To think job-sharing for teachers of kids 8 and under is selfish?

[blowingBubblesinABreeze]

My kid is in Year 2. There are 30 kids in her class. She has teachers who job-share (monday-wed morning, Wednesday afternoon to Friday).
We had a parents meeting and it was very clear to me that the teacher barely knew my child, and was just making up things to say. Other parents said the same.

Do I blame her? Yes and no. No because it is impossible to know 30 kids in a class if you are spending half the time with the kids in the class that a normal teacher does. A full-time teacher with 30 kids in the class already struggles to know all the kids in her class well. (understandably).

Yes because she has chosen to do the job share. (In the case of the teachers in my class, I know that they are both well-off). I know that this is not the case for most teachers. But again I would argue that many teachers that would choose to job share are not on the bread-line.

A teacher should know the kids in their class. That is part of their job. The kids are LITTLE, LITTLE people. They are in school for most of their waking hours. Alot of them really struggle to go into school at a young age. So to be left in the hands of a person who barely knows them is simply not fair on them.

We are prioritising the desires of teachers over the NEEDS of children. Which is where society seems to be headed as a whole. The desires of adults is our focus, neglecting the basic needs of our little people.

Nope my son had a job share last year in year 3 and they were the best teachers he's had. They knew his strengths and weaknesses and he really improved last year.

Ridiculous having parents’ evenings so early in the year, not surprised they hardly know them!

Anyway, try a small subject in secondary school plus other responsibilities. At one point I was teaching 550 DIFFERENT pupils a fortnight, and got to know how all of them were getting on by about March.

All my kids (now in their 20s) had several job share classes in their infant and junior schools. So much better to have at least one teacher you might jel with, who has interests you might be passionate about, or the right sense of humour. They all enjoyed school and have all achieved highly. My ds’s worst year was one with a solo teacher who was frankly a bully. He’d have been far better off with her just half the week.
perhaps your school isn’t organising this well or the teacher isn’t wonderful. But your attitude is way off. Do you work? Full time?

Have you seen the most recent teacher retention data for women who have had children? It’s dire. for many women, going part time is the only thing keeping them in teaching. Better two 0.5 teachers than no teacher.

I don’t think it’s reasonable to frame your concerns in terms of teacher’s selfishness. It’s not particularly selfish of teachers to want a job that meets their needs. It’s a job not an obligation.

Research has found that job sharing can increase staff retention and the number of hours children are taught by qualified and experienced staff, so there is a distinct possibility that job sharing increases the quality of instruction over all.

However, as far as I can tell, no research has been done into the difference in outcomes between a job share teachers and equally qualified full time teachers. Which seems like a huge gap in knowledge given the Government is pushing job sharing as a way to retain teachers in the profession and, I think, shows how little priority the state gives to education. Everything is an attempt to do it on the cheap without real regard to the outcomes and the impact on children.

Rubbish. I teach secondary and get to know kids I see only 1 hour a week by half term.
They're seeing them 2.5 days a week fgs!
Also one of the biggest issues in education atm is that women aged 30-39 are leaving the profession in droves and lack of flexible working is playing a big part. Good for your kids school for offering job shares to retain decent staff. You'd be whingeing if your child had endless supply in day to day!

Hate to break it to you op but the world doesn’t revolve around your dc.

As pointed out by lots of others, even p/t teachers know their children. They also know “that” parent ;)

Are you ok OP? Do you have any idea what teaching is like? We need to be building in more flexibility to the profession, not less. You are being extremely unreasonable.

My kids school always have morning teachers and afternoon teachers. They always know the kids and split the subjects. Never been a problem.

I was going to say this. As a secondary teacher I would have on average 6 or 7 classes a week, who I’d see for three hours. 30 kids in KS3, 25 in KS4. So some days I’d see over 100 kids and over a week could be teaching 150-200.

You very quickly learn ways of remembering them and my aim was to try to personally interact with at least half of them every lesson. If your teacher who sees the same class every day for every lesson doesn’t know them, that’s down to them not the part time scenario.

My likely ND, sensitive 7 year old has 2 teachers. I do worry about this, and I’d rather she had one, but they are both great and I didn’t get the feeling they don’t know her at all. I think teachers are saints, generally. Brilliant teachers are getting burned out, and if job shares stops that happening that’s a massive plus.

How I long for the days when only spinsters were teachers. They were properly dedicated to their work.

