DfE considering making teachers work for free to make up for lack of catch-up funding

[noblegiraffe]

With the upcoming spending review looking like it will hit education hard with little extra cash for catch-up, the DfE is reportedly now considering simply making teachers do it for free.

They are considering a proposal to remove the 1265 hours cap on teachers ‘directed time’ which would mean schools could add hours to the school day and just timetable teachers to teach them for no extra pay.

This, to a sector which is already critically short of teachers, will only damage recruitment further, and push more teachers out of the profession.

They are flailing around trying to come up with solutions to problems of their own making that will, in fact, only make things worse. Absolute idiots.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/01/dfe-considering-return-of-sats-at-14-and-axing-teaching-hours-limits

@PickUpAPepper

Please don’t start turning this into an amazing teachers v crap parents argument. Parents are also having to work long hours to survive often in jobs that pay a lot less than teaching. That is why they need kids in school. Some of them come home and start undoing the damage of crap teachers, qualified ones too. “The profession” went down a long time ago.

It's not a race to the bottom. Saying others have it tough too is irrelevant. Doesn't everyone deserve better? Dismissing the lot of others doesn't make your lot any better either. Sorry but I don't see reams of parents in other jobs leaving or wanting to leave their jobs in the numbers that we are hemorrhaging teachers. No one made it a parents v teachers argument and a few shit teachers isn't a reason to dismiss the serious concerns of others. Plus, plenty of teachers are struggling not because they aren't capable but because the system is impossible and the job is impossible. If a few nurses are crap shall we dismiss all NHS staff talking about how awful and untenable their jobs have become as well? Staff in vocational jobs have been taken advantage of to prop up the system for long enough but the fact is there is nothing left to give. Any parent should be terrified about what is happening.

Plus the "profession" didn't go down. The government and Ofsted have destroyed Education and the staff within. It's not the fault of those working within it. Anger needs to be directed in the right place.

The profession” went down a long time ago

Utter rubbish.

@PickUpAPepper

Please don’t start turning this into an amazing teachers v crap parents argument. Parents are also having to work long hours to survive often in jobs that pay a lot less than teaching. That is why they need kids in school. Some of them come home and start undoing the damage of crap teachers, qualified ones too. “The profession” went down a long time ago.

Absolutely rubbish. There has never been better teachers or better support staff on my school. Everyone is truly amazing and cares deeply for their children.

Sadly the job as it has become means that it's impossible to do.

As a parent with a primary aged DD who has SN I don't want this.

My DD needs down time away from class to play and do other none academic activities as well as spend time with me and/or ExH when he bothers her classmates are the same, so many now aren't academic fly at sports, or other activities done after school.

I remember at secondary school needing to rest my brain and process my learning at the end of the day, if you'd added an extra lesson or two on I'd have never passed. I was a "well rounded average" pupil who actually needed that time. I sometimes came home and slept for an hour or two before eating. Then I'd do homework after dinner. It was my way of learning everything I'd been told that day.

I don't agree and I don't think it's fair to pupils or teachers.

DH is a HoD and is close to a nervous breakdown (as home life is pretty stressful too). He's told SLT that he will only do work that benefits the students and everything has to go. Tbf they're supporting him in that. So I guess in principle, if everyone did this, and got rid of all the additional paperwork, equal representation audits and the like, this could free up more time to dedicate to catching students up. But I would guess that the majority of teachers don't have anything left to give, regardless of whether it's paid or not as most are on their knees.

But I would guess that the majority of teachers don't have anything left to give, regardless of whether it's paid or not as most are on their knees.

100% this.
Glad your DH feels supported.