If a primary teacher was moved from year 6 to year 3, is that a demotion ?

[Lardlizard]

I thought the better teachers were kept for the start of school and the end
And the not so great ones in the middle ?

Are you busily forming a general case against your child’s teacher? If you have a specific issue, deal with that.

My kids were in school during the SATS obsessed era. Y2 had vastly more homework than Y3.

The headteacher used to park the Coasting to Retirement teachers in Y3. All the others moved around but Y3 was the “last few years before leaving” role.

After the SATS weren’t as big a deal and the headteacher changed it wasn’t like that.

The fact they are changing the teachers around after a long period makes me think that they are not happy with someone or the progression of the kids to be honest, but demotion no. More likely they need to try something new to increase results, every year is equally important and some teachers are more suited to younger, some to older due to their style

In my last few years before retiring I was in Year 2. Coasting before retiring?

In my experience (as a parent and primary governor) it's unusual for a teacher to spend so many years in one year group. They a usually do a few years and then move. It's unusual to move between key stages but not unheard of. It has absolutely nothing to do with promotion/demotion.

I love teaching Yr 6! They are so sparky and fun and can go to the toilet all by themselves. I've only taught 5 and 6 for the last 3 years so a move is probably on the cards. I think I would find yr 3 pretty challenging but probably need to take it on for career development and to learn more. Certainly wouldn't be a demotion.

doctor hamster there was a time when it was considered desirable for a Primary head to have had experience of both Key Stages, so ambitious teachers would move around the school for experience.

It's not a demotion but Y6s are fab

@Happytobeme123

I've only ever heard a chikd voice this query

We don't sleep in classroom either.

No wait! You’ll be telling me next you’ve actually got first names too!

If a teacher wanted to be a deputy head, teaching one year group only isn’t very broad experience. Y3 after Sats is quite a challenge in its own right. In Junior schools it’s the transition class from Infants and has a liaison role with the KS1 school or teachers. I would simply see it as teacher getting varied experience. Also someone else might be great for y6. Moving staff around is perfectly normal and there’s no status attached to y6. They certainly don’t necessarily get the higher paid teachers with additional responsibility.

The Y6 teacher could have been asking for years to get moved to a different year group.
There are so many variables in which teacher has which class that no conclusions can be drawn.

At my school staff are moved around regularly often through choice as many staff, especially younger ones, want a mix of experience in different year groups. I know this is the same at our local juniors too. Our staff get asked in April/May if they have a preference for the following year.

Each year group has its own challenges and requirements.

Reception - early years, first year of school, key skills
Year 1 - first year of KS1, phonics screening
Year 2 - last year if key stage 1, SATs, phonics catch up
Year 3 - first year of key stage 2, etc

Us primary school teachers are all really thick. Year 6, year 3, it’s irrelevant. We have to teach in secondary to be doing proper teaching.

Threads like this make me want to kick people

@PurpleDaisies where does anyone say that???

Defo at secondary school the NQTs and least experienced/good teachers get way more year 7-8s and often kept far away from exam classes
That's not the case. Some schools might do that as a blanket policy with NQTs, but not all.

I had exam classes in my NQT year and my department gives exam classes to NQTs. Our timetabling is based on department needs and other pressures (eg how many people have leadership points so need a reduced timetable, how to fit exam classes with part time members of staff, the strengths of staff because if an NQT is strong then they'd be great, where to place the strongest teachers for maximum impact).

One year I was taken out of GCSE to teach a lot of intervention groups. My GCSE results are excellent, but we had enough staff who could teach the GCSE course well and only a couple of us with a real strength in teaching very weak learners and classes with challenging behaviour. It didn't mean I was a crap teacher that year!

I've only got to page 2, but I'm waiting for the claims that teachers who teach bottom sets must be worse teachers than those teaching top sets. That one usually comes up now and then too.

Nope. Teachers are moved around regularly to make sure they are teaching the range of year groups. My DH teaches primary and had taught year 3 for a few years year 6 and year 4. It's the reception teachers and year one who often don't move much as they have the early years training (DH didn't do this so won't be moved to reception)

It's like in secondary (where I teach) we teach from year 7 right through to 6th form just primary sticks with a year group for a whole year when secondary we teach a range each day.

I'm waiting for the claims that teachers who teach bottom sets must be worse teachers than those teaching top sets. That one usually comes up now and then too.
But the definition of a better teacher can vary considerably! it is a combination, of teaching pedagogy, subject knowledge, enthusiasm, ability to engage children, interest and probably 101 other different requisites that teachers will have in different measures!

Oh no! I teach Year 4 so must be crap. But then again, we only do colouring in.

A few years ago my role was different in that I covered PPA in years YR - Y6. I must have been a dead good teacher then.

I think the best teachers tend to go to the top and bottom sets. It's the poor, old middle sets who get the can't-really-be- bothered or out-of-my-depth teachers.

Mind you, I did start out teaching Reception and then moved up through every year to year 6 before being promoted to Head so perhaps there is something in it!

@Meredusoleil

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I've heard in my school Y6 teachers get paid slightly more because of the fact its an exam year group and more stressful! No one really wants to be in Y6. Maybe that's why the OP means by demotion?

Teachers on the whole move up the pay scale based on experience - a second year teacher teaching year 6 isn't going to be paid more than a 10th year teacher teaching year 1. They might be able to move up the scale a little quicker due to dealing with exam classes but often not.

But the definition of a better teacher can vary considerably! it is a combination, of teaching pedagogy, subject knowledge, enthusiasm, ability to engage children, interest and probably 101 other different requisites that teachers will have in different measures!
I agree with you, but in some places I've worked and some online discussions there's frequently the idea that the 'better' teachers teach top set.
At one of my former schools the line with some parents was they wanted their child to be taught by one of the A Level teachers, because apparently that meant they were 'better'. It's cluelessness really. The most skilled KS3 teacher in that department was a SEN specialist and only taught KS3 and worked in the support base. They were amazing, but it didn't stop some people falsely deciding her worth as a teacher based on her timetable.

Wow.

Crikey I went Y4, Y6, Y2,Y1, Nursery,Y6.....never were any demotion or promotion..lots of reasons already stated like history of class. Also to spread out experience so if there are nqts in Y4 and Y2 or potentially in schools where they have phase leads a Y6 teacher may become Lower KS2 phase lead and move to Y3..that would be a promotion!

I moved from KS2 to reception and one parent commented that it was a demotion. Certainly the Christmas and end of year little gifts were very different. The alcohol that is standard for KS2 teachers is (weirdly) a nono for reception teachers.