece of paper is a lot more necessary. A lot of the stuff I covered in training I already knew, but a lot I didn’t. I didn’t have full class experience. There is also a lot of interesting stuff about how the brain acquires new knowledge. I’m not sure about the details of teaching at reception level, it will be very different. People seem to be making a big deal of whether or not a TA has a degree. Unless it’s a degree in teaching it’s not relevant. I have a PhD in maths, it’s been no use whatsoever to me in teaching the GCSE material.