Nqt?

[SingleDadio]

Hi
I'm a deputy head of a large primary school but after advice from non-teacher parents.
My daughter is currently in Year 3 and her techer is pregnant and going on maternity leave from January. The school have told us that an nqt has been appointed. Not a problem normally however her teachers so far have all been NQT's:
Reception: NQT job share 4 days with 1 day for foundation leader
Year one: nqt all year
Year two: nqt all year
Year three: experienced teacher, but now moving to an nqt.

I'm concerned about this again. Am I right to be or is this just because I'm part of the profession?

I understand things can be interpreted in different ways on the internet. I didn't mean it as implied. I meant that it wouldn't happen in my school. A child wouldn't have an NQT multiple years in a row. However, if this did happen (although I wouldn't be happy because I think children really benefit from ebing taught by teachers at various points in their career) I would 'appear' to support it in front of parents and children, but would question it as a member of the leadership team.

Aren't the concerns the following?:

1. Too many NQTs may mean the school isn't attracting experienced people for some reasons - is there something about its reputation the OP doesn't know about?... or does it just like the enthusiasm of the NQTs?

2. The NQT may not only be inexperienced, but also poorly supported and useless, and no way of testing this out by asking around, because NQT hasn't taught anywhere else, before.

My experience of an NQT was entirely positive - I was rather bewildered by her intense desire to do the right thing and not let anyone down. She very accurately spotted my ds1's problems within weeks of him entering the classroom, despite these not having been pointed out to me at all when he was in reception (even though I kept dropping hints). She was then willing to keep going back and discussing this and trying to understand better - never too busy to talk, however long it took.

My experience of supply teachers has also been overwhelmingly positive: I have watched a supply teacher give a lesson without even realising she'd been given virtually no notice. And another supply teacher (both regulars at the school, more or less permanent supply teachers, iyswim, which I guess is why the quality is good) who filled in for a longer period of time and equally seemed to develop a great understanding for and empathy with my ds1 in a very short space of time.

I therefore wouldn't worry, but would just keep an eye out, just as I would with any person teaching my child.

ps sometimes lots of NQTs can be a sign of stuff going on in the SLT, but not always negative stuff... It could be that the school is working very hard to improve, having got stuck in a rut for years. Sometimes, the old-timers, who liked the pleasant atmosphere of the old days, don't like the fact that everyone has upped the pace, not because they disagree with the SLT but because they no longer feel they've got the energy to get involved to the level that is now being required of them. They therefore choose to leave and enthusiastic new people come in. For a few years, the large number of NQTs may cause issues, but in the long run, it is positive, and the improved management structure and energy of the SLT generally makes up for the inexperience of the NQTs.

The school may not want to employ experienced teachers because they are more expensive in these times of budget cuts.

Oh, mrz, the words of a cynical old timer! Could be that, too, though, of course. Hence needing to keep an open mind - you can't condemn someone before they've had a chance to prove their worth.

There are some excellent NQTs and cheap

Op, your post suggests that:

1. you have had bad experiences with NQT's in the past in your school

2. Your childs has been taught badly by NQT's in the past.

3. You have a shocking double standard for your kid verses other people's children.

As a teacher, I agree that experience in a teacher is important however, your post suggests that all NQT's are poor and will let your child down. I do not understand this assumption and I do not understand why a deputy head would need to ask these questions. Surely you are experienced enough to draw conclusions about the individual teachers who teach your child?

Please explain more clearly...

Not at all. He is clearly saying he doesn't think a child should get an NQT every year. That they should have mixed experiences.

He is also saying in his school they wouldn't assign the same class a NQT multiple times in a row.

It seems to me a perfectly valid approach. NQTs have strengths and weaknesses - and so do experienced teachers. It has got to be better for kids to have a mix of personalities and approaches.

Really, I didn't read it like that at all.

I agree with you about mixed experiences but wouldn't havve specifically linked it to the NQT issue unless the teaching experience had already been flawed there.

The is also a suggestion here that you would have different standards as a deputy than you would as a parent. Surely not??

Thanks IndigoBell and Rabbitstew, that is exactly what I mean. I have an issue with a class always having an NQT every year and would like a mixture of NQT and experienced teachers to teach my children throughout primary school. I am not implying that NQT's are bad teachers, far from it in fact. I've worked with many enthusiastic NQT's, but I do feel that experienced teachers have just that experience! NQT's often spend the first year of teaching trying things out, seeing what works in their class. An experienced teacher will generally have an idea of this. I would just like for my child to be taught by a range of teachers, not just NQT's but also experienced. I will of course judge this teacher on her merits and see how my child gets on.

As for double standards in my own school, that is in correct. I am stating that a class wouldn't ever have NQT after NQT for their entire school life, as again I feel a range of teachers at a range of career levels is good for pupils to experience.

SD - you are right to be concerned. My kids previous school was very bad (partly because it employed almost exclusively inexperienced teachers) - and I found that parents who were teachers refused to see any problems. I think they were more concerned about 'supporting' the school, and forgot to apply common sense.

I can give you loads of examples of how having a run of NQTs hurt my kids. For Example my DS had a variety of undiagnosed SN. He had very bad visual perception problems and could only see the board when he was directly in front of it. So he kept getting out of his seat to walk to the board.

His NQT put it all down to bad behaviour. It never occurred to her it could be an eyesight problem. Whereas I think to a more experienced teacher there was a pretty good chance they would have at least raised concerns about his eyesight.

My DD failed to make any progress at all. And again the NQT just put it all down to 'being in the normal spectrum'.

Once they were accusing my DS of being naughty AND my DD of being 'slow' I finally realised there was a problem with the school and moved them.

One term in at they are new school, they are both totally different kids. Because the teaching is better, the SENCOs better and the SLTs better. In fact the TAs and Dinner Ladies are also better...

So, I'm not sure what advice you wanted from this thread. But if you have concerns over the quality of the SLT and teachers in your kids school. You need to do what everyone else does - move them to a better school :)

Good luck.

fair enough, I can see the op has explained what he meant and that's fine. I am still assuming that there has been probles his kids have had with previous NQT's to warrant concern.....

sorry problems long day!!