Only 32 Troops to Teachers

I think the 3 year course would be better but how attractive is it if they can access good jobs without the need for extensive study?

Also, who are they trying to recruit? Non commissioned young men/women (squaddies) with lowish academic qualifications are not really going to be suitable for teaching STEM subjects to A level. Nor would they have the basic qualifications to do a degree unless they have studied whilst in the forces. I guess all the tours of duty have prevented this for many. So who are the courses for?

A lot of Officers already have degrees but didn’t want to be teachers in large numbers. Therefore one assumes they have something better lined up when they leave. They are also typically older than the young recruits and stay in the military longer and build up a decent pension. The need to teach might not be top of their agenda when they leave.

We also know a lot of people feel utterly lost when they leave the military, but I don’t see teaching as therapy. It has to be a vocation and maybe theirs was the military and all that goes with it.

I am guessing work-life balance came into play here as many would have children and not necessarily be accustomed to 'taking work home'

Hmmmm having had three nephews that were in the army that served in Afganistan and Bosnia - who were away on tours not seeing family for months on end - I think they would find the above comment VERY offensive ...I am sure they would rather be in a classroom with teenagers rather than seeing their mates blown up in front of them!

I think you have hit the nail on the head, piggy. There are plenty in the military who are specialists in what they do and have been taught well for that job, but they are not generalists and many won’t know the breadth of the A level curriculum for Stem subjects. That’s why we prefer teachers with relevant degrees. How many ex military are appropriately qualified? It’s no wonder they have found teaching to be difficult.

Years ago, PE teachers were ex military! Also school bursars. In all my years around schools, I cannot remember seeing anyone else from the military actually teaching. I am not sure there is an appetite for it with suitably qualified ex military. I know an RAF pilot who is doing an MSc right now. I cannot imagine he will teach when he leaves the RAF, unless it’s how to fly a plane of course!

As a side thought , is it the IT people in the Forces who leave? I rather thought the support roles tended to stay on longer : although the big issue I hear is the engineers deserting (excuse pun) for high paid jobs in Dubai, on rigs etc or in engineering in general. Teaching certainly won't have that appeal!

That's really interesting Clavinova. On the face of it, it's good that the previous scheme produced any teachers but it was waaaaaay short of targets (hence scrapped). There is a rather scathing BBC article which picks up on the drop out rate of military people who couldn't' t hack the demands of the training which is fascinating! I am guessing worklife balance came into play here as many would have children and not necessarily be accustomed to 'taking work home'

Sure military STEM knowledge is indeed worth tapping : I'd still rather like them to have maths and physics A levels.... but I guess I am in cloud cuckoo land.

I can see this is an attempt to solve tow issues at once. But the cultures of the two jobs are much more different than is suggested so these people will need top notch training, which I fear they may not get. They'll just be fed to the lions.teenagers

I find it incredibly offensive that the government are suggesting offering £40k bursaries for this scheme when they have scrapped bursaries for nurses

I thought the main problem causing the shortage of nurses was the lack of training places available. Prior to scrapping the bursary 40,000 would-be student nurses were rejected for training courses every year. Does it really matter if the number of applications dips a bit if they increase the number of training places instead?

It's a 3 year course with a 40k bursary for two of the years, bizarrely

forces.net has more details:

"According to the Sunday Times, the bursary will be available from September for anyone who has left the Army, Royal Navy or RAF in the past five years - and wants to teach priority subjects like science or computing "

"The paper says the scheme will be announced this week, replacing Troops to Teachers programme, which was set up by the former Prime Minister David Cameron four years ago."

" The new bursary will apparently be paid in the final two years of a three-year teaching degree "

www.forces.net/news/military-veterans-offered-ps40000-retrain-teachers

Not such a bonkers idea - loads of technicians, engineers and IT specialists in the forces via apprenticeship schemes. I googled this and the RAF and Navy especially have their own STEM training centres/colleges, plus they already run STEM outreach projects for schools.

Quote: Understanding algebra can make the difference between life and death in the navy

The Mirror had a Jan 2017 update on the Troops to Teachers figures.
Still described as a flop but numbers improved from 32:

“Twenty-nine trainees from cohort one qualified as teachers, and 40 trainees from cohort two qualified as teachers.

“In addition, 51 trainees were recruited for cohort three in September 2015 and a further 100 for cohort four in September 2016.”

It's a 3 year course with a 40k bursary for two of the years, bizarrely.

2 years I gather.

Its just a bit gimmicky. I'm sure many ex soldiers would and do make excellent teachers but it was sold as something to sort out schools and that made it a gimmick, plus they wasted a great deal of money on it.
on a personal note, I worked with 2 ex - soldiers, one is an outstanding teacher and the other was an complete arse.

Do they not want any of these troops to become medics and paramedics, nurses etc? For all I know there is a different scheme to do with this...

Have they? Goodness, that is offensive. They spent millions on the Troops to teacher scheme at an estimated £62000 spend on each teacher who actually qualified.

I find it incredibly offensive that the government are suggesting offering £40k bursaries for this scheme when they have scrapped bursaries for nurses.

My SCITT started with 64 students in September. We’re down to 60 now, and I know at least two trainees who do not intend to seek a teaching job for next year.

So we’re on a drop out rate of 7%. So far...

I think leadership is the slightly misplaced word here...not sure what problem solving is always required either! To me, it is not the main feature of the job that's problem ignoring

I juts don't get why of all things they want to resurrect something which, with absolutely no quibbling from any political or educational quarters, completely failed.

I am guessing the bursary approach is fixing a perceived problem with the previous incarnation?

I think you are looking at the old details : there aren't any details on the new programme other than 40k bursaries (which is more than graduates with 1sts get..)

Rightly or wrongly I think the government are I assume looking at an over resource in one area (military) and an under resource in teaching and trying to manage both situations .... its just a shame if they have marketed the scheme to alienate current teachers by using terms like military ethos” into struggling schools.

I didn't mean to imply that dofe was a large part of teaching ...but just a very good teacher who had additional skills who was using them to benefit the school by volunteering her weekends to assist students to gain confidence and learn outdoor skills and teamwork.

... but helping out with DofE (whilst great if you like that sort of thing) constitutes a tiny proportion of what teaching is...

I suspect the ex military teacher you know qualified via the usual route?

A quick look at the old Troops To Teachers site suggests they didn't even require A levels. I may have misinterpreted as there is loads of jargon (which probably put some potential applicants off!!)

I do tend to think anyone who wants to be a teacher at the age of 16 will commit themselves to it and make a great teacher. I am not one who tries to put youngsters off, personally.