Child’s new teacher UQT

[HowLongWillThisGoOnFor]

My child’s new year 3 teacher doesn’t even have a degree, let alone QTS. She was employed as a TA for years, then a HLTA, and now has a full class of her own come September. I only know this as said teacher is my best friends sister in law. It’s an academy so I know they can do what they like, but how do qualified teachers actually feel about this?

She’s had her own class for two years now so it’s not due to Covid staffing issues. Surely this devalues the profession? Is this common? I’ve just always assumed my children’s teachers are qualified. I completely understand the role of cover supervisor etc but this lady has full responsibility of a class.

Sorry but I would highly doubt this is entirely true

Oh I believe it. My sister-in-law is an HLTA and works full time as a teacher. She teaches Reception, so possibly her school think it doesn’t matter
She’s a lovely woman but she is unqualified. She has O levels, but left school at 16. She has no A levels, let alone a degree.
The amount of times my MIL used to say ‘oh yes Nuff, SIL is a teacher, just like you’. I would just nod and smile.
It devalues the profession, giving the impression that anyone can do the job as it’s so easy, obviously.

I’ve never known a teacher without a degree, PGCE, GCSEs and A Levels. Are you sure she doesn’t have these qualifications? I know private schools don’t require PGCE QTS, but state schools do.

No they don’t, Panda and haven’t for a while thanks to Gove. Academies and Free Schools don’t require teachers to be qualified.

Gove said it was so that talented scientists, engineers, musicians etc could teach straight away without being hindered by the need to learn the job. Clearly the thought that an entirely unqualified person might be hired to fill a gap on the cheap had never occurred to him.

@noblegiraffe yes academies too. Maintained schools require QTS though.

Unfortunately academies CAN employ unqualified teachers and often do. My school cannot afford to replace teachers when they leave and several classes are taught but HLTAs.

It is a cost saving measure.

But bloody hell - without gcse English and maths that is tragic. I would be concerned that higher level knowledge and skills would not be covered in the right manner. There is no way she has achieved QTS.

I have a forest school nursery near me and all the early year practitioners have degrees. They charge a lot of money.

I’m a HLTA and am currently in my final year of my teaching degree. I plan to do my PGCE in Sep 2021.

As a HLTA with years of experience I am confident delivering lessons and I believe I am good at it. However, it is a million miles away from being a qualified teacher.

Planning, assessment, classroom management and having total overall responsibility for the mental, physical and academic achievement of 30 children is an incredibly tough job. Teachers without the adequate training and QTS devalue the profession in my opinion.

Wow, that’s poor. I am an HLTA with two degrees (one in English, the other in a Postgraduate vocational subject). But I would be very unhappy to have my own class on that wage and without a teacher qualification. As others have said, it totally devalues the profession.

Sadly it is true. It is the fault of Gove (like so many things in schools). I find it disturbing that people with an old GCSE grade C in Maths can teach in a primary school. How do they cope with really able y6 mathematicians? I remember when DD1 was in year 6 and the supply teacher was trying to teach subtracting 85 by taking away 100 and adding back 15. Fine, good, except her example was 290 - 85 which she said was 215. DD disagreed and was then told off for arguing with the teacher. Thankfully the class teacher returned and sorted it out but I couldn't believe that this person was actually qualified. It was in 2009, so pre-Gove.

Some TAs are exceptional. I work with some amazing ones. However, there is a difference between an experienced TA and a qualified teacher. It's why teachers are paid considerably more.

Primary teachers do not always know everything about the subjects they teach. I’ve sat at listening to a teacher teach the class that females have more ribs than males (science) and that the sun is a ball of fire (also science). I know from experience not to correct them. But they usually do a great job.

(Off topic but... I think the important thing about stories like those above is how the teacher reacts to making a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes but a confident teacher will model handling a mistake with resilience and interest at finding out the right answer. It’s fine to point out a mistake to a teacher (or indeed a TA) but it also takes a level of maturity to pick your moment if the lesson is in flow.)

I'm not sure about maintained schools (are there many of those left?) but I thought the technical rule is whether there were qualified people the school could have recruited instead. So if no-one comes forward in response to adverts, the school can justify hiring someone unqualified. I started my career as an unqualified teacher (I do have two degrees in my subject though) and I then went onto a GTP programme after a couple of terms (I had full responsibility for 4 exam classes throughout). But it is not as though the school was turning down PGCE-qualified candidates - which are very rare in my subject anyway. So I do believe the situation the OP describes. They'd only have to show failure to recruit a qualified candidate, if that. And it will not be solved until there's a bigger pool of teachers to choose from. I wouldn't have done more than a year unqualified. The pay is awful. But it's better to get paid a little than to be in debt training.

Phiney that’s different. You worked unqualified and then the school put you on a training programme to gain qualification. This is what some schools are doing for teacher recruitment where they can’t get a qualified teacher - either using schools direct, or their own in-house training programme for UQTs, especially academies.

This teacher wouldn’t be allowed on a programme to obtain QTS. There is no way for her to gain qualification, yet the school has had her in charge of classes for 2 years already.

Just read this upthread It is y3 though. Very basic level of work Any qualified teacher will know why that’s a completely ridiculous attitude. The adult’s ability to complete the child’s work is neither here nor there. In many ways the easier the work, the harder the teacher’s job because you’re teaching concepts for the first time to people whose brains are still developing. You need to be able to break everything down into clear stages and you need to know your subject matter inside out. All stages of learning have their own challenges. You learn this whilst studying to be a teacher.

OP, as a teacher I agree and think it does devalue the profession. However it has been going on for long before Gove. State schools have always been able to employ unqualified teachers. When I started my PhD back in 1987 one of my colleagues didn’t have her contract renewed and left to become an unqualified science teacher in a state comprehensive.,

@HowLongWillThisGoOnFor

She does not have GCSE’s I know this personal info from my friend. I haven’t mentioned that to the school as I sound like I’m just gossiping. Anyway the school replied, no she is not a QT and her qualifications are that of a HLTA and the head assured me she was super experienced. The exact reply I was expecting as I know my friend is telling the truth.

I’m not happy about it at all but I’ve accepted it. It is an academy so there’s nothing I can do. I accept that it is unusual and I presume all the other teachers are qualified.

She is a brown noser, so I’ve heard.

Meow.

On the contrary, there's plenty you can do. You can escalate this to the governors / trustees, you can complain to the MAT if the school is in one, and you can complain to the DfE directly.

It might be acceptable within the letter of the law but it is completely against the spirit. This woman is being exploited and if she does not have GCSEs she is not even eligible to apply to train as a teacher. At the very least the school can put her under the supervision of a senior leader to ensure that her teaching and assessment is quality assured.

I’ve never known a teacher without a degree, PGCE, GCSEs and A Levels. Are you sure she doesn’t have these qualifications? I know private schools don’t require PGCE QTS, but state schools do.
State schools have always been allowed to employ unqualified teachers. They just called them something else (e.g. instructors) and paid them less. I have worked with many unqualified teachers over the years; some of them were excellent and far better than some of the qualified teachers.

I teach a core subject - last year all of KS3 was taught by unqualified or non-specialist teachers. We cannot get qualified subject specialists for love nor money.