Teacher only teaching class for morning. TA in afternoon. Is this acceptable?

[Notsurethisisok]

My Dd goes to a local prep school, She is going into y1 in September. Her class teacher is the head of pre prep and I’ve just found out from another mum (which is another point of contention, they don’t even bother telling us this stuff) that the teacher will only be taking the class in the morning and after lunch she will be off doing her head stuff and the class will be taken by a TA. I can’t get my head around this. Apparently the TA is qualified to teacher level but isn’t a teacher per se (not sure why). Am I being ridiculous to think that this is an issue or is it a common situation. No disrespect to the TA, but we are stretching ourselves to pay for this school and to expect the class teacher to teach the class all day doesn’t seem unreasonable at this age. Thoughts?

I would ask for some clarity BUT at the school I used to work at we had a fab TA who was also a qualified teacher. Half way through the year she stepped up to teach a few days a week. She was paid accordingly so 3 days TA wage and 2 days teaching. Literally no different to a part time teacher. She was excellent. Sounds like this might be similar?

That would be great if it was the case.

I suspect here, as in many many schools though, the TA is a qualified teacher, no longer wants to be a teacher but still loves working with children. They go for a job as a TA (often on no more than minimum wage) because you can still be in the classroom but the workload is significantly less, and are instructed by their head to teach, for no additional pay (and no TA). The head has got a permanent member of staff (who is a teacher after all) at a fraction of the price.

OP might also ask if the TA has any children in the school. TA positions at DD's school are extremely coveted for the tuition discounts.

Hi all, thanks for your super helpful replies. I will, of course, tread very carefully. In answer to @lanthanum question… the mum that told me requested a meeting with the school as she had heard the rumour and they confirmed that this was, in fact, the case.
Jus to add to my misgivings…. I’ve just had a look online at the teacher list for next year and whilst a lot of the class teachers have PGCE/ BeD after their names, the reception teacher which she has just finished with has BA. does this mean no teaching qualification?

It could be a BA with QTS?

The private school near to me has lots of ‘teachers’ who aren’t qualified-I would never send my children there!

A BA (Hons) would normally imply they didn't have a teaching qualification as a B.Ed, is normally the qualification for an education undergraduate course, but can do (QTS) separate after whilst working. You are looking for QTS, as that confirms qualified teacher status.

Even accademy schools don't have to employ qualified teachers.

Teaching in the afternoon will probably at that age be the non maths and English subjects.

Re. qualified teachers, this is at senior school level, but I know a lot of people who have PhDs who teach in private schools but are not qualified teachers. It seems that many of these schools (some of them are well-known public schools) prefer the kudos of a PhD over QTS.

For those saying this wouldn't happen in a state school, it would. Y5 and y6 for my child a few years ago involved all afternoons taught by a HLTA while the class teacher did 'leadership' work.

There is such thing as BA with QTS, although a school which likes to show off its teachers' qualifications might well display that as BA (QTS), I guess.

I would not assume that no QTS is a disaster. You might pick up as much working as a TA for a few years as doing a one year PGCE course.

Were you happy with how your child was taught in reception?

Nope, no QTS, a lot of other teachers have qts but not this one.
DD struggled in reception, they want her to have SENCo sessions next year to catch up (at my expense, obviously) probably unrelated though

The majority of our afternoon lessons are every subject except English, maths, and Phonics, which tend to be in the morning.

So could be any from: art, design tech, computing, history, geography, PE, music, re, rshe, science, etc plus assembly/circle time.

We have non teaching specialists who come in to teach some subjects, such as PE, but these are qualified coaches and have a member of teaching staff in the room with them.

Lots of TAs and HLTAs are qualified/experienced as teachers. However, they shouldn't be being used as a class teacher every single day whilst being paid as a TA.

Cover occasionally, PPA cover once a week, etc - fine. But not every afternoon for the same class. That isn't fair in the TA to start with - massively underpaid to be a part time teacher to one class. Not on.

And this isn't just a private school issue. Posters are kidding themselves if they thing this isn't happening in state schools, perfectly legitimately, too.

There are some teaching BA degrees. Some require a PGCE afterwards but not all. It depends whether the degree has QTS attached to it - this is unlikely to be shown on the list of qualifications.
If I remember rightly not all BEd degrees have QTS wither.
QTS is essentially a separate award and can only be awarded following the completion of certain requirements.

Whoa hold up... they expect you to pay extra if your child has suspected special educational needs?

It’s quite common for private schools to charge for extras, including SEN support or assessment.

A few catch up sessions sounds like normal interventions that happen all the time in state schools as standard. Interventions are usually done by TAs and sometimes class teachers. It seems a bit topsy turvy to have a TA teaching a whole class and a SENCo doing EYFS/Y1 interventions.

