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.

good teachers have a good idea of the kids in the first week. They don’t need to be full time to know and understand the kids.

the children don’t need the same teacher
they do need motivated and excellent quality teachers

My kids had a few job share teachers through primary, 1 I remember was older and heading for retirement so went Pt the other came back after maternity leave so it probably suited both women and it didn't have any detrimental affect on the dc time in that class.

My DS has had a job shared class since the age of 5, he is now almost at the end of primary. This is on top of maternity leave for one teacher. I think that it would have been better for him to have one consistent teacher each year BUT his teachers are good at their jobs. If they left teaching due to lack of flexibility then he could end up with a much poorer full time teacher. I also do not think it is wrong or selfish of his teachers to choose to work part time. I have no idea about their personal circumstances and frankly it's none of my business, but bear in mind some people need to be part time due to disabilty, caring responsibilities etc.

Imagine the shortage of teachers if the opportunity to job share was removed.

I don't think jobshare is the problem but perhaps those teachers and the parents evening. My DS had teachers who job shared in y1 and y4. They worked the exact same schedule as yours and worked fantastically together, would do handovers each Wednesday, a catch up call each evening (even when the one wasn't working). They knew the children very well.

The headteacher knew all the 300ish pupils in the school by name.

I’ve had a number of job shares as a teacher - from Early Years to Y2. I always knew the children perfectly well, not much difference to when I was full time.

I suspect your experience of parents evening had more to do with just the nature of parents evening itself, it’s a slog and you also have to walk quite a fine line because the appointments are so short. What you can and can’t say is also often set by the school/ SMT. You can’t get into the finer details of how much they love Harry Potter but were scared of the cows on the farm trip etc because you’ve got 5 minutes and a queue of other parents outside.

Of course, there are teachers who don’t do so well at parents evening but are great with the kids, and there are teachers who don’t actually know their class that well, and some children do sometimes get overlooked - and those are issues, I don’t think that means that all job shares are terrible.

In my case, my job shares were because I was caring for a terminally ill parent, selfish woman that I am.

Worth pointing out (it may have been already) the huge retention crisis within the profession and the biggest demographic leaving is mothers between 30 and 40. I’m one of them. Something has to give if you want children to have qualified teachers in their classroom at all - many schools already have TAs/ other agencies covering increasing amounts of classroom time.

As a teacher 2 days a week it is perfectly possible to know the children very well in that time..job share teachers work just as hard as full time teachers (actually harder as we generally aren't scheduled to be together so have to do this in our own time ) teachers are people too with young children and responsibilities and therefore should have the same employment rights. Good systems in a good school will ensure a smooth transition between each teacher. If you have concerns about the teacher not knowing your child please raise them but don't blame job sharing.

My son has job share teachers this year. One does Mon - Wed. The other does Thursday and Friday.

They are both lovely and wonderful. My son adores them both. The kids also have a TA, the same one who does Mon - Fri. So there's consistency there. But anyway, it works fine because both teachers are great.

I was concerned about this when my DD went into a class with 2 teachers job sharing. It was actually brilliant as each bought their own specialism and the kids got a fresh enthusiastic teacher halfway through the week. At parents evening they worked brilliantly together. DD absolutely loved that year.

The previous year she had a really ineffective teacher that didn’t seem to engage with the class at all and had barely anything to say at parents evening. Very uninspiring.

So basically I concur with everyone that says it’s a teacher problem rather than a job share problem. ☺️

Children do not NEED one full-time teacher.

Let me guess, you always believe the sole focus of society should be on people your age or the current ages of your children?

I did a great job share with P2 classes for years. My partner did Monday and Tuesday and I did the rest oc the week. Of course we both knew the children - very well in fact.

In some ways it was better than having one teacher because we taught our strength subjects. She did art and science which I'm useless at and I did music, RE and French.

YABU and not just because it's the teacher's choice to be part-time.

The average secondary school teacher teaches between 200 & 300 children a week. And still is expected to know their names.

