Class teacher Qualification

[Curiouslyhere]

Is it a normal practise for a fresh college graduate with QTS ( BEd(Hons)) to be hired as a full time class teacher with no teaching assistant? In our prep school, they have hired such a teacher and she is so young with no classroom experience.
I always thought that they would need some transitioning and classroom experience with an experienced teacher, before being made responsible to be the only person responsible for the whole class.
I would appreciate your inputs. We are not from UK so unfamiliar with the education system here.
Thanks a lot.

Ime of prep you get ta per class up to year 2, then one spread across the year or allocated to a specific child.

In every state school I toured when choosing where to send my son to Reception. A London Borough with average 30 children per class.

When you say normal practice do you mean in independent schools? In state schools this isn’t my experience over the last 10 years- teaching assistants are placed based on the needs of children and it would be very common for classes to share a TA due to budget restraints mainly

@Dontsparethehorses all I know is that it was standard practice in all 4 state schools I visited before my son's Reception application in 2020 (London Borough). It's possible that they don't do it above Year 1, I didn't really think to ask.

In every state school I toured when choosing where to send my son to Reception. A London Borough with average 30 children per class.

Perhaps they were one to one TAs rather than class TAs.

It is definitely not normal practice.

No, they were most definitely a TA for the whole class. It was explained to us very clearly that this was the standard Reception and Year 1 setup. We were being told lots of detail about how our children would be educated, and asking lots of questions. Absolutely no scope for me to have misunderstood.

In the end my son went to an independent school but I have loads of friends whose kids go to the ones I visited and I can 100% confirm every class has a qualified teacher plus a TA.

I paid specific attention because I was concerned about class size and staff-child ratio.

Possibly it happens more in certain areas eg some London boroughs and areas of high socio-economic deprivation. It isn’t normal and widespread across the country.

It is more likely that there will be a classroom teacher assigned to a Reception or year 1 class- simply because the need is greater! We have class TAs in KS1 and shared in KS2

I’m a classroom teacher of 14 years and I have never not had a TA. I have many many teacher friends and they also all have TA’s.

Same (maybe the same borough!). Each reception class had a teacher and a TA.

Although I am now wondering if it may just apply to EYFS, where the ratios are lower - seems to just be the teacher in Y1.

Although I am now wondering if it may just apply to EYFS, where the ratios are lower - seems to just be the teacher in Y1.

Yes, Reception classes generally do have a full time TA. I’m in Y1 and haven’t had one for years. I know lots of fellow teachers who are in the same situation.

In my dc primary school every class has both a teacher and a ta. From reception to year 6. State school in London borough. Average class size of 25ish (but could be 30).

I didn’t know what a TA was when I started teaching in 1991.
However, I did train for 4 years to do the job and felt well-prepared to begin my career after my degree.
Your child’s class teacher has qualified as an ECT (Early Career Teacher) and this will not be the case for all teachers who are not in state schools (as PP have voiced).

Totally different here in Scotland. I had a PGDE student last year, she had failed a placement prior to coming to me. She passed her placement with myself, just!

It was Christmas time when she passed as it was mid year due to falling a placement the previous year. She was moving to England in the Christmas holidays and had a permanent job lined up in a private school. No probation period, nothing.

So although she did 3 placements through university, she failed one and had no mentor etc going into her new job. They just gave her a permanent job and that was that. I was shocked because that doesn't happen here. You would need to do a probation period or the flexi route with a mentor etc first.

I was told it's very common down in England! 😳

😂👌

Yes, it's perfectly normal for a qualified teacher to teach alone. Where would the extra teachers come from for a transitioning period?

My eldest needs quite a lot of extra support at school. Several years ago he was given a brand new teacher in his first ever post. I was a bit worried. However, this young teacher was the best one any of my children have ever had. DS did much better socially, academically and emotionally during the year he had with this teacher. He started sleeping better and his self harm decreased significantly.

I was daft to jump to conclusions about how good this teachers would be based on his age. Maybe the new teacher your DC has will turn out to be totally amazing.

Very normal.
In order to get QTS they will have had significant classroom experience and will have been observed many times by an experienced teacher. This is part of qualifying.

Still commonplace in my London borough to have class TAs all the way up to year 6. My children both have class TAs. There are also 1:1 TAs. London schools are better funded but there are challenges such as lots of pupil movement and a significant number of children who don’t speak English before joining the school (including in KS2).

"I always thought that they would need some transitioning and classroom experience with an experienced teacher, before being made responsible to be the only person responsible for the whole class."

That's what they will have had to get their QTS.

Those challenges are still true across the rest of the country but I agree London schools are still better funded. You only have to look at the growth of north south divide in results to see the impact of that!

Independent school early careers teachers are well support, both daily through colleagues and mentors, but also through a formal induction process overseen by a body called ISTIP.

With ISTIP and ECT has a reduced timetable in order to meet with mentors, access to INSET and the headteacher.

I was a ISTIP mentor and the process was very robust.

Absolutely. You see it with London versus poorer areas in the South East too like along the coast.

I teach ks1 in a London Borough. Have not had a class TA for over 5 years now.

That’s interesting/surprising. It’s definitely the norm in schools in our area to have TAs in all years, at least part of the time and definitely full time in KS1.