Staffing crisis in schools - teachers/school staff, what's your school like?

[noblegiraffe]

Discussions with fellow teachers about the current crisis in school staffing has raised the issue of whether parents know how bad it is. I guess they won't know if we don't tell them?

My school - struggling to recruit teachers. There are subjects at A-level where students are currently teaching themselves, and with no prospect of a teacher on the horizon. Last year we had similar issues, pupils went into exams not fully prepared, and coursework was a huge problem. At GCSE where we couldn't recruit, there was a teacher in front of the class, but not qualified in that subject and pupils complained about the syllabus not being taught.

TA provision has been cut to the bone. There is only in class support if a child has an EHCP, this support is then spread to other children who need help. Due to backlogs with EHCP applications, and applications routinely being rejected (the assumption is automatic rejection, then appeal) some very needy children get no additional help in class. In addition, we have bigger classes due to leaving teachers not being replaced, so teachers are spread even more thinly.

There are huge concerns about teacher recruitment for next year as the number of trainees on local PGCE courses has collapsed.

And I know my school is in a relatively good position compared to others.

DH is a private school. Gone are the days the pay is appreciably more. They get better non contact time and less interference in their teaching, though, especially HODs re the non contact time. Private schools can put fees up because of rising energy costs and staff bills - state schools don't have that option.

Recruitment to private schools isn't always much easier - especially in the usual subjects (not PE where they have huge fields! In both sense) . What they do is poach from state schools....

Staff turnover and retention is better.

I don’t think it’s that more children have SEN, it’s that it’s recognised and diagnosed better now.

When I was at school anyone with any hint of serious special needs or disabilities were sent off to the local special school.

However, I can think of at least 4 children in my class who - in hindsight - obviously had difficulties. They were basically labelled as “bad” or “thick”.

One comes to mind quite often as I see him in the local paper. He couldn’t sit at peace for a second. He was expelled from my school. Then ended up back a couple of years later having been expelled from every other school locally. He was bounced around for years until he was sent to a kind of reform school for bad kids. As a teen he ended up in young offenders and ended up diagnosed with dyslexia, a hearing issue and something else. He’s now done really well for himself because someone in the YOI actually took the time to find out what was going on.

I teach in a very "average" comprehensive in terms of socio-economic intake.

One third of our school roll is on the SEND register. One tenth has an EHCP. It is completely impossible to support all the students in the way they need, let alone all of those with pastoral and mental health needs. There is no money, no "bodies," no external agency support (or very little) and parents demanding more and more blood every day.

Completely unsustainable and it's just going to get worse.

In my school there are so many gaps that virtually every teacher is teaching outside their subject. I’m part time (60%) teach a core subject and very experienced. I’m being asked to teach 3 extra subjects (biology and 2 tech subjects one is ks4 and I have no experience or qualifications in it).
This is all happening while a student teacher (without a related degree) is teaching my core subject. All of my ks3 classes are shared with unqualified staff. The expectation is that I will plan lessons and mark books for these classes 100% despite only teaching them 50% while also upskilling myself massively to teach subjects I have no experience in. I have 2 hours of timetabled ppa over the fortnight and 1 hour that they couldn’t timetable on my working days so I’m expected to wfh on my day off with my twin toddlers.

We have a number of parents who seem to expect school to act as a Minor Injuries unit for things that didn't even happen on the school premises.
So, the child who gets a splinter on the way to school: "tell your teacher."
A "hurting" ankle from a rough game at Brownies last night? Go to First Aid at school tomorrow.

I think this is a noble aim, but will the kind of parents you actually want to reach read it? How many of them are on MN? Really, this is an example of a story you WANT the media to pick up and write an article about so that word gets out.

So @ILoveAllRainbowsx Where is this great online teaching revolution going to take place? In large rooms or halls and who is going to supervise the pupils?
What happens if a pupil needs something explained to them because amazingly that's what TEACHING is about.
We're teachers, we teach - not supervisors.

But being taught by the best teachers in the country online is much better than having no teacher which is what the OP said was happening in her school.

Yes, and in other schools in different subjects. Oak Academy is what you are talking about and was set up by teachers for teachers at the start of the pandemic. However, it only goes up to GCSE, so is no use for the A-level students at my school without a teacher. I'm not sure how much use it would be to replace teaching in a subject with a lot of coursework or practicals, like comp sci or food tech, and it's difficult in subjects where different exam boards mean a very different syllabus (e.g. history).

As I said previously, schools do not have the facilities to have a whole class who is missing a teacher in a computer room logging into lessons that they can cover at their own pace, so it would be videos in a classroom. While I'm sure that Oak Academy lessons are set as cover occasionally, this wouldn't work long term. As mentioned previously, kids need individual feedback on their work from someone who knows what they're talking about. They also need to be able to ask questions as they are being taught.

If you're talking about actual remote lessons, well that's a timetabling and technology nightmare isn't it?

And if a child needs something explained to them, the will be able to contact a teacher anywhere in the country (or even the world).

Apart from being a child protection nightmare, who will these contactable teachers be? Who will they work for? Why would they want the job?

And what if the child doesn't know they need something explaining to them? Would this system require testing at the end of every lesson?

Maths and physics need to be taught by the best teachers and online teaching would be perfect.

For a very few students perhaps. Anyone who has ever taught online knows differently. Many who have had to learn online know differently.

One person’s “best teacher” can easily be another’s worst.

Instead of trying to set up madcap schemes, wouldn't it be great if we could just make schools an attractive place to work and learn in? Teaching, when it's going well, is the best job in the world.

Teachers like being in the classroom teaching the kids (no one goes into teaching for the marking). Teachers don't like a feeling of failing in the classroom. Being unable to teach kids because of behaviour issues, or failing them because you don't have the time or resources to meet their complex needs is a horrible feeling.

Busting a gut to make up for the inadequacies of the school system and current government and still being made to feel like a failure is awful.

@ILoveAllRainbowsx
Why should teachers put up with disruptive behaviour? But you're suggesting that TAs, on a much lower wage, should do so instead? You think that those disruptive 'Bobs' who already play up many teachers are going to miraculously start behaving with a TA in charge?

At the moment only people who can afford private education get the best teachers.

Do you really think the best teachers are only those in private education?

It is so unfair and so bad for our economy. ....so bad for the economy? How about so bad for the children?!

Rainbows wrote
As usual, a lot of families don't value something which is provided for free, so we need to help the kids who actually want to learn with the best teachers in the country.

... thereby condemning every child whose parents may not value education, or those who may have brilliant brains but who for whatever reason don't see it as a priority or enjoyable, to what kind of future exactly? We don't even have a "factories" to send them into any more....

Rainbows, you're about the same age as me. that is, you experienced Sixth form when those who wanted to could leave at 16, and before university access was widened hugely.

Sixth forms are somewhat different places from what they used to be, I can assure you.

GCSE practical subjects, would be an issue, but I am sure someone more knowledgeable than me would be able to come up with a solution.

People more knowledgable than you are pointing out that your ideas are a rubbish solution to a lack of teachers. Perhaps that should give you pause for thought.

But TAs can supervise the students, you don't need qualified teachers to supervise.
How much are these TAs being paid? Hope it's a bit more than the £10 an hour I'm on now!
...and how many are needed in the classroom to help facilitate learning from the screen, deal with behaviour, and support children with additional needs in the classroom?

But TAs can supervise the students, you don't need qualified teachers to supervise.

On that note, here's a thread for you

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4651549-teaching-assistants-quitting-schools-for-supermarkets-because-of-joke-wages