30 children? Laughable that you'd think they don't know the children's names.

And yes, we do need to prioritise the needs of teachers. There is already a teacher recruitment/retention crisis. If something isn't done, you may well end up with unqualified instructors / TAs, or long-term supply staff teaching your children.

Wise up.

What will you do when your child is 11 and goes to secondary and has 14 different teachers @blowingBubblesinABreeze?

So you are saying teachers shouldn't choose a job that suits their needs? Righty ho 😡

My 7 year old is in Yr 3 and she's had teachers doing job shares in nursery, yr1 and currently in yr3. All of her teachers have known her - and I assume the other kids - very well and having 2 teachers hasnt phased her at all - there's generally been one that she prefers out of the two but this isn't an issue. Even disregarding the teacher's needs (🙄), for the kids I think a happy teacher with a bit of work/life balance who will hopefully therefore stay in the role is worth far, far more than a class having the same teacher for the full week.

Yes, a consistent TA really helps too,

The best it’s worked for me is when the school paid us both an additional afternoon to have our PPA together (class had PE and drama taught by external providers in this time) and really talk through things, plan together etc. I can’t imagine many schools having the budget for this nowadays though.

And yes, it was bloody hard work with its own set of unique challenges.

In my experience UK state school education is generally diabolical, but job sharing is not one of the problems.

DD1 had job-share teachers in both Reception and Year 1, and DD2 the same in Reception. All were 4:1 days per week. We had absolutely no issues; on the contrary, it was often beneficial to have a second perspective.

It was far preferable to the FT one DD1 has currently in Year 3 who hides in the classroom at drop-off and pick-up rather than come to the door, and as a consequence doesn't know any of the parents. Meanwhile, some not inconsiderable issues were being raised weeks afterwards for the first time at parents' evening last week, whereas previous teachers would have flagged them to parents that day.

How dare teachers have a life outside school. Maybe we could petition to go back to the system where women had to leave teaching if they married. Then we could have spinsters who only dedicated their lives to the job. Or better still religious schools with nuns - no worry about having any maternity leave or wanting a life outside the job.

In all jobs you get people who aren’t giving it their all whether part time or full time. This sounds like an individual problem not a job share one. By this time of year of course a teacher should know the students even if only teaching them one day a week.

My child has been in classes where the teachers job share for the past two years.
It seems to be ok and the teachers know a lot about my child and are very invested. I think it works fine. My child also hates change and likes routine but they have a clear board showing which teachers are doing which days up in the classroom.
I would rather good teachers be able to stay in the profession after they have their own children than lose them completely.
The issue might be the actual teacher in your case.
My other son had some great teachers and some not so good over the years. He thrived in the good teachers classes but ended up behind when he had a teacher that wasnt as invested.
But its a luck of the drae, teachers are just people doing a job, some are better at their jobs than others. Theres not a lot you can do about it unless you go private and even then you can still get a mixes array of teaching standards from different teachers.

How entitled.

How is this any different to having specific subject teacher that teach your child for a few hours a week? YABU

Perhaps you could home educate.

YABU. My DD had a job share in Reception, 3 days/2days and both teachers were wonderful, had many years of working together behind them. They both knew my DD inside out and she adored both. The problem is your specific teacher(s) and not job sharing.

You think that another woman who's employer is happy to allow her to work in a job share basis should decline the opportunity and either not work at all, or do more hours than she wishes to, simply because it's your preference for your child? You think its her responsibility to do what you consider best for your child above and beyond what works for her life? Are you serious?
I don't know whether you work, but if so, would you consider yourself selfish for not being present every time colleagues or clients might prefer you to be?
I get you would prefer consistency, but you must surely see that this is a matter to raise with the school leaders rather than holding an individual teacher to a standard of altruism that I very much doubt you'd meet yourself.

These teachers might just not be very good. I think what you describe is unusual, by the end of the first term.

I actually think job share in primary is a good thing. It gives children a change and is particularly useful if they have a teacher they don't click with.