No teacher since Wednesday morning

[swedishmum]

Dd has had TAs teaching her since 10 am on Wed morning in her mixed Y5/6 class. I'm not knocking them in any way but a situation happened today that would not have arisen imo if an experienced teacher had been there. Dd was out of order to be rude - no excuse being made for that but would just like to know if any other schools operate a similar system.

Thanks

It's all part of the same problem. Admittedly dd doesn't get on with the teacher - personally I don't like the way the teacher works. She's dull and can't spell. Even so it's not ok for a class to have 60% of their week without a qualified teacher. They had a fab teacher but she is now acting head. This is turning into quite a regular event - teacher is on lots of courses.

Basically, am contemplating taking dd out - she is obviously very unhappy. Do I do it first and Home Ed in the meantime while finding the best school for her or find a new school first? My instinct says keep her home on Monday - but am worried that HE is still seen as too strange.

Thank you Christie. I've had so many niggles over the years. One thing holding me back is that I'm currently doing TP there for a specialist teacher course - though only a couple of hours a week. Will speak to my tutor - my daughter's more important than my course. I do very much get the feeling from dd (y 7 at grammar school) that other children did more - eg they did no transition work.

ok.... im just wondering... does she havea teaching assistent because her teacher is ill or something? (or have i mis read this whole thread!)

if so changing schools wont necessarily help as her next teacher may be ill and she may have an inexperianced teaching assistent to cover then as well.

BUT if you are unhappy with the school as a whole then no reaosn why you shouldnt consider changing

I would think that if the teacher is missing the mist likely explanation is that he or she is ill.

If that happens there is a limit to how much cover can be provided by other members of staff (this is law now). the reason for this is that teachers now have time set to do some preparation in school time.

I agree that ifthe TA is the class TA, they may well do better with her than with a supply teacher who doesn't know the class or children. In my experience (secondary) children are often very disruptive for supply teachers.

In many schools supply staf are now only taken on when there is long term cover reuired; for things like maternity leave.

Many secondary school now employ cover supervisors, primaries generaly don't have the budget or the need, because they are so much smaller.

It's all pre-planned absence for courses. She goes on so many that I feel it's having an unbalancing effect on the class. I quite agree about some supply teachers being inexperienced but what I don't agree with on many levels is the pre-arranged decision for a y5/6 class to have over 60% of the school week's work delivered by TAs.

How many has she been on?

I must say it sounds rather unusual, since most schools don't have that big a budget for training.

To be fair to her, though, you don't get imporvemnets without training and you can only go on courses in term time....they tend not to be run in holidays, since you would be expecting people to work more than their contracted hours.

She goes on lots and lots of courses. I feel the school is using TAs to cover them therefore creating big savings on supply teachers. There needs to be a balance between professional development and the needs of the class and I feel this amount of Inset is totally over the top. She has taken on a temporary post as acting Deputy Head (though imo lacks the academic and inter-personal skills for the job). Think many of her courses may be management related. To be a fantastic teacher you need lots of strategies to get the best from the brightest kids. This often means thinking on your feet. It is not the job of a TA to do this. I'm not surprised my dd was bored and rude last week (although I'm not letting her get away with it of course).

A lot of courses include money to pay for the supply teacher so doubt that is the reason they are usign a TA.

In some places it is very difficult to get a supply teacher - maybe they could get one. In our school we have to split the classes with photcopied worksheets to other classes. That means they don't get any teaching that day really. So to have a TA who knows the class is the better option.

However I have been reading your posts about this. You obviously have little confidence in this teacher. Perhaps a fresh start for your dd would be for the best.

All teachers are now entitled to 10% of their week out of class for ppa time. So this may account for some of the time out. This is effectively a couple of hours a week.

Swedishmum, sorry you have this worrying situation. It's hard sending your kids to school every day when you're not convinced it's the best thing for them isn't it?

I'm still agonising over the question of home edding. Both my dd and my ds tell me they're bored at school and when I see the work they've been doing I'm hardly surprised. It stands to reason that with such big classes there's an awful lot of waiting going on, especially for the brighter kids.

They also both 'eat' their school uniforms. They literally nibble the cuffs so it looks like their cardis have been left in a hamster's cage overnight. As they don't do it at home I can only assume this is part of a wider nuerosis/boredom with school.

Whereas most kids seem to fare very well at school, I really believe it's just not suitable for others.

You may remember I've gone quite far down the home ed' route in terms of research, so if you want to know anything please feel free to CAT me. I've been inspired by what I've learned so far.

DH and I were planning to de-reg at the end of this term but I've been ill so we're delaying for a bit longer.

SM, I was happy at school (mostly!) but I nibbled my jumper

I think the only things I find hard are I really like the acting head (worked with her before), used to be chair of PTFA and ds is happy in a different class - most motivated he's ever been. TBH I'm surprised more people aren't shocked by unqualified staff teaching children all week. Maybe it happens more than I thought. I know good supply isn't that easy to come by, but it doesn't make the situation OK. I'm a teacher myself. Have also taught the kids at home while we lived abroad.
I'm just concerned that my very able and enthusiastic daughter is being put off school. Off to look at schools on Monday.