Headteacher won't disclose qualifications of TA

[AStreetcarNamedBob]

My son starts reception in January and it's a long story but the "teacher" is actually a TA

I've emailed the head master and asked to know what Mrs Xs qualifications are (ie QTS or NVQ level 3 or whatever)

He has refused to disclose saying that he won't discuss his staff without a good reason. Apparently the fact that my son is going to be entrusted to this women for 6 hours a day is not a good enough reason to be told her qualifications.

Would this surprise you? Does it seem an unreasonable question. The head is acting as shocked as if I were asking something personal like what colour pants she wears.

All I wanted was a response saying Mrs X holds a level X in early years studies or something.

And I know some unqualified TAs with a few months experience who are delivering interventions and in their own words are totally lost!

Do you think it would be fair to ask those TAs to take full responsibility for a class on their pay fairy or do you like me think that's exploitation

It may be that she has a teaching degree but has chosen to be working as a TA.
A friend of mine is a qualified staff nurse and chooses to work as a HCA

And nurses have more years of training than teachers.

Nurses in the UK do the work that many doctors do abroad. For example I had a coil fitted by a nurse in the UK but when in Brazil or USA it had to be a gynecologist. Would I have been fair to tell the nurse she couldn't do that job because she's not a gynecologist?

We're not talking about nurses doing surgery, I wouldn't want a GP to do surgery either, they're not qualified.

You underestimate the value of experience. Many nurses do not ever get the experience of brain surgery, but TAs spend everyday dealing with classroom management, the national curriculum, teaching reading to groups of children. So they have more hands on practice.

Teaching qualifications are worth the paper they are written on, but it's not rocket science. Many TAs can easily train up to be teachers.

I do agree Mrz that TAs can be exploited....

However, have had 'career' in previous life and am qualified at MA level. TAs intelligence or life experience should not be belittled....

Absolutely not. Should those things entitle someone to start a different career without a proper qualification though?

I want qualified teachers teaching my children; I struggle to believe that this is unreasonable!

And nurses have more years of training than teachers.

Do they?

And yes i agree with that. If a TA is taking a class and not as part of her teacher training then she should be getting a wage that reflects that.

Mmmm- some TAs train 'on the job'.
Is that a bad thing?

I did feel dropped in the deep end as a new TA.
However, old enough and ugly enough to ask for help/ demand support.
I do wonder if others flounder on the job and worried to ask for help?
I do not teach classes I hasten to add and if asked, would refuse to do so!
Again, being an old git probably gives me more confidence to do that....

Yes roll on nursing is now a graduate profession

If it's a small island community what are the alternatives? Is there a qualified teacher that could be employed if you took this further and found it to be illegal

The nature of many small, rural schools is that there isn't the funding to employ qualified teachers for each year group, or the space to teach groups of 30 mixed aged DCs in the same room ( even if that was desirable).

The kind of arrangement the OP describes; where a single, mixed YR/1/2 class is split into different spaces within the school, led by TAs and overseen by a teacher, is a solution often recommended by School Improvement Teams at a LA/strategic level.
Planning and assessment is done by the QT, with regular interaction and oversight.

On paper, they are all one class -split across two rooms. It helps to settle DCs, and parents, if they have a named adult "in charge" of a room - but that adult is not exclusively responsible for the planning, delivery and assessment of education for the DCs in the class.

If I have a choice, I would choose very experienced TA over my ds's NQT.
We recently had parents' eve. I couldn't understand 90+ % of what she said. She talks like a teenager. First, I thought it was because of me being foreigner, but my dh confirmed he couldn't understand either. And she confirmed that my ds is actually not learning anything new this year academically, because they can't provide any differentiation.

On paper the law says that they should be taught by a qualified teacher ( and clarifies that by saying working directly with the pupils ie not in a different room)

clarifies that by saying working directly with the pupils ie not in a different room

mrz. Which bits of that are quoted from the legislation, and which are your interpretation?

I know it states "working directly with pupils" but has it been amended to include the words "not in a different room" or is that your interpretation?

I'm surprised that LAs are recommending it as a strategy, if it's written very clearly like that.

It's from the statory EYFS curriculum

I think the ie was a clue pretty 😉

Perhaps you can explain how you can be working directly with the class if you are in another room? I'm open to other interpretations

The ie could have been your own addition. But, fair enough, if the legislation states that then the only area for clarification is what constitutes "the same room".

Is a space capable of being divided by a screen considered to be one room or two?

The ie was my own addition 😶

If you are dividing a space with a screen doesn't that contradict your point about nit being able to combine the two groups due to room size?

If the screen/division has been in place for many years, and it costs a lot of money to safety remodel the classroom, then it may be "better" for the screen to remain in place.

I'm not saying that the situation the OP describes is desirable - but, it is a solution that isn't unknown in other similar schools and is (afaik) viewed as complying with the law. The OP can't actually know how much time the QT spends with the yrR pupils.

Some schools with this arrangement do well. In this case, the school is not performing well. If the EYFS has been deemed inadequate, then the recommendation may be to review this arrangement. The reality is that the school could close if that was the only way of improving standards. I'm guessing that the outcry from parents if the school closes would be louder than objections to the teaching arrangements for yrR.

You said capable of being dividedby a screen.. Not already permanently divided by something that requires major construction to demolish.

mrz apologies for not being as clear as necessary.

There are a lot of permutations between permanently divided by a wall and one single space - I've seen some bizzare Heath Robinson arrangements in my time!

In any event, the point stands. It's not unique to the OPs school and if it is successfully challenged it could threaten the viability of the school.

Which, of course, may not be a bad thing in the long term if standards have been low for many years but makes things very difficult for the existing community.

If the scenario you describe threatens the viability of the school there are far bigger concerns regarding financial management of the school to deal with.