Online lessons because schools can't recruit and retain teachers

And then people wonder why there’s a growing mental health crisis in young people. Exercise and creativity are not just luxuries.

At secondary school? The schools ‘job’ is education. A parents job is heathy food and exercise, anything that happens in schools should only be an extra to that.

What about the kids who want to go on to study sports science or physiotherapy or similar?

Exclusion is always a very last resort.

Safeguarding the child is the priority and often the same child who has behaved badly enough to be excluded is the same child that left out of school is at the most risk.

The parent is also less likely to be able to sort out the behaviour of this child ( and if course by the point the professionals have struggled).

The police and other services don't want this child out of school either.

There is no or very little other provision. LA’s have to legally provide education after 15 days. Where does this come from?...either expensive private providers ( deficit LA budgets) or pressure on the ‘next door’ HT to admit the child ( and so the cycle continues). I've worked with kids in this situation who are on their 4th school.

Save the AP schools for children who's behaviour is unmanageable in mainstream due to SEN.

Children whose behaviour is unmanageable in mainstream due to shit parenting - parents will have to take responsibility and home school.

I know that's completely impossible because children with behaviour issues and safeguarding at home frequently go hand in hand, but I really think one of the biggest problems in schools is lack of parental accountability.

I agree with the PP about uk parents taking any comments about parenting as a personal insult. We need to move to a more European culture on parenting to be able sustain society. Shit parenting in the UK is all to common, and I don't just mean substandard parenting - actual damaging parenting.

But for this to improve we need social workers. Social services are just as fucked as education.

OFSTED's latest report into the Arts ironically laments that they note the cutting of curriculum time for arts and sport.

We have the same. Teachers are staying a lot less time. And yet we boast about excellent wellbeing because we are a low turnover school. This does not seem true now. We have cover teachers filing in timetable gaps in core subjects, Geography teachers deserting the school at a pace (note Geography is not supposed to be a problem subject!) , incredible problems recruiting in English, mounting class sizes at A level to paper over the cracks. and maths teachers on a revolving door project of leaving for the private sector or SLT.

Dancing, but part of education is a broad curriculum and recognition that purely covering English and Maths makes it purely functional, narrow and that society needs people with more than that.

Sadly, lots of schools are increasingly focusing more heavily on English and Maths only and cutting the other subjects because of funding. They can’t afford to run Art which requires more materials and smaller class sizes, so they offer it to fewer year groups. Is that what we want? If resourcing and teacher wages continue as now, the focus will become narrower and narrower as that’s all that can be afforded. Only subjects which show up in the arbitrary EBACC will be taught, as they affect League tables and therefore admissions and therefore funding.

Is that where the ‘market’ in state education is taking us…..to a very narrow curriculum where students have very little choice and there is a narrow one-size fits all curriculum…which won’t work for many students and won’t supply our society with what’s needed. Reduced funding will make it go that way.

At secondary school? The schools ‘job’ is education. A parents job is heathy food and exercise, anything that happens in schools should only be an extra to that. I think for a lot of teenagers PE lessons are barely
endured as it is - a focus on team sports which many don’t have any interest in. You can join a sports club or just exercise outside easily but can you say the same for high quality maths tuition?

And yet every second thread about teachers seems to be saying "escalate, raise a complaint, see the head, email the MP, tell the governors, demand an explanation" - Why? because a teacher may or may not have said something the student didn't like.

It's exhausting. It always has to be investigated. It's a horrible feeling if it happens to you, you have to spend more time giving your side of the story.. (I'm not a teacher but I know several)

No room for that with online. You all get the programme - no comments to be misconstrued or accusations of inappropriate conduct. And teachers can do jobs where they don't have to take abuse, violence and complaints on a daily basis.

And it's too easy to say "blame the government" I have no faith it will suddenly be paradise under Labour. It's US, it's OUR insistence that we get exactly what we want, when we want it, perfectly tailored for our situation or we'll make a fuss. And that if we are "paying our taxes" we can do/say what we like. Societies cannot possibly function like that.
Not a popular view though.

Two excellent and experienced colleagues have left teaching recently to set up their own online tutoring businesses. It seems quite easy to do and very lucrative. They are encouraging us to follow suit.

Other good teachers have moved to private schools and lots are close to (early) retirement.

