6 Maths Teachers so far

[Clarita12345]

Hi there,
My daughter in year 7 just informed me that they have had so far 7 different Maths Teacher in her school!
I am thinking of obviously complain to the school. How should I approach it & what are our rights?
Thank you

[lljkk]

There's a national shortage of math teachers.

[Charis1]

There is a 40% shortfall of maths teachers nationally.

Complaining to the school is pointless.

if you want to do something constructive, complain to your MP about the working conditions of teachers. Tens of thousands have walked out it recent years, (I'm one of them) The work load was little short of slavery, 90+ hours a week as standard, several times a week there was no opportunity to go to bed at night, and almost all of it pointless paperwork, record keeping, writing ever changing policies into schemes of work, etc etc etc.

For example, one of the last jobs I was given was to return to a years worth of lesson plans and write into each one exactly how I was promoting equal opportunities for ethnic minorities in the way I intended to teach every single lesson, individually for the next 12 months ( in maths!)

This was BEFORE the topics I was teaching had been allocated, so the lessons I was writing were imaginary anyway.

I could give you dozens such examples.

i am now in and out of schools as freelance or supply, and lookingat the situation from the outside I am horrified and disgusted at the treatment i see teachers endure. last week I deliberately timed one individual on the photocopier.

just under 11 hours. This is not unusual in the slightest.

Anyway, sorry, once I start, I find it hard to stop.

Contact your MP!

[TeenAndTween]

Don't complain, but you could mildly enquire. As in 'DD reports ...., will she get some stability next year as this has been disrupting?'

Can you ask your DD how many have been permanent teachers, and how many supply? If for example teacher 1 went unexpectedly sick, then they might have needed some supplies to fill in before replacement 2 was found, that kind of thing?

[Babypythagorus]

I'd agree it depends whether they've been permanent or supply. There is a maths teacher crisis, but a school that treats staff well and has good leadership probably wouldn't lose lots of staff like that. If it's been a run of supplies while they find a good permanent replacement, that's a different story. I would certainly call in and find out what's going on - good for the school to know parents have this on their radar. And if lots of permanent staff are leaving, I'd be asking questions, and getting parent governors to raise it at governors' meetings as a major issue.

[MrsUltracrepidarian]

You certainly should complain to the school, and to the governors.
There is a shortage of maths teachers, but if you just accept this as the excuse without delving deeper, nothing will change. The shortage is not evenly spread - some schools are managing ok, so not really a complaint for your MP until the school has explained to you its own reasons.
I am a supply teacher, not a maths specialist, but do teach lots of maths (and physics) as some schools struggle to recruit. The better managed schools have better staff retention, the worst ones have poor retention and also cannot keep supply teachers - there are some schools I will not return to, others I return to frequently.
The maths syllabus is also changing at the moment, which is causing a major headache and workload, so more are leaving to so supply until he dust settles than normally would. Also with the upturn in the economy and more jobs being created in the private sector, maths specialists can get better paid jobs outside teaching.
Your DD in Y7 (and then in Y8 & Y9) will have worst of it, because where specialist teachers are scarce, the priority is Y11, Y13, Y12, Y10 in that order - I see this a lot.

[jeanne16]

That's why I now teach maths in a private secondary school. We have smaller classes but more importantly, less of the pointless paperwork that is swamping state schools ( although unfortunately ours is creeping up now too).

We are also allowed to use textbooks so less photocopying. State school teachers are unconsidered lazy and unimaginative if they 'just use textbooks', hence the endless hours spent photocopying random sheets downloaded off the Internet (which are considered fine even though no one checks them whereas textbooks have been produced by people with expert knowledge but somehow they are not acceptable!)

[MrsUltracrepidarian]

Jeanne - indeed, my DC are at an independent school and there has been minimal staff turnover - those staff who do leave tend to be going for promotion in other indies rather than for other reasons.

[Clavinova]

It seems ridiculous to print off reams of maths worksheets - ds1 (yr8 independent) has a textbook - the same textbook as his friend at the super selective grammar school so not all state schools do this. He also has 2 exercise books - 1 for classwork and 1 for homework.

OP should definitely complain to the governors re 7 different maths teachers - do the supply teachers not want to return to the school?

[whathaveiforgottentoday]

Certainly raise it with the school, but as this is an area of subject shortages, I'm sure the school are already very aware and very concerned but sometimes there just isn't decent staff to employ.

Hopefully, they will ensure your DD's class get given a reliable teacher next year as this is what we've done when we've had this problem in the past (physics teacher are pretty rare too). Hopefully they will recruit for september. At this time of year, if a maths or physics teacher hasn't got a full time job, there is usually a good reason for it, so not many decent staff on the market.

[Whichseason]

Why so many teachers? It is not uncommon for teachers to share classes if they are part time, so you she may have started off with two teachers, one goes on maternity leave, the other is sick so that is 4. If somebody is on sick they will probably only have day to day supply at the beginning until they can get a more permant specialist member of staff, especially if they don't know how long the person will be off for. If the first long term supply is not very good they may look around for another supply teacher or the supply teacher maybe offered a longer time supply contract some where else so they need a new teacher.

I can easily see how she has had many teachers and I very much doubt that the school are not trying their very best to deal with the situation.

[LaVolcan]

Slightly off topic but this business of not using textbooks and muddling through with worksheets infuriates me. Someone who has written a textbook has probably got a good few years experience under their belts and knows what works and what doesn't. So why the need to re-invent the wheel each time?

[Charis1]

LaVolcan - because Ofsted want to see every teacher "personalising learning" for every student, and apparently that cannot be done with a text book.

I agree, it is nonsense. Text books will come back. Ofsted will "discover" them one day, and do lots of brand new research to show how they enhance learning, and start insisting everyone falls in with this new educational philosophy...........

[LaVolcan]

Sigh, Charis I am sure you are right. As if a good teacher always slavishly worked through the textbook anyway.

[noblegiraffe]

Textbooks have already come back in fashion, last November.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30129639

All the best PISA countries use textbooks apparently.

But I disagree with LaVolcan that textbooks are written by people who know what's what. The textbooks we currently have for KS3 are appalling and a complete waste of money. The last couple of sets of GCSE textbooks are pretty crap, rushed out by the exam board to account for quick changes in the maths syllabus. My favourite textbooks are ones that I was using when I started teaching ten years ago but they are becoming less useful as time goes on and the exam focus changes.

[Shinyandnew1]

The job pages round here are full of teaching jobs-particular Maths. The same ones at the same schools are being advertised for weeks on end-there aren't enough people willing to teach anymore!

Will it make the government think and address the workload? I suspect not...

[riversandhills]

Textbooks are fab, but not cheap. Yes, it is a false economy to print worksheets instead - but the bottom line is that department budgets will not stretch to buying textbooks. Schools are forced to adopt a short term, survivalist approach.

[SeasonFinale]

ZOMBIE THREAD. As the pupil was in year 7 then they may not even be taking maths A level now!