Year 3 taught by TA for 1.5 days a week

[Fluffy72]

My daughter starts year 3 next week. For the previous couple of years, the yr 3 class has been taught by two job shares. However for this academic year, it has been announced that one of those teachers is taking over the class full time. Though I happen to know on good authority (I work there in a none teaching capacity) that the class is being taught by a HLTA on her own on one of the days, then the part time class TA is covering PPA time for a further morning a week. I know the school is operating at a budget deficit and suspect this is most likely the reason why. I also feel it’s quite dishonest that the school have mislead the parents by claiming that they have appointed one full time teacher. Am I unreasonable to expect that if there is a single member of staff to teach a class of 30 it should be a qualified teacher?

Being taught by a TA for half a day is standard for many primary schools. Is it an academy?

Yes it recently became an academy. Does that make a difference? I understand half a day a week but this class will be taught by TA for one and a half days a week, right through the year.

Are either TA’s reformed teachers?

Yep, they can employ unqualified staff to teach.

TA covering PPA is normal.
HLTA covering teaching time is normal too.

To be honest I would rather have consistency of HLTA who is working alongside the classs tracher during the week and knows the class rather than a make do situation.

Someone better placed than me will come along but I'm 99% sure it does't legally have to be a teacher delivering lessons in a class.

The future of education is bleak, especially in high schools - one of my children's high school had a full time cover staff for lessons - they were not a qualified teacher but would go to any class and deliver the prepared work. Any subject, including GCSE classes.

The planning will have been done by the year team and the subject team. Many TAs are excellent teachers. Many children are being taught by students too

I’m a teacher and would be ok with this. The planning will most likely still be done by the teacher. The part time TA will know the kids well and HLTA’s cover classes as part of their role. See how they get on, you might be pleasantly surprised.

@FleaDog cover supervisors have been the norm in secondary schools for 20 plus years. They work well for short absences because they know and have a relationship with thr students which is much better than a supply teacher. The problem is when they’re used for long term absences.

My Y3 class is taught by a HLTA for a day a week. They do a lot of things that require less active teaching - spelling tests, overseeing music taught by someone from the music hub, PSHE etc. It means a heavy workload for me as a teacher on my other days (never getting to plan/teach the lighter lessons) but works well. Our SATS results, in an area of over 50% pupil premium, are far above national average.

Thats perfectly normal I think. A TA often does the job of a teacher.

People will rush to tell you that it's fine, but it's not fine. If TAs can do 'just as good a job' as teachers then why have qualified teachers at all? You'll note
PPs saying that all the planning will have been done for the TA by a teacher - that's also not fair on that teacher. Extra planning for them that should be done by a qualified teacher teaching those other days.

It's entirely normal these days because schools can either not recruit or not afford qualified staff. But it's shit.

Thanks for all your replies. I’m hopeful it will turn out ok. A lot of the other classes in the school are quite difficult, in that there are a lot of children with additional needs, resulting in frequent disruption but no ECHP’s to fund any more support. This yr3 class has no behavioural issues and seen as a “good” class so is probably why the teaching has been planned as such.

HLTAs are usually worth their weight in gold and make good subs because they'll know the children and the school. Hopefully the teacher is not having to plan (shouldn't be planning for their PPA time) and the TA is following a scheme for music, PHSE or similar which is taken care of by the school.

If it were up to me PPA time would be for a full day a week!

An HLTA is qualified to do that and 1.5 days will be fine, especially as the main class teacher will likely be doing all the planning and assessment etc. If your teacher had been an ECT it would have been one day a week anyway. It really will make little difference, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

@noblegiraffe yes I agree It’s not good at all and it shows perhaps how people’s expectations have lowered over the years because schools are worn down by lack of funding. I’m just grateful for the fact my daughter is pretty engaged and enjoys learning and as awful as it sounds, but that her class isn’t being disrupted by the children with learning difficulties whose needs are not being met having regular meltdowns.

DS had this in Reception, although the HLTA did the 1.5 days. The school never explicitly told us. In reality he actually preferred the HLTA. DD had a teacher for year 4 who wasn't actually qualified when they told us in July. We never knew when she actually qualified, and whether it was before Sept. Also she only taught them 3 days a week and had another teacher for 2 days, who wasn't officially announced.

My ds had this in year 3 and 4 and the TA was brilliant, so engaging and energetic, the children loved her lessons and always had loads to say about what they'd learned, they'd come out buzzing.

It may not be a negative. It is a bit shady of the school not to be up front though.

Absolutely agree with this.

Several schools around here have started doing this as well-it's just cheap and isn't fair on anyone.

Cheap labour from years and years of underfunding.

TA or an unqualified PE or art instructor covering the PPA afternoon has been the norm for years.

HLTAs can plan and deliver lessons under the overview of the class teacher but it's supposed to be a short term solution rather than permanent, so the school are on dodgy ground there.
But it's a case of beggars can't be choosers in schools these days.

Why would the main teacher be doing all the planning and assessment? They are not being paid a full time wage so it is unlikely that they will be doing all that extra work for free. I would complain if only because schools shouldn't think they can get away with this.

Perhaps not, but it inevitably happens because there won't be anyone else who can do it. Teachers always end up doing loads of work for free, unfortunately it's just become a basic expectation. I agree it's not fair, but it's quite likely to be what will end up happening.

This is absolutely not ok and not strictly allowed - at least, not in state schools. TAs should never be teaching, and HLTAs are only supposed to teach in the short term, not as a permanent long term plan.

People can say that TAs and HLTAs are amazing and as good as teachers, but in that case, if it were true, why do we still have qualified teachers then? Because there IS a difference, and the teachers are paid for the responsibility they have. Those covering TAs and HLTAs will be paid a comparably small wage for having the responsibility of the class, which is just unfair on them.

Unfortunately, many schools are doing this now, including my own. It's really not fair on anyone.