Only 32 Troops to Teachers

And I totally understand and respect what noblegiraffe is saying.

The recruitment to Troops to Teachers has been an issue.
Presumably quite a lot of money was spent on it.
This money could have been spent on helping to retain good teachers by:

*improving school budgets so they don't rely on cheap NQTs and can afford teachers with experience
*seriously looking at teacher workload (instead of some twatty questionnaire that has been quietly filed and forgotten about)
*invest in their own working parties so that any changes made have minimum impact on teachers (eg new NC tests - STILL no official writing assessment guidance for Y6 teachers 20 weeks before we need to submit Teacher Assessments)

Hear, hear Brian

Well said Brian

Excellent post, brian

Just read that link you posted noble.

Love that this was one of the findings of the "think tank":

A report by think tanks says the fact that ex-soldiers had a macho image could help engender respect - particularly among boys.

There's some bizarre selective reading going on here.

Obviously I can't speak for all teachers but I think I am accurate in saying:

• teachers welcome any well-suited new recruits to teaching, including ex-military personnel

• teachers do not believe ex-armed forces are any more suited to teaching than anyone else in particular

• a scheme to attract ex-armed forces has failed to attract them in any great numbers, showing that the idea they would be perfect for teaching and given an extra incentive to train is, perhaps, wrong

• good teachers already in the profession are leaving, like I am, and my DH is, and many of my colleagues are, either to go abroad or leaving the profession altogether. Given that many thousands of pounds have already been spent to train us, perhaps it would be wiser to invest some time and money working out how to keep us in schools in this country, rather than trying to recruit ever more new teachers.

Noble you should be proud because a teacher that was (previously) willing to give up their life to protect you is something worthy. If you say they are just a sticker and weird, I would suggest your are a very strange person, as I explained in previous post.

You write about teachers pay as if you somehow represent them, not just yourself. if you dont, then stop being disingenuous, if you are then admit your bias representation.

If you ran a class that could fit thirty but only twenty signed up and only ten passed, would you be happy to say you only had a 33% success rate? I think not, ten passing out of twenty is a 50% pass rate, or are you redefining how we should judge teachers? Do you work for a union perchance?

Ok nobelgiraffe, my comment would have been better explained in a different order.

So more explicitly, I find it weird you wouldn't be proud to have a teacher from a military background in your school (your quote "proud to have them in your school, that's a bit weird, tbh).

And the second point, in a few threads now I have read you comment things like eg quote "teachers will need her to get her As and As too or they can say goodbye to any chance of a payrise next year*.)

How about you address the points of your lack of facts, political bias and completely fantasized spin?

Isn't it also about the principle of saying "people who have served in the military have transferable skills, and the government ought to support those who have served?" Here in the US being a veteran is a similar status to disabled people applying for jobs under the Two Ticks scheme: they get an interview if they meet the criteria, and an employer has to be very careful if they decide not to employ someone else. Troops to Teachers is a very very watered down version of this, but recognizes that some - not all! - military could bring something to the classroom.

Have you seen the entry requirements for the course? They're very specific and require a certain amount of relevant qualifications and experience, and to have fairly recently left the army. I would be surprised if there were that many people who qualify that also wanted to be teachers. I think 180 was always going to be optimistic.

These kinds of recruitment drives are just fiddling around the issues without actually addressing anything. And as Bolognese demonstrates, they chime with a certain proportion of the electorate who view teachers as lazy, work-shy whinging lefties. Those ex-military types will soon kick them into order!

I'm pissed off because the government probably thought .....
complete fantasy, political spin. Why am I not paid more?

The scheme might have had a max limit of 180 but you dont know why it didn't get 180 in the first year. Maybe because it didn't spend any money pushing it to ex military, maybe because its new, maybe, maybe, maybe!

My point is that your deriding a new scheme with hardly any facts.

I would be proud to have military in a school because they are committed to success, they are willing to give their lives to protect our children/country/me. All I ever hear giraffe do, is complain she wont get a pay rise next year. Quite frankly I find that all very selfish weird tbh.

Really, Bolognese? Teachers are just threatened by these ex military types? Honestly? It pisses teachers off because 32 NQTs is a drop in the ocean and just because they're all ex-military doesn't automatically make them excellent teachers. I'm quite sure there'll be a range from excellent to scraping satisfactory as there is for other NQTs. It's just a headline grabbing scheme that doesn't actually help in the long run.

According to giraffes figures its 32 out of 41 teachers trained, a success rate of 78%. Spin it anyway you want but that's basic maths, I dont get why teachers are so anti military becoming teachers.

What money has been wasted? Read several posters complaining, but where are the actual figures?

So far that's 32 ex-military that have been found a new career, I would be proud to have them at any school my DC went to. Good teacher keep, bad teacher sack.

I wonder are teachers against them because they might have a backbone different union affiliations and wouldn't strike? Is this post just about politics?

Maybe give the teachers who have just gone through the scheme a chance before deciding it was a complete waste of time and money, eh?

The whole point is to get something different into teaching!

There are loads of different "things" you could bring into teaching if that is the objective. Whether they would be things that are needed or wanted by children and their parents is another matter.