Am I just old fashioned?

[teachername]

Primary school. Younger TA working in my year group - when the pupils found out her first name and decided to use that instead of Miss 'surname' she didn't correct them. When I queried it, she said she was more than happy for them to call her by her first name. This has grown from a few pupils to most of the pupils in school. Some pupils know my first name and tried it with me, but I corrected them to my surname.

Is this a now accepted thing in other schools as I'm wondering if I'm just old fashioned and behind with the times?!

This wouldn’t bother me at all - I’d quite like to drop the ‘Mrs whatever’. But it would be unusual for 1 person to do this in a school if it wasn’t general practice there.

Some schools use first names for all staff. I have a TA working with me who uses her first name, ie Mrs Jennifer - partly cultural but mostly she prefers it.

This is just one TA (not part of school culture) and there is no title included, just her first name, if that makes any difference?

I don’t see any problem with it.

I wouldn't be OK with that personally. But then I am quite old fashioned and traditional, so what do I know?

One of the cool dude style young TAs in my old school went by his first name. I felt like he was too familiar and down with the kids for my liking!

It’s either everyone does it or no one. It’s not up to her anyway, the head should be deciding which way to go on this.

I am Miss Begum, and Miss Begum at all times, I would not tolerate it

Yeah this is weird... doesn't seem professional / appropriate to me. Could the head have a word?

I don’t like it either. Some of our pastoral team do this which I guess is a bit different to a class teacher, but I still think it blurs the lines.

Definitely not OK unless it's a general school policy. I've worked in a school where TA's went by first names and teachers by surnames. The TA's definitely got less respect from the kids. It's a status marker that kids naturally respond to.

I kind of get it from her point of view- some people don't especially like being called "Miss", or even "Miss surname". I'm not so convinced "Miss" is more respectful than a first name- although I understand culturally it is seen that way.

But I also think it's not a decision for an individual member of staff to make, and it probably needs to be discussed with her by a member of SLT.