Year 6. Two teachers.

[Babyroobs]

So my dd is going into yr 6 in September and will be in a class which is split between 2 teachers both working part time. I can't help feeling that in such an important year this could be detrimental to the kid's learning. Does anyone have any experience of this or could help put my mind at reSt?

My DD had this in her last primary year in Scotland and it wasn't a problem at all- infact it was a bonus as I think this age group is quite demanding to teach so the change from teacher to teacher kept the kids "alert".

Questions I would ask is how the work will be split between the two teachers. We were told upfront that Miss X /Mrs Y would be teaching and that for example Miss X would cover all the Maths, sciences in her afternoons and miss Y would do all the English and history type stuff.

It was good for the kids as there was a basic level timetable for them to follow so they could see which day was spelling test day or when the " homework return day" was so it was a good intro to senior school getting them used to having different teachers.

It was clear that the two teachers interacted well ( wrote reports together, joint appt at parents evening and clearly got on well) which probably is a key factor too.

We had this.

In year seven they have tons of teachers so I thought it was a good introduction.

My children had this arrangement in years 5 & 6 in a very small village school where the head teacher (their class teacher) was 0.5 teaching and 0.5 admin so the children had a part time teacher as well.
My experience of this arrangement was wholly positive as preparation for secondary school where there will be many different teachers. However I would reiterate PP's point that the two teachers sharing the class need to liaise and, ideally, get on!

We have this. But it's not teachers job sharing but when they have been split into ability groups the 2 teachers teach different group.

I can't see why it would be detrimental. They often have different teachers for music, PE and MFL even in primary.

You can't have it all ways - do you want flexible working for women once they have children? Would you like to see more women enabled to access work after maternity? Then this is one of the effects of that policy.

Our DS is just finishing year 6 in this situation. Far from being disruptive its been the best year ever! Both ladies work together supremely well with one a math and it specialist, the other an English specialist. The class have thrived, both have offered great support to the class from their own areas and it shows in the class achievements with about a third taking level 6 papers. Hopefully your duo will balance as ours have and offer more in combination than you might get from a single lone teacher. They also covered each others sickness so the class had great continuity

DD had this, also had good SAT results, so no problem evident. Jobshare is quite common up at our school. You get to see both at parents' eve & it's interesting to hear them discuss your child.

Thanks all, great to read so many positive responses. I think the two teachers will have different areas of responsibility from what my dd has said. I guess it's just not a situation that I've experienced so far with any of my other older children, but you have all reassured me that it can be a positive thing.

Like many people, I was worried about it when my child had a job share in Y2. However one of the teachers is now a Head. They were superb. Where I am now a governor, we have 3 classes with job shares. All women returners and all superb teachers. We feel it is better to agree to this rather than try and recruit to a vacancy should they be able to get a part-time job elsewhere and leave us. Quite often the part time teachers will come back full time later on in their careers but you need to keep your best teachers if you can, and that may mean hob shares. It also tends to avoid personality clashes with child and a single teacher. In year 6 we use sets for subjects so the children get a different diet of teachers anyway to maximise progress and SATs results. If these teachers are good, it will be a positive experience.

My DD has been in this situation during her Y6.
The teachers divided the workload effectively with different topics being taught by different teachers as far as possible. The children are also in ability groups for Maths, SPAG and Literacy work, so they move to different classrooms and are taught by different teachers for those topics too.
TBH it doesn't seem to have had a detrimental effect and it actually seems that it might have been a very good grounding in working with lots of different teachers in secondary school - although we'll have to wait for Sept to be sure.

Sounds like a perfect introduction to secondary school, more schools should do it. I would be delighted if ours did.

A huge advantage! Instead of one demoralised teacher with a massive workload, and no life,you get two so that they come in refreshed and enthusiastic. They generally do more than they should so it is win/win for the children. It is only a problem if you get two teachers who don't get on, operate and liaise, but that is rare.
It will happen more and more - it isn't just teachers with young families- it is increasingly older teachers too who can afford to do less hours.
I really wouldn't worry.

My DD currently has this situation in year 6 and it's been great. Both teachers seem to work together brilliantly.

One teacher always teaches English and the other always Maths + science. The routine is Maths in the morning (teacher 1) and English in the afternoon (teacher 2). Both teach 1 full day a week and the girls don't have either Maths or English that day. They have different teachers for French, PE, Music and Geography anyway.

The key is how good they are at communicating really. Also I think it does make a different how their day/week is split. Previously we had 2 teachers who shared the week up Mon-Wed am + Wed PM-Fri, which just didn't work the same as they both taught English and Maths.

Generally they only do a job share if they work well together. I have done them, but have been very selective about who I work with. It has to be someone with a similar style in my case.

In the private sector this is really normal, DD had 12 different teachers for year 6, all specialists. Her 'class' teacher took her for geography and English (the teacher's specialism). It has been far, far better year than the years with a single teacher for most subjects.