Primary school - teaching resource

[Viva_Palmeiras]

Since my son has been in primary he has been

1) in a composite class in p1
2) the class in 1) had a teacher who was a principle teacher (whatever that means) so she was out of the class for one day a week and at a peak period she was out for four days
3) now we get told that for p3 his teacher since has a small child is part time 4 days a week AND is also a principle teacher so will be tied up with that now.

Consistency is key particularly in the early years and I believe we are being short changed. At least if we were informed well in advance we could take a view as to whether that is something we'd go for.

Anyone else experienced similar - is it a policy by the council ? The number of acting teachers or on secondments seems to be one the rise?

I presume its it's a case of like it or lump it...

[James.]

Like with everything these days, local authority budgets for education are tight and senior management (such as prinicpal teachers and depute heads) are being asked to take on more class commitments within school. As for composite classes, it's all a number games - a council are not going to okay two P1 classes and two P2 classes if they can have a P1, a P2/1 and a P2 as they have one less teacher to employ or they can use that employee elsewhere. Head teachers only have so much flexibility with staffing and class sizes, it is ultimately up to the local authority to green light the composition of classes and staff at a school.

On the subject of composite classes, children are usually placed in a composite after thorough discussion and consideration - be it their ability to work more independently or so that they can work with a smaller group of children with similar ability to them. It's not just names out of a hat.

As for principal teachers, their days out of class are used to further develop areas of the curriculum or certain initiatives in school. They may be asked to attend meetings with other professionals about welfare, educational support for children with specific needs. It would be great if this was solely their job but sadly money means that they need to be class committed too.

[Hibs Class]

Like with everything these days, local authority budgets for education are tight and senior management (such as prinicpal teachers and depute heads) are being asked to take on more class commitments within school. As for composite classes, it's all a number games - a council are not going to okay two P1 classes and two P2 classes if they can have a P1, a P2/1 and a P2 as they have one less teacher to employ or they can use that employee elsewhere. Head teachers only have so much flexibility with staffing and class sizes, it is ultimately up to the local authority to green light the composition of classes and staff at a school.

On the subject of composite classes, children are usually placed in a composite after thorough discussion and consideration - be it their ability to work more independently or so that they can work with a smaller group of children with similar ability to them. It's not just names out of a hat.

As for principal teachers, their days out of class are used to further develop areas of the curriculum or certain initiatives in school. They may be asked to attend meetings with other professionals about welfare, educational support for children with specific needs. It would be great if this was solely their job but sadly money means that they need to be class committed too.

My daughter was in a composite for the first six years at primary. Class was determined solely on age - the older P1 kids and the younger P2. Split was roughly two thirds P2 and one third P1 so that across the two years the class numbers balanced. At the time the only real advantage was a limit on class size, 25 for a composite whereas a single year group could be, IIRC, 30.

[Stranraer]

In secondary school we had a Biology teacher who made references to illegal sexual activity. After a mass walkout he was booted out of the school and replaced by a man so drunk he could barely stand up - he was always leaning on things to keep himself steady. Primary school was excellent but secondary school was a nightmare from day one, drunk teachers and often no teachers at all for 3 or 4 weeks at a time.

[calumhibee1]

In secondary school we had a Biology teacher who made references to illegal sexual activity. After a mass walkout he was booted out of the school and replaced by a man so drunk he could barely stand up - he was always leaning on things to keep himself steady. Primary school was excellent but secondary school was a nightmare from day one, drunk teachers and often no teachers at all for 3 or 4 weeks at a time.

:agree: I wouldn't say mines had major issues, but there was quite a few teachers who were clearly alcoholics and totally unstable, and one that got done with a sex offence. None of them were any use to the pupils, absolute waste of time being in there classes. I also had a maths teacher who spoke that little english that the majority of the class failed the exam. When the whole class complained we were told to get a grip and get on with it. :agree:

[Allant1981]

My laddie has just went into p2 and has had 4 teachers already as the woman who should have been his teacher is off sick, must get really confusing for the kids, we have a meeting soon at the school to see if they will have a permanent teacher