How old must you be to be left in charge of a secondary school class? My son is 'taught' by a 16/17 year old!

Question

She left the same school last summer and began as a teaching assistant in September. The school have paid for her to do a teaching assistant NVQ level 1. But i question if her taking classes on her own is legal. She also hangs sround outside school with some of the pupils.

Answer 1

i teach running start at one of the elementary schools where i live and i am 16. they take volunteers from the high school and teach them the material to teach the little kids:]

(they are usually short staffed)

Answer 2

No Children Left Behind requires teachers in public school to be taught by certified, probationary certified teachers, or an intern that is on the way to cert. ..and teaching in degreed content area.

Nonpublic schools don't require cert teachers...many train their own teachers or seek degreed teachers of legal working age and above. If the 17 year old (working age?) is subbing long term nothing you can do about it... or if the person is staff filling in.. .. find a better school.

Answer 3

This is illegal if the person has not been trained and qualified as a teacher. If you don't agree with this, you can challenge this .

Answer 4

Assuming the young teacher is unusually mature and intelligent, no problem.  Otherwise, complain.

Answer 5

I've known one or two kids that had the maturity to handle at that age, but very few.  I suppose if the 16/17 year old were certified as a teacher (there is the occasional kid who graduates from college at 14 or 16) and is deemed to be extremely responsible, I might not mind, but if this is just another high school student, then it should not be happening.