Sorry to intrude, can I ask you for some advice?

[GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal]

You can tell me to buzz off if you like, I know you've all had a bit of a year! But I was hoping to get your thoughts on a situation with my son's school.

He's going into Y2 and we've been told that he'll be taught for by a HLTA for 50% of the week for the whole academic year.

I'm told she's lovely and has more than 20 years experience. Nonetheless a quick google suggests that while HLTAs can teach lessons, this should not be a long-term arrangement.

Is this normal and perfectly fine, and I should just relax? Is it part of the New Normal and not ideal but I just need to suck it up? Or should I be talking to the Head about my concerns?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

Does the school specify that she is an HLTA teaching the class, or have you known her as an HLTA and are assuming that she isn’t a qualified teacher (she may have left teaching to become an HLTA)?

If she is not a qualified teacher, being paid as a qualified teacher, then taking a class 50% of the time does seem to be taking the piss and I’d be asking the school why a qualified teacher wasn’t being hired to fill the role.

I don't whether she's a QT as well as an HLTA, tbf. I'll ask that before doing anything else. Thanks!

I've had a reply from the Head. She's not a QT but "a highly experienced and qualified Higher level Teaching Assistant who will be teaching the Year 2 class part-time for a maternity cover.

In the past the school has successfully used a Higher Level Teaching Assistant to cover for a maternity leave; and this practice is common in many primary schools."

Is it common practice? I suppose in some ways it's similar to getting someone to "act up" as maternity cover.

I've had a reply from the Head. She's not a QT but "a highly experienced and qualified Higher level Teaching Assistant who will be teaching the Year 2 class part-time for a maternity cover.

In the past the school has successfully used a Higher Level Teaching Assistant to cover for a maternity leave; and this practice is common in many primary schools."

Is it common practice? I suppose in some ways it's similar to getting someone to "act up" as maternity cover.

Sorry, didn't mean to post that twice!

HLTAs in my experience (and I know this is different for different places), don't plan for whole class unless it's something like a half day PPA cover. They will plan for small groups.

I'd be more interested in who is planning the work, and who is accountable for the outcomes/results of that work. Will this HLTA be at parents' evenings?

She/he should be pissed off anyway, being paid HLTA money for being a teacher is crap.

Someone posted a link recently to the NFER (I think) guidance on what TAs should and shouldn't do. Can't remember whether it mentioned HLTAs separately, I only read the Summary Poster. I don't think this situation sounds right....

Here we are, sorry I got the organisation wrong:

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/TeachingAssistants/TAA_RecommendationsSummary.pdf

Thank you, @StrawberryJam200, that's very helpful.

They shouldn’t be providing long term cover. They also shouldn’t be responsible for planning and marking. I’m surprised an HLTA has agreed to do this as they get paid very little really.

The head would want a good teacher in y2 because of Sats so must be confident of this hlta's ability. I would say its better to have a competent, experienced, known to the school hlta than a supply teacher that doesn't know the school or possibly even ks1 curriculum (and might not be very good) which is very possibly what you might get for a maternity cover in schools at the moment.
I would be fine with this as a parent.

If it’s an academy, they can use unqualified teachers.
We are an academy and use HLTAs to cover long term cover at times. Some of our HLTAs are better at teaching than some of our teachers! And infinitely better than some of the QT mat covers we’ve previously had.

I meant to add, we would never put someone in a class in that kind of position if we weren’t 100% sure that they would do an amazing job.

It's not unusual for HLTAs to have that amount of teaching time in a primary (covering PPA, management time etc) but perhaps it is to do it all within the same class. Interested in who is going to be planning - if it's a job-share and one half is going on maternity leave, if I were the remaining teacher I certainly wouldn't be planning for days I wasn't paid to be in.

Yep my year 3 has a HLTA teaching him for the whole year. I was shocked. She is planning, and fully accountable. Employed now as an under qualified teacher despite not even having a degree. My sons school is an academy though so they can do what they like.

I got some more information from the head yesterday - apparently she's fully acting up into the teacher's role, so paid as a teacher, planning lessons, taking responsibility for learning outcomes, etc.

The school is not an academy, and I've got to be honest, I'm not sure how that works. If someone can act up into a teacher's role without a PGCE, doesn't it make a bit of a mockery of it being a mandatory qualification?

I'm not sure what, if anything, to do now. I'll probably just wait and see. If DS is happy and is learning, then I guess there isn't a problem.

It’s not a very well protected profession is it? I’m a nurse, always valued the speciality that teaching is. I don’t claim to know about teaching but it’s a profession for a reason surely? Problem is I think people in the profession just have to accept it so it becomes more normalised. I would hazard a guess she isn’t as well paid as the other teachers but who knows.

It created class inequality for sure.

Has

There is a TA scale, an Unqualified Teacher Scale, and then the Teacher main Scale and upper pay scale. Not sure how a maintained school is getting around it as they are not allowed to have unqualified teachers.

HLTA can cover PPA or the occasional lesson where the teacher is absent, but they shouldn’t have their own class! What’s the point in getting a degree and PGCE if people without a degree can become teachers too? I’ve not personally met a teacher without a PGCE or education degree.

This isn’t normal at all. Most schools would employ a teacher as maternity cover. However. The school might be struggling to appoint new staff due to Covid and this solution maybe better than a string of supply teachers?Is she teaching full days or half days. If half days it could be that the other teacher is delivering all of the English and Maths. Has she been a TA in year 2 for a long time? If she has she could know the curriculum and expectation well. They could also be trying to plan for another possible closure at some point next year. They might prefer this staff member to be setting online work than supply? It could possibly bring more consistency in the long run. It’s not ideal, but I’d wait and see what September brings before really complaining.