Part Time Teaching In Reception

[Guest]

I need a little help. I'm just about to finish my maternity leave and am having some difficulty with my school allowing me to return part time. They have concerns over part time teaching in a Reception Class. I however feel that it is good for the children to have relationships with a number of adults and as I have worked with the other teacher for over 5 years, feel we could deliver the curriculum successfully.

 

If anybody has any other positive points on part time teaching in reception I would love to hear from you or if you have any ideas where I may be able to get some quotes/ evidence for the benefits to the children then I would be really grateful.

 

K xx

[Guest]

Hi katiem

I have taught in Reception for 6 year on a part time basis and it works very well indeed with my colleague. She works Mon Tues and Weds and I work Weds Thurs and Fri so we both have a cross over time on Wed where we have our PPA time. we both teach in a different way and have to very stick closely to the planning so we know that things have been covered. We email and text regularly.

 

Benefits are many fold:

Second half of week I am fresh and ready to go and children get benefit of that

Different approaches to teaching diff areas of curriculum means that children have wider range of experiences and all learning styles are covered

Teachers teach to strengths (ie I love ict,she loves music)

School benefits as we both look after subject and management areas

Children enjoy having 2 teachers and if one of us is off (sick or course) we try to cover so children don't need supply

We find that different children cause us problems and hence where i might be struggling with a behavioral issue..she isn't and vice versa so children benefit from the difference in our personalties

Extra person in reception team to share the load and give ideas

 

Disadvantages

Parents evenings..don't get to see all the parents

Parents sometimes will ask us both the same thing about their child but usually our answers are the same or we defer our answers until we have contacted each other.

Communication about whole school things needs to good from management point of view and it isn't always

 

Hope that helps and good luck on your return. Working part time is fab and i wouldn't want it any other way.

Redbase

[AnonyMouse_73]

I agree, I worked many years in job shares and on the whole they worked really well...communication is the key between partners.

 

Out main biggest issue was staff training and INSETS, and you would need to sort this out straight away.

 

What is your Head proposing for your return to work?

[Guest]

Hi Redbase

Thanks so much for your reply. I too feel that all of the reasons you have stated are a bonus to having part time staff.

 

I have known the lady I plan to work part time with for 5 years and worked with her on a LSA basis but now she is qualified and has covered my maternity leave the perfect scenario would be to work part time with her. I feel we both know each others strengths well enough to deliver a comprehensive curriculum.

 

Thanks again.

 

Katiem xx

[Guest]

Hi Mundia

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

The problem is my head has at present refused my request for a job share and I am going through the process of appealing his decision as I feel the reasons they have given are not valid.

 

They state that they don't want any more part time teachers at school (I feel this is unfair as they already allow it in 1 class so why not mine?) and also stated they felt it wasn't appropriate for Reception class to have a part time teacher. Again I disagree with this as none of the people who have made this statement know anything about early years and have no evidence to back this up. I feel that myself and the other teacher have worked together for over 5 years and could deliver a comprehensive curriculum and we could bring different strengths to teaching.

 

Anyway I'm in the process of penning an appeal letter and want to put a good argument across.

 

Thanks again.

Katiem xxx

[Guest]

Hi Katiem,

 

Just like to add to your question - probably not really relevant - but I was interested in your comments.

 

I have today, been to see my HT to ask for part-time work (three days a week) from September.

I have taught full-time in Reception Class at this school for the past five years, previously being a Foundation Stage Team Leader at another school and prior to that have mainly taught in Reception, so therefore feel that I have a lot to give. In response to my request the HT's first response was to say that I could not work part-time in Reception and my request may be turned down by the Governors as "we can't run a school on part-time staff".

 

What can I say? I know I'm not indespensible - but I did feel a little hurt.

[AnonyMouse_79]

Good luck to both of you with your requests.

 

When I wanted part time work I was unable to find anything, no consolation but there is a demand and schools are so often too short sighted with this.

[Guest]

Thanks for your kind thoughts Susan, much appreciated.

[AnonyMouse_390]

I was under the impression that once they had had someone back part time after maternity leave they had to accept anyone elses request because a precedent had been set.

 

I have been very lucky to return intially 2 and a half days a week job sharing in year 1, then I decided to cut down to 2 days and taught music throughout the school. After my next mat leave i now work a day and a half, although they are pushing my goodwill with this as someone else could only return on a specific day, so they gave her my monday. So now I have one set afternoon teaching y3 and then I cover anywhere, any day during the week, only sometimes they don't have anything for me so I owe then 3 and a half days teaching since jan! I also work in my mums pre-school as deputy so have to juggle my days there if school need me!

 

My head also didn't want job sharing in reception as he said they needed the stability of one teacher. However my argument would be that they have a full time TA, and when in nursery/pre-school many children see different staff as they work part time. AND a teacher coming in half way through the week will be more happy and refreshed!

[Guest]

HI Centurians

 

I'm sorry to hear about what your Head said. However denying you on grounds of they have too many part-time staff is not a valid reason. Interestingly enough this was said at my interview, but since I asked for a formal written reason as to why they rejected my request, this funnily enough has been left out.

 

Their main reasons are the detrimental effect on the Reception Class. They claim to have got advice from the LA however I have been contacting various people today in the LA and each person claims that they would not be able to advise such a thing. Each case is different.

 

Make sure you contact your union. Mine has been really helpful so far and I am hoping to appeal the schools decision with their help. I think you have to fight for your job, and then at least if nothing comes from it, you have done all you can.

 

I hope you get a better response from your governors than I did. Good Luck and contact your union.

 

Katiem

xxxxx

[Guest]

Hi

 

I applied for my job as a job share for reception and my colleague and i have now worked together for 6 years. We love it, the kids love us and we have never had any negative comments from parents.

 

As it has been mentioned the liasing etc can be hard but we do parents eve together and get together in the hols (good excuse for lunch out!!) we email, text and phone each other and we have a full time TA who keeps us to date. we take it in turns to plan, we write half the class reports and then swap over to read them all to check through and agree.

 

The schools benfits as they get 2 teachers who in our case get more out of us than one full time teacher !!! as redbase said

 

i cannot see how they can say you cannot do it?

[AnonyMouse_3401]

Could it be because of the amount of part time / job shares already in existance? I am the only fulltime EYFS teacher and we have 2 full time TA's (at the moment) in a 2 session 52 place nursery and 2 reception classes. ( 13 staff in total, 3 job shares) I certainly wouldn't want any more job shares communication is abit of a nightmare!

S