Dd's P1 teacher "doesn't work Fridays" is this a problem?

[tissy]

Dd came home from her second ever day at school yesterday and announced that Mrs M won't be in tomorrow, as she doesn't work Fridays. Sure enough, Mrs M didn't appear to be in evidence today, there was another lady in charge before and after school- don't know if she was a teacher or not, and don't yet know if it will be the same "other lady" each Friday. Don't know if I should be worried or not- everyone says Mrs M is "lovely", but is lovely 4 days a week enough? They surely have a qualified teacher around all day, don't they?

Anyone else been in this position, and can reassure a nervous first-and-only-time mum?

Ds had two teachers in Reception at his first school, and will be in that situation again in Y1. As long as the days worked are consistent, that the same teacher takes the class on the main teacher's off day, and that there is some overlap between the teachers so that they can consult each other, I don't see that there should be any problem. Ds coped fine with having two teachers - and he's a child who doesn't like chopping and changing.

BTW, your dd may not quite have her facts straight, and this may have been a one-off, or only for a few weeks.

Job shares seem really common now - and not a problem! My ds had 2 teachers in P1, and again in P2.

my friend has just become a teacher again after having her children and she will be teaching only on a friday. teachers can job share too

I would have expected to be told by the school about this arrangement before the start of the term and who would be in charge of the class when the teacher is absent. Go in and ask them you have the right to know who is teaching your child and how long it is to go on for. Either go and ask the head or ask your childs permanent teacher whats going on.

two of my children had job share teachers. Dd1 when she was in Primary 6 & 7 and it worked really well. Ds had 2 job share teachers when he started in Primary 1 and it was a complete and utter disaster as teacher 1 was off for about 6 months sick, teacher 2 was off from Christmas to the end of the year on maternity leave and they were left to a selection of supply and 'fill-in' teachers from other members of staff. I really feel that it was very poorly managed and the poor children had very little sense of stability in their first year at school. I might be somewhat influenced by this bad experience but I'm not really that sure that job shares are a good idea at this early stage of children's school life.
I also think that, if your dd does have teachers who job-share or work part-time or whatever, you as the parents should have been fully informed about it. It sounds as though you're possibly been left a little in the dark.
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My ds had job share teachers - was absolutely fine. However the school informed us that this would be the case at one of the induction days in June/July last year. I would be a bit annoyed if we had not been told until the day before, especially a reception class when everything is new to the children.

I'm a teacher (Y2) and on mat leave until september. I applied for flexible working hours at my school and was flatly refused.

However, most schools in the town have at least one jobshare class.

The pros are that the class has the input of 2 professional people, each has more energy and motivation, the assessments and record keeping is split, so therefore more can be done in more detail etc etc. Plus it actually aids continuity as now teachers have 10% ppa time a week, supplies or TAs are used to cover anyway, whereas jobshare teachers will cover each other, each would cover each others sickness/childcare emergencies and when one is on a course.

Therefore that class will only have 2 teachers (mostly) in that year, whereas a 'normal' class may have many.

This is becoming quite commonwith ppa time and flexible working.

If your dd's teacher has ppa time on a Friday (I know of a few primary school teachers who do) then the class may be covered by either a teaching assistant or cover supervisor who supervises work left by the class teacher.

it may not necessarily be a qualified teacher who covers the class.

It may be different in Scotland, but at ds1's school in England all the teachers have a certain amount of 'non-contact preparation time' when the children had a different teacher. In ds1's case, this was every Wednesday morning. I think it's quite standard here. And actually prepared him quite well for if his teacher was ever ill, and unexpectedly away!

I've been in a jobshare for the past 4 years only working Fridays - it's never been a prob - is in special school so appreciate continuity for the students' sake.....has worked well in my opinion

Does your dd's school finish at lunch time on Friday? Our school shuts at 12.05 and as they have assembly and Golden Time on Friday they get bog-all work done anyway. If not then I guess the issue is whether it is really a job share (which should be fine, dd had one last year) or whether the other lady is a TA.

am pretty sure the TA wouldn't ahve the class for an entire day, or even morning

is TA a teachers assistant. And do you mean that they actually are in charge of the class if the teacher is off. I so hope I've picked you up wrongly.

[fingers very much crossed]

My DS had 2 teachers in the reception class (one large class) then a maternity cover teacher in Y1 for the first couple of months till his teacher came back. In Yr 2 he will have 2 p/t teachers. It's never been a problem and can't see it being one this year. Kids can cope with it as long as the teachers are good. How else could teachers do jobshares?

Yes, MTA, teaching assistants do now regularly cover whole days in a Primary school. Some schools employ 'higher level teaching assistants' (hlta) for this role who have more specialised teaching knowledge, some schools (mainly secondary) employ 'cover supervisors'. Some schools will only employ qualified teachers to cover classes. A friend's school had a primary class teacher off for 3 weeks having an op in hospital. The whole period was covered by the class TA, with a bit of extra TA support (so sometimes there were two of them). It's more common than perhaps you realised.

DD had 2 teachers doing job share for P1 (reception) and it seemed to work well, they did 2/3days each and overlapped on one day normally, they covered each other when ill so it was great for continuity.