Can I be forced to cover elsewhere whilst student teacher is teaching?

[Andbearsohmy]

I have a student teacher (School Direct) who is doing well. She used to be a HLTA at our school a few years ago so SLT are aware that she is capable of teaching well. The head teacher has told me that when she returns from her alternative placement, they will start using me for cover whilst she is teaching in my class. I think she will be teaching about 80%.

I don't want to do this. Partly because I will be exposed to more children/bubbles. Mainly though because it's my responsibility to ensure the children reach their targets and I can't do this if I'm not in the class 80% of the time. I get they have no money for cover, but that's not my responsibility. Am I within my rights to say no? I work in a normal, maintained school.

I realise it will be complicated this year, with bubbles, but seriously, you can't honestly be expecting that you sit twiddling your thumbs whilst a competent person is taking your class for 80% of the time ?

I definitely don't expect to sit twiddling my thumbs. 25% of my class have SEN and there is no TA. I would want to be supporting them as some are working several years behind their age related expectations.

I would have thought that you are the person in charge of the class and have to be there all the time and are responsible for the class and the conduct of the lessons. I can't see how you could judge the efficacy of the teaching when not in the room.

When in the UK, I was always in the room with a student teacher, and when training, the was always there too, and same here in Victoria. It's about liability. Is it because it's School Direct, and therefore salaried?

It sounds very odd indeed and I would speak to my union. You must protect yourself. You're the one who has to pick all of this up at the end.

Are they salaried or not?
I was under the impression that non salaried had to have someone in the room with them at all times.

I'm guessing you're primary? Even with a salaried trainee we wouldn't expect to go and cover elsewhere in my primary school.

Especially not at the moment, we don't cross bubbles. I did leave a (very experienced and competent) trainee in charge of my class and go cover another one for a week in March before the first lockdown, but that was an exception and I volunteered.

Instead we would take groups out, support one to one, do interventions-depends what the class needs. I've been left by myself as a trainee and I know many other trainees that have too, especially in the summer term last year when many of them had bubbles. But in normal times, the teacher is always available even if not in the room.

The government has said that trainees can be used to teach classes to prop up inadequate staffing to keep schools open.

No way - the school are using her as unpaid supply. She needs to let school direct know and I uggest you talk to your union for advice.

Trainee teachers need to be supervised, or need to know that you are close by (eg in an office next door) if needed.

Are you her mentor?

Unless they're salaried, I didn't think insurance covered them to be alone with students let alone responsible for them.

Senora that's my understanding too.

However nobles point about the pandemic and trainees stands too.

There's no way this would happen in my secondary. Ours only do 70% of the time they are in school (4 days) and tend to have different teachers classes.

Yes you can be expected to do this. It’s up to the Head Teacher how they deploy staff. They could even choose to take the class off you and give it to the unqualified person if they wanted.

Michael Gove removed all the rules around staffing levels and gave freedoms to schools especially if they’re an academy.

It’s completely up to the HT how they deploy staff. Your union may kick up a fuss on your behalf but ultimately would struggle to change anything.

Exactly Dancing
A trainee teacher - whatever route they are on, from B.Ed to Teach First or whatever else, needs to experience teaching the whole class - including the students who need the greatest support.
Yes, I hope some of the 'teacher who is released' s time will go in to supporting some of the children who need additional support, but I would expect that to be across the school, or potentially phase or year group, depending on size of the school, and not just continually either taking them out from the student's class, or, even worse, sitting in the room, therefore by raising an eyebrow doing much of the behaviour management.
Yes, if it is a first Teaching prac, or the student needs additional support in someway, but, the very point of teaching prac is that the students gets to practice what it is to be a class teacher. No a teacher of a class that has another experienced teacher sitting in doing behaviour management or a class that has had all the children who might struggle with the academics removed 'for additional support'. Not a realistic or helpful situation for the student at all.

Oh, and I am going back decades - this isn't new since Gove, or since Academies.

*practise

I don't know if primary I very different, but I am not allowed to leave my trainee alone when they are teaching. I sit at the back and make notes so that I can give them constructive feedback on how to improve as a teacher. If we weren't in the midst of a pandemic I would also circulate the room and speak to the students, check what they are up to, etc so that I can give better feedback. If I am not there (off sick) then school would give a supply teacher who remains in the room with them.

This has happened quite a bit in my school the past few years to cover for staff absence including long term absence of a term or more until new staff can be recruited.

Often the trainee would be given a TA to support in the class and then the TA would teach the class the other 20% of the time on their own or with another TA. I don’t necessarily agree with this though - depends on the confidence and competence of the people involved as well as the needs of the class. The planning would be done by the trainee in conjunction with the normal class teacher who also has to plan the cover lessons for the other classes they teach.

At the moment, the guidance says that staff are allowed to move between bubbles in primary to allow for specialist teaching and cover. I also would be uncomfortable with this due to the lack of social distancing in primary (it’s also a huge issue in secondary.) My school says we’ve got to hear readers sitting near the children, cut up their school dinner, live mark sitting next to them etc (basically what we’d do normally) so no SD between adults and children but adults must distance from other adults. It will be interesting to see if this changes given the new strain and its transmissibility.

I would ask your school what the expectations are e.g. who will observe the trainee, when, where will you be likely to cover (while school, just KS2 etc.) The best thing is to think of solutions and present those to SLT yourself.

I have always been asked to do this, and so long as it wasn't all day every day I'd be ok with it. Trainees teach 80% I think so that's at least one day you'd be in your class, plus the time taken to observe her etc. At the moment we've all got to help when we can. I think maybe draw up a timetable saying when you'd ideally want to be doing interventions and negotiate with slt from there?