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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

dd has a teacher job share in yr 2 [sad]

38 replies

nigelslaterfan · 09/07/2015 13:31

I think the schools have to give teachers the option to go part time or they leave.

I know job shares can work of course, but my experience in yr 1 is that it worked very poorly. The kids seemed really confused by it. Maybe it's easier when they're older or if they had the imagination to at least put a very strong LSA in there for the full week.

The teacher we have for three days is very able and I don't know about the 2 sayer.

I wonder how often a jobshare works really well in your experience as parent or teacher?

I mean, I wish them well but my experience has been it kind of sucks for the kids.

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HumphreyCobbler · 09/07/2015 13:32

My experience as a parent is that it worked really well. I have seen it work well from the other side of the fence too.

Original poster

nigelslaterfan · 09/07/2015 13:36

were they exceptionally able teachers? I've heard it's all about how able the teachers are, how good a relationship they have and whether they communicate well.

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deepdarkwood · 09/07/2015 13:38

Ds had a job share in Y2. Definately his best teaching year in infant school - two highly experienced mums who totally got the age group as they had one at home. Dd had a job share in reception - deputy head and a highly experienced teacher returning from maternity leave. Guess what - best year in infant school (& indeed to date - she is now 9)

Of course sometimes it doesn't work & is totally dependent on the communication & personalities involved - but I've had more bad experiences with single teachers than job share, tbh.

Original poster

nigelslaterfan · 09/07/2015 13:40

thanks a lot, very encouraging.

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WaltJunior · 09/07/2015 13:40

I was worried (yr2) but turned out brilliantly dd loved both and each teacher taught different things so more variety. They had their own books so they never overlapped. 'Twas great

PerspicaciaTick · 09/07/2015 13:40

In my experience it has worked very well. I'm not sure how "exceptional" the teachers were, although they were good at communicating and the leadership team clearly fully supported the set up.
Most children in our school will experience a jobshare teaching arrangement at some stage (often more than once) - IME they take it in their stride.

NanFlanders · 09/07/2015 13:40

My dd has had this a couple of times (Yr 2 and Yr 4). I didn't notice any particular problems

deepdarkwood · 09/07/2015 13:40

x-post :-) I think you're right on all counts - but it's hardly surprising that more experienced teachers find it easier - and ime job shares often are experienced teachers juggling family & work (although, ds's second best year was with an NQT - so never safe to make assumptions!)

HelenaJustina · 09/07/2015 13:41

Only positive experiences here too, DC1 had a 2/3 day split job share in year1 and coped absolutely fine. All about how well the teachers communicate with each other and whether one teaching style compliments the other.

JasperDamerel · 09/07/2015 13:41

I've found that it works very well. The class can take advantages of the different strengths of each teacher, and it makes it much easier for children who have a personality clash with one of the teachers. Our school takes quite steam approach to teaching anyway, with specialist teaching for PE and RE, and a fair degree of mixing between classes, and subject leaders doing work with all year groups.

Theoldshmoo · 09/07/2015 13:42

It worked Ok in year 1 for Ds but Yr 2 has been a total mish mash and definitely a lack of communication.

I'm really annoyed that they are now having another 2 teachers on job share for Year 3.

Lots of parents on MN seem to like it so maybe we've just been a bit unlucky at our school with the combinations.

BaronessBomburst · 09/07/2015 13:42

We've just had the class lists for 2015-2016. Every single class, from the four year olds to the twelve year olds, has two teachers. It works fine.
The teachers have different strengths and form different opinions about the children.

JonSnowKnowsNowt · 09/07/2015 13:42

DS is just finishing Y2 with job-share teachers. One did 2 days a week and the other 3. They had very good communication, and from a parent's perspective, when I spoke to one teacher about something, the information always got passed to the other, so I felt they were working as one. They were both experienced teachers, and one had been doing this job-share for a long time (with a different teacher who went full-time at the same time that the other job-share teacher came back from maternity and went part-time) so had ironed out a lot of issues, I think.

