Fair?

[Zena85]

DS attends a 3 form entry school.

We have been told which teachers will be teaching which classes for next year. Every year for the past 3 years DS class has been given a newly qualified teacher whilst the other 2 classes have had well respected and thought of teachers with heaps of experience. Is there any rhyme or reason to this?

As parents we are requesting a meeting with the Head. Will that change anything?

We have a meeting with the Head next week. Thanks for all the replies.

But about what? Do you even have a clue?

What a ridiculous thing to complain about.

Poor head, I hope she explains to you all that you've really no business trying to dictate which teachers are in which class and that this attempt at bullying to get your own way will not be tolerated. I'm surprised you can't understand how this is totally unacceptable by you all.

A meeting about what though? What are you actually complaining about? And who do you mean by 'we'? Are you going en masse?

ok so for the last 3 school years, our children have had to wait until Sept to meet their new teacher. On Monday every other class meets their new teacher excepts ours (again) as they’ve not started. Year 1 we had a very new ECT who wasn’t very hot on phonics. More children in that class had to redo the phonics test in Year 2 than any of the other classes. Parents of those children were called to a meeting which is how we knew. Year 2 we were given yet another ECT and at the year group meeting didn’t have a clue what was going on and had to get the other two year group teachers to answer, which did not instil confidence and any concerns we have had were redirected to the more experienced teachers. We now have a 3rd ECT for next year at the start of key stage 2. For the last 3 years the other classes have had year group leads and experience. You can call us what you like, but until you feel you’re being let down and it affects your own DC I don’t e text others to understand. 30 of us can’t all be wrong thinking the same.

The worst teacher dd2 had was a very experienced teacher. She’d been there since I was in about Y5 (I’m over 40). She was shockingly bad. The best was newly qualified.

Is this actually affecting your dc? Are they unable to do something they should be able to do? Not knowing something in a meeting when they’ve maybe be teaching for half a day doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are doing.

I teach secondary and it’s parents like you that make me glad I don’t teach primary!

Well it's a weak argument when there's never been anything meaningfully wrong with the professional conduct of these teachers.

And why is a teacher with ten years experience definitely better than one with two? Some older teachers are very jaded and not enthusiastic. Some newer ones will have fresh ideas and be really willing to try their best for the children.

I find all the false naivety a bit odd tbh. I had a mix of experience in the teachers I had in school and the ones I remember as being standouts were universally the experienced older teachers. It's primary school not cutting edge AI tech training or nuclear fusion college - what are the "latest techniques" in teaching the multiplication table that the older teachers are so "out of date" on, that they somehow haven't managed to pick up in their various curriculum training days?

As I say, I don’t expect others to understand.
There are 30 of us.
I won’t be posting an update.
I hope you never feel your DC are being letdown.

Often the new ones have more energy and enthusiasm!

I agree not ideal or fair - but really not the end of the world. I wouldnt complain.
Thuogh 9yrs of dc1 and 5 of dc2 weve not really had a nqt (except 1-2 trainees in class with the teachers).
But we've still had loads of issues.

The main thing i wouldnt like about nqt would be the extra time out of class.

I'm guessing you're not a teacher. Teaching methods change all the time (yes, even how to teach multiplication!) 'Best practice' changes all the time, based on new theories, research and curriculum changes. Believe it or not, some experienced teachers can get very set in their ways and be resistant to such changes. I say this as a fairy experienced teacher myself. There are unfortunately plenty of 'dinosaurs' out there who simply will not change their ways. When it comes to teaching methods, I can understand why you may not see this as a major problem, but when it comes to how they view inclusion, for example, it very much can be.

New teachers can learn a lot from their experienced colleagues, but equally we learn a lot from them. Every day is a school day, as they say.

Oh please do post an update. I for one would love to hear how this goes down.

Or are you sulking that you didn't get the reaction you were hoping for, from most on here, and are now worried that you may actually be being unreasonable after all?

There's still time to cancel the meeting. Don't become 'that parent'.

Perhaps OP should argue that it's unfair that the other two classes don't get the benefit of all this enthusiasm ;)

I do find it amusing how many people maintain that new teachers are better than old teachers because of their enthusiasm. I wonder if there’s any other careers where experience is considered not as important as enthusiasm. First year doctors? Gotta be better than a consultant. Newly qualified lawyer? Definitely want them over someone who’s done hundreds of cases. Taxi driver who passed his test last week? Sounds great!

Don’t get me wrong, not all ECTs are rubbish and yes lots are enthusiastic, which is great, but like any other career, people tend to improve as they get more experienced. Yes, there are some 60 year old dinosaurs who are still teaching like it’s the 80s but they aren’t that common.

What was your post for then? You are doing what you want to do and are uninterested in anyone else’s opinion.

I don't see it as people claiming that ECTs are 'better', just that it's inaccurate (and actually quite disrespectful) to assume it's 'worse' for children to be taught by an ECT than an experienced teacher. There are positives and negatives to both and most of them will be dependent on the individual teacher.

Everyone has to start somewhere. How awful for this ECT if they get wind that (apparently) all 30 parents are up in arms because they presume they will be worse than the other teachers in the year group team. What a way to knock someone's confidence. I hope this ECT well and truly proves them all wrong, as there are some fantastic ECTs out there. Yes there may be some others who aren't quite so great, but the same can be said for experienced teachers too. That's the point people have been making. Nobody has given a blanket statement that they believe ECTs are better, just that this new teacher should be given a chance.

Yes, @BoleynMemories13 that’s exactly it!

I'd be annoyed about this too OP. Let's be honest, we all hope for the best/mos experienced teacher going each year, so to get last choice 3
years running is a bit shit.

But the OP doesn’t know that her child has the worst teacher … she hasn’t even met him/her yet! And I find the assumption that they will be just because they are newly qualified to be insulting. And also, from experience, completely likely to be untrue.

I won’t be giving you the satisfaction!

She doesn't but equally it's the newly qualified one....again. Obviously all teachers start somewhere and of course the teacher might be excellent, but we don't know this. Of course there is some reassurance in having the tried, tested, well loved teacher that has been at the school for years...at least initially!

In terms of teachers though theres lot s of things that are less than ideal
-being head of xyz so lots time out of class (and the heads ofte n were worse)

• If you have sen child often older teachers dont acknowledge sen an d blame parents. The previous senco had no idea It was all punishment and no extra playground suoervision or even looking at triggers
• Part time or job share or off sick a lot
• Man vs woman - the men can be more fun but actually seem generally less motivated
• Teachers who dont set the homework
• Teachers who never read with kids so they can move up scheme
• Teachers who mark down scores so looks like more progress
• Teachers who let your kid be bullied in front of them (secondary)
• Staff who tell your kid theyve been referred for xyz when you hadnt told the kid
• The teacher who tells the kids too much detail and now your kid wont sleep
• The HT who splits some kids from all friends but s ome kids get to keep theirs right through.
• The teachers who think speed in maths means the kid is better at it....
• Teachers that blame whole class or keep in from break.
• Ive seen on fb where teachers filing in adhd etc referral forms have taken less than 2 mins to fill it in!
• When your kid get a teacher the second time when they didnt like /gel with them previously - yet half the year obviously didnt have them before.
• Teacher who says 8w before residential maybe the kid shouldnt go.