'Nursery nurses and classroom assistants are being used to "fill the gaps". My own head teacher, when faced with a reception class with no teacher, is likely to call on the school's support staff to take the class.
'I have been left in charge of a Year 2 class with another nursery nurse and with the promise of a co-ordinator popping in to "make sure we were all right". Although I am capable of taking the class for a short time, that is not part of my job and I did not want to be a teacher. I find it stressful and hard work and I am very aware that I am receiving half the pay of a supply teacher.
'When the Year 1 class was without a teacher, the class was often split and I had a group of ten to 15 children with vague instructions on what to do and no preparation time.
'Supply teachers are now scarce and can be choosy, so the school once left me in charge of the difficult children from one class so that the supply teacher would have an easier day and would agree to come back to the school!
'I have, however, occasionally offered to take the reception class (with extra help), because I had bad experiences of supply teachers coming in and saying to me, "Just carry on as you usually do, I'll just help out", or "Right, what do you want me to do then?" I can see that the children are better off with an adult that they know, but to expect a nursery nurse to take charge of a class feels like exploitation.
'I would be happy to take on a reception class occasionally if I were paid a teacher's wage for those days. As it is, if I take on a class for a day, I am under a lot more pressure for no extra pay.'
'I'm conveniently left to cope with a parent helper'
'My school has had terrible problems getting supply staff, and what this means to me as a nursery nurse in reception is that if staff are ill and no cover can be found, I'm conveniently and very quietly left to cope with a parent helper. Priority will be given to the middle and upper school because they presumably do not feel the classroom assistants could cope as I do. The head has always insisted reception staff have the nursery nurse qualification, presumably for this reason.
'However, with good supply staff becoming scarce, ancillary staff find themselves taking on more responsibility. Often the children play up, the supply staff find it hard going, they don't know the children and they can be unsure of the plans available to them. The classroom assistant ends up taking on more and more. It's not uncommon to be asked by supply teachers, "What do you want me to do, then?"
'As teachers become more stressed and bogged down by admin, they seem to drop like flies. Last winter was terrible, and I was shattered! I could not take time off because I did not like the idea of both reception staff being out of the class and unsettling our very young children. I could see the effect a steady stream of supply staff had on the infants. Ancillary staff end up coming in earlier to help and stay later all for free, because they want to help teachers and children.
'I found taking over the teacher role scary at the start. However, experience and simply watching the teacher have shown me that I can do this and quite well too, and, yes, I like the challenge!
'But there's no extra pay, no acknowledgement of our efforts, no extra training as a benefit in kind, not even thanks! And we can't complain - we have few rights and few are on permanent contracts. Most know that if they left in protest, a massive number of applications for their post would come in from mums who are desperate to work school hours!'