I do think it depends a lot on the teachers themselves, the school (how well organised and structured it is) and the set up. But that's probably true with just one full-time teacher too.

JonSnowKnowsNowt · 09/07/2015 13:43

Only bad thing is that there are 2 teachers to write cards for / contribute to presents for at the end of the year!

JasperDamerel · 09/07/2015 13:51

Yes, with the cards. DS (reception) has to do cards for three teachers, and four TAs, which is a lot of writing for a five year old.

TheNumberfaker · 09/07/2015 14:01

DD1 had a job share in Reception. Very different but both superb teachers. We took the view that each teacher had their own strengths (and no weaknesses! ) so a massive plus. She's about to have one of them again for a different job share and we are over the moon I squealed for joy when I found out !

AalyaSecura · 09/07/2015 14:11

Our experience (y2 also) was that it was absolutely fine from ds's perspective, they each had different curriculum strengths and deliberately played to them. Parents evenings were a bit weird with each saying slightly different things whilst trying to present a united front. We didn't have any issues to raise as parents through the year, that might have been my one area of possible concern, as continuity over pastoral issues is a bit harder to manage I suspect.

littleducks · 09/07/2015 14:15

dd had an official job share in reception. I was horrified as she was my pfb but it was brilliant, well managed and good communication.

Lots of teachers don't do a full week in the class though at our school. Some have additional responsibilities (deputy head/Co ordinators of things). And several are part time. RE/PE/Music/French are taught by specialist teachers (who get to know the kids well as they teach them for several years). So even in a non job share class they spemd a day or 1.5 being taught by others.

FrozenAteMyDaughter · 09/07/2015 14:54

DD has had a job share in Reception this year and, from what I have seen, it has worked very well. DD is totally unfazed by it and seems equally happy with both teachers. Both often go on school trips etc, they were both in for parents'evenings. They are very experienced teachers though and have worked together for a number of years I think so that may have helped.

I honestly wouldn't worry about it, unless you have some specific issue with either of the teachers involved.

Millymollymama · 09/07/2015 15:50

I think most children, even young ones, are not confused by a job share. Mine had it in year 2 and in the school where I am a governor, 3 classes have a job share. It is a fact that some areas find recruiting top class teachers extremely difficult, so you are better off retaining the ones you know will do a good job even if it is part time. One of my DDs former job share teachers is now a Head teacher. She worked brilliantly during her job share years and is very much full time now her children are older. What is wrong with that?

There is no reason why schools cannot be family friendly employers. However I do agree that the teachers need a handover time built into their contracts so they communicate effectively. If a teacher is poor, they will be poor in any scenario. You could argue it would be worse to have them full time!

lolalotta · 09/07/2015 17:28

My DD is just finishing reception year which was a job share, very very happy, it couldn't have gone better.

Emochild · 09/07/2015 18:34

Dd had a job share in yr 1 and again in yr 6

Yr 1 -very experienced teacher set in their ways and an NQT
Total nightmare, older teacher quite clearly had no respect for younger teacher who was enthusiastic and full of excellent ideas -which were all squashed by the older teacher
They both left at the end of that year

Yr 6 has been absolutely fantastic, really strong team, good communication between all the staff (2 form entry, 3 teachers and 2 TAs) and the children as a group have done really well

MrsHathaway · 09/07/2015 18:47

Ours has been excellent. One was a maths specialist and one a senior teacher.

It's going to be weird going back to just one!

CandOdad · 09/07/2015 18:50

Ours this year has worked fine. Both were at parents evening and each taught specific areas so there was no confusion amount things.

Nowfeeltheneedtopost · 09/07/2015 18:53

My DD is just finishing y3 and she has had 2 teachers job sharing this year. It's been a hugely positive and she has really enjoyed the year. Both teachers attended the two parents evenings we've had and it was fascinating to see that they both knew my DD so well but also brought different insights. To be honest, I wanted it to work because I work part time and think that it is really important that flexible working arrangements be offered and be shown to work. But even coming at it with a positive frame of mind, I've been really impressed with how well it has worked. I shall be disappointed that my DD is returning to just one teacher next year.

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