Private schools can hire who they want to teach.

They don't have to hire qualified teachers so you've got no redress at all.

It's likely the teacher has planned the lesson and the TA is just sort of hosting the lesson as it were

If the DC like the TA then they'll all be fine and have a great lesson regardless as she will know them well

I supported a private school staff to teach. Many had subject degrees but no idea how to teach or how to work with children. No idea of the detail needed to assess and plan for children to learn. This is essential to build on prior knowledge, to extend learning, to fill gaps. It doesn’t matter if this is for an individual child or a class of 30. Without the skill of the assessment cycle learning is not well planned to meet child need.

Being a subject graduate doesn’t mean you can teach any age child, but even more so in primary and younger where teachers teach so many subjects.
I was appalled at how incapable the staff were. Almost ‘hang on a minute, we haven’t read that chapter in the ‘teaching manual’ 😉

I would honestly wait and see how it pans out in the first month or so rather than jump to conclusions. Of course it’s not something you might not feel right about BUT we had a similar situation in Y2 and it worked brilliantly.

Our TA was a qualified teacher but wanted to take a step back for a few years whilst her own children were babies. She was brilliant with the children (who all loved her), and there were never any issues with the quality of teaching. However, there was a bit of a lynch mob mentality with parents complaining and moaning about the situation in the summer months prior without even giving it a shot.

it sounds to me though that you have other issues with the school and this is a bit “icing on the cake” for you.

As a SENCO at a private school I get really pissed off at charging parents extra for support. Think it is unethical and not in line with the equality act. They don't charge for G&T sessions do they. Grrrrrrrrr.
I spend so much of my time promoting the positives of neurodiversity and other conditions. Bloody little prep schools. What you need to realise is that these are run on a shoe string. If your class sizes are small and there is only one form entry then economically it will be struggling. They will do anything to get the cheaper option of a TA - who are usually amazing and paid a pittance. A lot of small prep schools will go under due to the rise in costs - we are worried about heating our homes - think about heating a school. Teachers pensions are another issue and it maybe that they've come out of the TPS but then recruitment is tricky from the state sector.

As a SENCO at a private school I get really pissed off at charging parents extra for support. Think it is unethical and not in line with the equality act.

Agreed! I'd say it's discrimination to be honest. I also think it'd be opening the school up for further complaints too: "Why does my child need catch up? Did the Reception teacher fail in her duty to ensure she was supported in such a way that she could progress in line with her peers? If so, should we not have the cost refunded given that the service you provided was inadequate?"

As above, I worked in the private sector for years and some private schools at secondary level take very qualified subject specialists and train them. Some private schools have brilliant training schemes, far better than the PGCE and with standards way above QTS. Others less so. I would always say don't judge a private secondary teacher for not having QTS - they might not be 'qualified' according to the government but lots are 'trained'. Often they are much better in my experience and I've learnt a lot from them in my career.
Primary I'd be surprised if it worked the same way to be honest, as the focus isn't specific subject teaching. I wouldn't write off the TA though.
I have many friends still working in independent schools and the schools currently are exploiting their staff a lot due to budget constraints. They are often paid less than state teachers, teach more lessons and longer hours in term times which more than cancels out the longer holidays, and often don't have such a good pension as we do. It sounds in keeping that they would be employing a qualified experienced teacher on a TA salary and demanding she teaches a class.
You might be able to tell, as a teacher I'm quite evangelical about escaping the independent sector.

I shouldn't worry that the reception teacher had not qts.

They are possibly early years untrained which will be much more beneficial to a 4yo!

A school local to me (ds old school) has teachers doing core subjects and then ex teachers working as TAs and some as hltas and some of them have specific responsibilities to teach classes regularly. They are paid for this as unqualified teachers.

It works to manage the very tight budgets.

I shouldn't worry that the reception teacher had not qts.

They are possibly early years untrained which will be much more beneficial to a 4yo!

Why shouldn’t you worry @itsgettingweird - teaching in early years is such a skill, laying the foundations of learning. I’d be so worried.

I taught this sort of age at a private school for a few years. (I'm qualified.) In the afternoons we often had the peripatetic teachers in. So the TA stayed with my/our class and they had ballet/French/art/music etc with a specialist. This may be what they are doing- ask!

Teaching is about skill in communication and management of the classroom, which takes more training and experience than the knowledge side. So I'd expect your EYFS/KS1 teachers to be some of the most qualified.

I'd be furious if I was paying and not a qualified teacher for reception. Early years is a critical phase. Get that wrong and the child is at a disadvantage as they haven't mastered the basics due to poor teaching & facilitation. I'd be questioning what SEN they think she might have and actually it's their inability to teach her.