Desperate For Advice

[Guest]

I teach in the FS with another teacher.The other teacher is qualified 2 years ago and before that worked with us as a nursery nurse. I have a problem as she is not pulling her weight. All her half of the planning is simply photocopied from schemes I feel it does not meet the childrens needs and is quite often boring for the children. She is forever leaving the classroom to make phonecalls or to see other members of staff which should wait until break time. My main concern is that she does not teach what shr plans. Half the time i go into her half of the room and she will be making 'to do' lists of making labels on her computer rather than working with groups and teaching. I cracked last term and became very upset and spoke to the deputy head. She said i needed to speak to this teacher and make clear what her responsibilities were which i did and she did become slightly better althought made me feel as if she was doing me a favour by doing her job. The situation has now got worse and even my nursery nurse has said it needs sorting as she feels i am carrying her. I feel that the head should speak to her but i don't want her to think i have been telling tales. How do i approach this situation?

Please help - i got very stressed with it last term and started to dread going to school. I love my job and do not want to start not enjoying it because of this.

[Guest]

What a horrible and disheartening situation for you. I really feel for you, it is awful when someone does not pull their weight. Are you her line manager? If not then it is definitely not up to you to sort her out. Speak to her line manager about the situation and asked if she can be observed (from a distance to take account of all the leaving class etc.) and her planning scrutinized.

Be bold about this, it is not only you who is suffering, but the children.

 

Puzzles

[hali]

i agree go higher and voice your concerns, before you become ill.

[Susan]

Oh Lola, what a difficult situation to be in but as has been suggested if you are not her line manager then it is not up to you to sort this and if you are and things have not improved then you need to speak to your manager who should support you in dealing with the situation. As you have already spoken to the deputy, she would be the obvious person to speak to again now.

Good luck.

[JacquieL]

You do need to go back to your line manager as you have all ready taken advice and spoken to this teacher, and the improvement has not taken place. She either does not really understand her role, or doesn't want to. It needs sorting out as this situation must be very demoralising for you, and is not good for the children.

If you are working together then shouldn't she be planning to the same format as you? This sounds like a performance management issue, and even if you were her immediate LM and you had tried to get her to improve her practice with no success, then you should pass it up. Good luck and I hope that you get this sorted out.

[Sue R]

It occurs to me that all this list and label making etc may be a hang over from her NN days - I'm not trying to excuse, but to help to explain. It's a big thing with NNs, especially if they've worked in a Day Nursery, that labels etc are right and up to date - you may have to point out that now it's not so important.

 

Any help?

 

Sue

[Guest]

I agree with Sue on the labels front. My manager is constantly going on about nappy basket labels, peg labels, observation labels, labels for this that and the other and my 'to do' list constantly has labels written all over them.

 

My 'to do' lists generally comprise of all sorts of things that although need to be done, actually take me away from the children, playing and interacting with them, moving their learning forward. Maybe as Sue suggests this is a 'carry over' behaviour from her days as a NN and therfore she is struggling to identify the things that really matter and the things that really need doing.

 

Other than that, I have nothing else to add that might be of help. I'm in agreement with everyone else in that if you are not getting anywhere with her, then you should take it higher and attempt to get some support in sorting it out, especially, as Hali rightly pointed out, before you stress yourself out so much that you end up unwell (then where will your children be? )

 

Good luck Lola.

Edited January 4, 2007 by Clare

[Guest]

If it's any reassurance Lola, I'm having some probs in our FSU at the moment. Whilst I love the ethos of the unit and agree completely with the FS guidance, we are having problems where those of us who are trying our best to target children, meet objectives,etc feel like we are banging our heads on a brick wall sometimes. Being in charge of the Reception children, I get lots of pressure from the KS1 leader to raise standards,etc and sometimes struggle to monitor whether children have met certain profile points/objectives because staff based in different areas do not always carry out the planned focussed activities or assess the children whilst observing them. I feel that whilst I can say lots about the tops/lower ability children, my middle ability seem to be one big blur!! Also if I am working in one area, I can only observe/assess for that particular area really and although I give observation sheets to other staff, they are not completed. I feel like only the staff responsible for Reception are carrying the burden of expectations from 'the powers that be' . I feel anxious that when I have my performance management meetings that the progression of the Reception children will be an issue. Any advice welcome....sorry if I sound like I'm whinging!

[Guest]

Hi Lola,

 

I was in a similar situation to you last year - I worked along side a teacher who would come in on a Monday after I had spent the weekend planning and say ask if she could photocopy it. At first I didn't mind helping her out but then it became expected of me to hand over resources/photocopying and I used to feel just like you!

 

I think that as teachers we naturally feel that we should always be supportive and try 'help' out, I often worried what the children would be doing if the teacher had not photocopied my planning. I also did a similar thing to you in that I went to my deputy head but got fobbed off with 'but it is part of your professional develop to mentor etc' but there is a clear difference between mentoring and doing someones job for them!

 

I know that there there is a big push within schools to have performance management review meetings and this might be the way in you might want to talk about this with your head - highlighting the fact that children will not make progress in their learning (profile points) if they are not provided with new and exciting learning experiences (linking it to personal performance targets - not meaning to sound like a bussiness person!)

 

There is being supportive to a point but the bottom line is that the teacher in question is being paid a teachers salary and your SMT are also being paid to manage her - not you.

[Guest]

Hi Lola

I agree with what everyone else has said - you need to pass the problem upwards and not let them fob you off with trying to sort this out yourself. Do you have a FS Co-ordinator? It's their job to make sure that the FS runs properly. Maybe planning together would be helpful - then she could see what you are doing and get some ideas from that. Or could she spend some time in your room so that she can see how you work? Even though she has worked at the school as a Nursery Nurse did she have much to do with planning? I remember when I first qualified I found planning really difficult and yet I had worked previously as a TA for three years.

Hope this helps

Debbie

[Guest]

Hi Kermit

We have just set up a FSU and have found that working as a team on assessment has really helped. We sit down together to look at our observations and discuss what points can be ticked off. As I have had the most experience with the profile I try to use these meetings to help staff who are new to it to develop their knowledge. We have also linked our Nursery assessments to the profile by using the stepping stones and this has helped to create continuity. When people can see how important assessment is I have found that they are more aware of the need to complete observations. When doing focused activities we use a sheet divided into boxes, one for every child. We write the objective and the activity at the top, together with any specific questions that need to be asked. Whoever does the activity completes the sheet - sometimes it might be different people at different times - just needs to look at the sheet to see who has not been assessed and add their comment. Hope this helps. If you want any more info pm me and I'll try to help.

Debbie