Not having a teacher at all!

[eatdrinkandbemerry]

Who do you complain to if you child is only being taught by an HLTA.
Headteacher just says if you don't like it there's plenty more schools!
I'm not impressed at all it's been almost 4 months and surely it's not supposed to be that long.
I have read it's supposed Eve a short term cover not a whole maternity cover.

It's rubbish, I know. The school knows it isn't ideal. But schools have no money, long term supply is unaffordable for many and recruitment is a nightmare at the moment. I sympathise (teacher and parent)

I know many HLTAs who are better than teachers.

Do you have complaints about this individual?

If you're not happy you've been told what you can do.

I’m sure the head teacher would prefer they had a teacher too but there is a national crisis in teaching. They very probably have been unable to recruit for the position. Your MP, the minister for school and minister for education would be a good to direct your complaint.

There. Are. No. Teachers.

It doesn't matter who you complain to. If there are no teachers we can't magic one from somewhere!

We don't have any supply teachers. Students just get put on computers... y11 languages are in classes of 50

Well the HT is right. There are other schools.

It's shit but teachers are leaving.

You can take it to the governor's. But first, is it because they're not a qualified teacher or because you have an issue with the way they teach?
i can bet as a HLTA they won't want to teach the class but have no other choice, they probably know as much as the teacher but paid significantly less..

That's immaterial.

I'm a retired HoD/Faculty Head (Scottish state secondary school). Unless there is no qualified subject specialist in the school at all, the class should be getting a subject specialist for at least part of the time - that is, if the school management has any worth at all.

When I first became a P.T./HoD, my dept was short-staffed. I organised a rota so that all classes saw a subject specialist at least part of the time. The rest of the time, they were covered by staff using work that I provided.

Not all schools work that way, but they should.

So many teachers leaving, the education system needs a huge overhaul from the often toxic, harsh and unfair MATS Academies. I just hope the HLTA is being paid her worth doing a teaching role. No ideal solution, there is a whole world of issues in education and it's not going to change anytime soon.

There's fuck all the governors can do!

Just to add many HLTAs are ex teachers

The HLTA I knew had 25 years experience, I would choose her over the NQT any day. Staffing is a massive problem in schools. At this point in the year too there may be no budget for supply teachers which cost a fortune. Is your child progressing? Are the lessons being taught well?

Some schools have the entire year mapped out all held online or in a folder where the staff can plan from. Therefore the lessons plans, plenary and any differentiation is already laid out.

TAs/HLTAs/LSAs in primaries do supervisor cover in the afternoons when teachers have PPA, some schools are lucky enough to have a floating teacher who can cover it. They teach the class geography or art etc and they mark work too. Hell I used to mark work as a volunteer (with relevant qualifications that I did for fun) I also used to have some parameters in which I could assess a child's ability at something but it was laid out NQT style to make it easy to understand, ie can the child demonstrate they can summarise the plot so far?

It is the same in lots of schools, teacher retention is shit.

Many HLTAs are qualified teachers. Someone who knows the children is better than an unfamiliar supply teacher.

There is a shortage of teachers, most schools are struggling to recruit especially mid year.

HLTAs have been teaching classes for years now, usually they'll have extra time out of class, so maybe a teacher in for 1/2 days, but this is common. Education has been in crisis for a long time.

There are plenty of teachers, that’s not the problem. The problem is that they just aren’t prepared to teach in the current mess that is the English state school system.

The workload is too high, the funding is abysmal which impacts on every part of the job, behaviour is appalling and Ofsted are inconsistent, unreliable, and the potential impact they can have causes untold stress for months/years before they arrive. I will be leaving as soon as I can and don’t know any teachers who plan on staying long term. Let’s hope there is a robust recruitment plan to fill these gaps, but I have yet to see any evidence of one.

Your head either can’t find a teacher prepared to do the job or can’t afford to pay one.

@WearyAuldWumman that's not how primary schools work though. There is no rota - the teacher has their class. Expecting to take a teacher out of another class in order to cover his class for two days a week would be wild on that teacher's workload and would most likely be less beneficial than the consistency of one HLTA.

Which year group is your child in OP? Sorry to say this is now becoming more common at primary school level.

English primary schools don’t have subject teachers, they have a class teacher, who teaches their class.

Sadly true and also so many supply teachers who refuse to go to certain schools which permanent staff have left! Budget restrictions don't help of course but some Academies can't find anyone to cover due to accumulated reasons of weak management, out of control behaviour and ridiculous expectations of teaching every lesson from PowerPoints crammed full of disengaging slides of written text and copying it all. Big changes needed! Xx

My child is a teacher and is taking the whole Y11 higher level cohort in one big class of 60 in the school hall - they have only been teaching for less than 5years... because they can't recruit that subject.?

Which subject is that?

We had this situation. I wrote to my MP. He commended the school for managing well. He didnt take on board that it would be better if there were more teachers.

In a MAT unqualified teachers / instructors are becoming more normal and you would have no idea they were not fully qualified nor would you be told.

But this one isn't!
She's not following my sons sen plan and punishing him for things that are identified on his plan and not being supported!

That poor HLTA, teaching is impossible, juggling far too many balls, never ending to do list, constantly changing goals and agendas. Having to do all that for barely more than minimum wage, with virtually no training or support is utterly unacceptable. She could quit and work in a supermarket for likely more money and significantly less stress.

This is the kind of situation that MN posters such as @noblegiraffe have been warning for years will become increasingly common.

Contact your MP, the Education Secretary and the press! And think hard how you vote in the general election.