My school is (or has been, genuinely I think) "outstanding" and has been a very popular place to work but now even we are really struggling to recruit.

Yes to all of those things.

That is a problem. Not being able to play decent badminton isn’t.

You are overlooking the importance of regular exercise to a healthy society.

Different pay for different subjects = red herring.

Ongoing lack of resourcing for schools to do their job properly and teacher pay are the key issues. If these are sorted out, in the medium term, no-one will need online recorded non-interactive lessons. However, this will become an increasingly common trend until resourcing is massively increased and teacher pay is increased. The 2 together will help stem the massive exodus of teachers.

@user79620 why? We have a chronic problem in this country with children leaving school without functional maths and English skills. That is a problem. Not being able to play decent badminton isn’t. Not playing decent netball isn’t going to adversely affect your life chances. But not having a 5 in maths will. I think it’s wilful ignorance to try and pretend that all subjects are equal.

This is So worrying to hear. Online learning has a place in some circumstances but is johore near as effective as face to face. This isn't just about teacher salaries though, it's about the lack of budget to resource schools as a whole properly and ridiculous workloads, expectations and treatment.

Physics teacher here, teaching all sciences and also one of the 'lesser' but compulsory subjects mentioned. No idea how that would work out salary-wise.
Very happy to be paid the same as all my colleagues.
I would rather have less contact time, fewer behaviour issues and more support with SEND than more pay. I'd also like experienced classroom teachers to stay in school so that I can learn from them.

And @DancingOnThinIce73 that's the most depressing, reductive and functional view of education I've read in a while.

Maths and science teachers are essentially already better paid - fairly hefty bursaries , often lured with made up TLRs and in some schools rapidly promoted (thereby not relay helping teaching issues!). That has been going on for years. Doesn't seem to work.

Agree its not a private vs state issue - more an increasing disparity between stronger and weaker schools, whether state or private. When there's a shortage of teachers, the schools that are going to find it easier to recruit are the best HMC privates which have retained TPS, the best grammars, and the non-selectives which have the best reputation for pupil outcomes, behaviour and senior management. The weaker schools in both sectors will find it harder to recruit and are likely to spiral downwards as a result. Meanwhile, the more affluent parents will increasingly pay for tutoring to at least ensure their children come out with decent grades, even if their in-school experience is awful. That's not an education system.

I’d leave it to qualified professionals to decide but it is possible, certainly for lower needs SEN. Which covers a large minority of pupils whether they are diagnosed or not. There’s many specialist professionals in the area and many schools that are doing very well with it. There’s also a lot of gate keeping and inflexibility in education. A good start would be requiring a senco to have a reasonable amount of additional training and protected time. I’m not sure that ignoring needs until the point that an EHCP is needed, or crisis mental health care, or a special school place costing thousands, not to mention the percentage of the prison population that have SEN etc is actually saving money. But it’s easier to blame teachers, parents, the children rather than admit it’s not fit for purpose and invest in education.
it’s always unpopular to suggest that some people should be paid more but if you work in a shortage area that is what generally needs to happen. It’s not about worth, or value of the individual

I would add if we started paying PE teachers less than others they might be somewhat less wiling to be 'second subject specialism' and agreeably teach year 9 maths, physics, RS, English in their tracksuits. A lot of school prop up core subject staffing with trained PE teachers who have a second subject.

In the end, whether there should be more differentials in pay isn’t the key issue. At the moment, the government isn’t willing to pay teachers more or enough to keep them long term. Teachers are leaving all subjects and at all levels and recruitment is struggling.

It’s not just about pay. That’s a factor and an important one, but the most important is resourcing for schools, because it’s that which makes the day-to-day job so unpleasant and forces people to leave. They will put up with not being hugely well-paid. That’s always been the case to one degree or another. But it gets to the point where the conditions are so bad, they can’t put up with it all.

2 things are needed. They need to happen together. Schools need significantly more resources and teachers need higher pay, which doesn’t all come out of and reduce the school’s resources.

Arguing about whether certain subjects should receive more pay and if certain subjects are ‘nice to haves’ is a red herring and the kind of thing thrown in to divert attention from the key issues. Likewise, blaming the existence of private schools is a red herring. The crucial issues are school funding and teacher pay in the state sector.

You need a degree to teach PE. What tosh.