Son is 8 and also a job share. His teachers are both very good and he’s doing well. This is the first successful job share as he’s had a couple in prior year groups.

Generally I dislike them because you often get one better than the other, they don’t always work well and have very different teaching styles to each other in my own experience.

I think this is specific to your teachers. DS had job share teachers in year 1 and year 2 and it was great to be honest. They both did parents evening and both knew him really well even by the first one at October half term. I was apprehensive about it at first but it was definitely a success. I’d imagine teachers, like anyone, have difference strengths and weaknesses so having 2 probably gives you more pros than cons.

My son’s class has two job sharing teachers and a TA. They know him well. I haven’t had any issues so far.

You’ve said you think that a full time teacher with 30 students would struggle to know the kids well, and I think if anything that is the problem. It is difficult for teachers to spend individual time and attention on little children with a ratio of 1 teacher to 30 students with differing needs. Class sizes are too big in primary school, and it makes the job of teachers more focused on crowd control than quality teaching. Even with that, generally the standard in English primary schools is good, they should be commended!! So of course teachers are burnt out and frustrated. But there is no political will to reduce class sizes, which incidentally may result in fewer vulnerable kids being left behind in mainstream.

Ds2 had a job share teachers and he is now 26 fo its not a new thing.
We and ds2 never had any issues.

My DS had a job share situation when he was in P2 and it worked really well. One was quite strict and the other not so much so he was pushed half the week and more pastoral care the other half. I felt it worked really well and they both knew the kids well

You are being very unreasonable. I am a primary school teacher. I do a 4 day week . Now the vast majority of the teaching, dealing with parents, planning etc falls on me and I know the kids very well but my goodness I love having a day when I can prioritise my own children. I can actually take them to school and pick them up. I can spend more time with them as they both finish early on a Friday (my day off). I also went suddenly deaf in one ear 4 years ago and I have permanent and reactive tinnitus. As a result the classroom can become a very challenging place. I have listening fatigue, no directional hearing and my tinnitus is up to 100. I'm contemplating going down to a 3 day week as the noise is so hard to cope with. If I do I really hope the parents aren't as judgemental as you OP. You have no idea the challenges people are facing in their home life and in the classroom.

Hey 😆 why won’t you come and join the teaching work force as you make it sound so glamorous and easy money🤣🤣🤣
Here’s the deal:
come an hour before you’re meant start then at stay for least an hour after your shift- sorry there is no extra money for these extra hours that you will be doing as you’re expected to do it for free.
You also need take some work home on weekdays and weekends because you won’t finish your work at work even if you skip your nonexistent breaks.
Perks of the job:
You will learn to hold your bladder for at least 5/6 at a time if not more.
Become fully trained in social services
Become an expert in first aid, pastoral needs, special needs
become fully trained in managing violence in the classroom
you will become an expert in multitasking

all for less than minimum wage. What’s not to like?

I think you’re being unreasonable. My daughter had job-sharing teachers when she was in reception. One did two days a week, the other three. There wasn’t a problem at all.

Both teachers are spending equal amounts of time with your child. I can’t believe that spending 2.5 school days a week with a child insufficient for them to get to know them.

It's hard enough for schools to recruit teachers at the moment. If you remove any flexibility, the result will be schools being understaffed.

It sounds like an issue with this individual teacher rather than with the principle of job-sharing.

My youngest had two job sharing teachers and one was so much better than the other so I wasn’t a fan of it.

Year 2, so same teacher Mon-Wed am, then Wed pm-Fri every week? I think the teachers probably know the children really well. I have a class for 8xhour lessons a fortnight and I think I know them extremely well. I could write their full names, who gets extra reading practice, if they’re PP, their particular needs, the support they get from SEND, if they have siblings/cousins in the school, what they’re like with homework across the school, behaviour across the school, any barriers to learning. I know where they last went on holiday and what they thought of it. I see them far less than your child’s teachers see them, so I honestly can’t believe the teachers don’t know the children really well.

If you’re that concerned then YOU pay to do a degree, pay to train to be a teacher, teach full-time, make time for your own life and family, get paid less than minimum wage (taking into account all the extra the hours you have to work), be the scapegoat for all of the country’s problems (they should teach that in schools etc), get constantly judged by parents, league tables and ofsted, deal with constant behaviour issues and work to impossible expectations…THEN come back with an informed perspective and opinion. Have a day off.