[Judydoll]

School today sent home our choices for next year - composite class Yr 2/3 (DS would be in year 3) or a class with 2 teachers (I assume it is a job share position).

He is currently in a composite 1/2. We don't feel strongly for/against composite. Prep and Year 1 were single classes.

Looking for other people's previous experiences/thoughts.

Which would you choose - composite or two teachers?

Thanks.

[Ianthe]

I would prefer two teachers and I am not a huge fan of composites against different stages.

[Broxie]

2 teachers. It's actually great they're giving you a choice.

[nlman]

2 teachers - especially when it's cross stage

[FuzzyMum]

OP, it really depends on the teachers. It really doesn't matter how a class is structured if the teaching staff are not good.

The composite class may be the far better option if the teacher is excellent and the others just average or poor. Also it depends on whether the two teachers work well job sharing. Some pairings just don't work due to a range of reasons which can impact on the kids. Not enough information to judge.

This post has been edited by FuzzyMum: 26/11/2012, 07:38 PM

[wildflowers]

My DD has not had a composite class but she did have two teachers and really did not like it. One teacher she said was grumpy and the other was ok. A friend of mine though wants her DD to skip a year caue she was in the lower level of a composite so she thinks she has done all the upper grade so can go ahead.

[howdo]

With the new curriculum I would be inclined to choose 2 teachers, provided the teachers have been working together successfully already and your child interacts well with his specialist teachers and adapts well to new/different teaching staff in general.

If your child has difficulty transitioning to non contact classes such as PE or Science or LOTE or if he has trouble adapting to relief staff then I would go with the composite one teacher class.

[farfaraway]

2 teachers every time. My experience (as parent and teacher) of job-share teachers (if that is indeed the case here) work bloody hard to ensure they are on the same page. It's two minds working together for one class. Not saying it's always peaches and cream, but an infinitely better option than cross-stage composite IMO.

[Julie3Girls]

My first instinct would be the 2 teachers.
I personally don't like the concept of a 2/3 class. It's cross stage, and all across the infants/primary boundary. My DD was in yr3 of a 2/3 class. The rest of year 3 were in 3/4 classes. The other kids got a chance to get to know the year 4 kids (which came back to bite us a bit this year when DD was put in a 5/6 class and at the bottom of a composite for the first time)
The 2/3 class were split a lot - things like sports carnivals, swimming carnivals, camp. Even stage assemblies. Their work units were slightly different to the rest of yr3/4 because they had a modified units to try and cover 2 stages.
BUT .. DD1 loved the class, I can't really fault it academically.

All that said, this year, our school did 2/3 classes again. Only this time, they have 2 of them, with the rest of yr3 in a 3/4 class. Because there are two 2/3 classes, it's running much better, with the two classes working together a lot, often breaking along year lines. A lot of the problems I saw with DD1's 2/3 class haven't happened this year.

The 2 teachers ... two of my girls actually have this situation this year. DD3 in kinder has one teacher on Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, and a different teacher on Wednesday. DD2 in her 3/4 class has one teacher mon-Wed, the other teacher on Thurs-Fri. Both classes, it seems to have worked really well. The kids aren't bothered by it at all. For my DD3 in kinder, it's not really any different to preschool last year, where she would have different teachers on different days. So she was used to the idea.
And the teachers have worked together well to split up work, so they know where each other is up to on the everyday stuff, and each have their own units to teach as well.


What is the class with 2 teachers? A straight yr3, or a 3/4?
Do you have any experience with the teachers?
How will the 2/3 class work? I'd want some details about this one.

This post has been edited by Julie3Girls: 26/11/2012, 07:41 PM

[Gudrun]

Composite with the same teacher every day.