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.

You say you want parents to know what the current situation is like. They already do for most parents of SEN children. Do you not think we already do not know our children with an EHCP full time 1 to 1 we have fought tooth and nail to get, back and forth to tribunals time and time again for schools to not use the funding correctly to support our child?

Schools now choosing to use that funding instead of solely supporting our child uses that 1 to 1 for either other SEN children that do not have one or even worse as a general TA for the rest of the class.

We know this is happening we know our children are suffering and not being supported and provision is not being provided.

What are we suppose to do complain to the school? And get ignored or dismissed. Then complain to the Local Authority, what 12 weeks mostly to get ignored. Then what take them to court. Yes wait 12-18 months for a date. All whilst trying to look after a child with SEN and maybe other children and maybe also work! And you wonder why a parent/s of SEN children do not even bother with a EHCP....

Tbh I do not have much sympathy for any school that chooses to do this. Why is it always in society its the vulnerable that seem to get screwed over more?

It's hardly a choice to not be able to find appropriate staff to provide the 1:1.

Unfortunately, to get your child's EHCP provision (as long as you've got a very tight Section F that cannot be argued with) applied correctly in school you need to - always politely and professionally - be 'that parent'

It's utterly shit, but that's what you need to do. The other child's parents will need to do the same to ensure their child's provision. You can only fight for your own.

If the EHCP says 'X receives 1:1 TA support at all times' then that is what the school needs to do. And if they don't, you need to be in there every single time that support is diluted (unless it's a emergency IE the TA wasn't 1:1 with your child for half an hour because they were helping with a genuine crisis situation).

Eventually, your child will get their support as they should. But you have to be dogged. Sadly, that leaves the other children without, but in the world we're in at the moment you have to make that not your problem. The school and the parents will then need to ensure that the other child is properly supported without dipping into your child's provision. Actually on occasion this can be helpful to the 'other' child anyway because when schools plaster over the cracks using an EHCP provision to support other children, those other children don't get the support that they should in their own right and often this can lead to them remaining into settings that truly are unsuitable for them.

The thing is, this ‘remote teaching’ has already been tried. We had a real, live, large scale experiment, through which expert teachers in their thousands could see and observe the difference in learning and progress between online learning and being taught in a classroom by a teacher. It was called Lockdown 2. Teachers in their thousands taught online lessons; Oak Academy was in full flow; classes of keyworkers’ children were supervised by TAs supporting their learning while the teacher or online learning was shown to them all.

In a very few cases - often high ability children (some with some level of ASD) and with highly supportive parents who did a lot of 1:1support - children made progress equal to or occasionally better than classroom learning.

In the huge majority of cases, progress was much lower and depth / retention of learning plummeted.

I really can’t believe that anyone sees Lockdown 2-style online learning as the pinnacle of teaching and learning we should be aspiring to, especially if teachers do not know who they are teaching at all. Where online learning was heavily personalised and supported by teachers who already knew their classes extremely well, it was not as good as live but not catastrophic. Anonymous delivery, Oak Academy style, was universally poor in its outcomes, however good the individual resource.

Tbh I do not have much sympathy for any school that chooses to do this. Why is it always in society its the vulnerable that seem to get screwed over more?

Why do you think it is the school’s choice? If they were better funded and recruitment of TAs was easy, then this would not be happening. The school is not responsible for these factors….

I haven't responded to any of the 'remote teaching' posts because they're utterly nonsensical. The answer is not to get rid of teachers and replace them with computers, the vast majority of whom are excellent.

As for 'just get rid of the kids who don't want to learn' ... ha ha ha has that poster got any idea of how hard it is to exclude a child? You can't just boot them out. Even if you could, the local authority is still required to provide them with a full time education whether they want one or not... where are they to go?

I could stand in front of my child and read from a text book then ask her to complete a worksheet. Is that teaching? Of course not! It's no different to kids listening to an online lesson.

Teaching is a skill and it's one that most parents (unless they're teachers!) do not possess.

Re the disruptive kids, I would call their parents in

And if the parents refuse to come in?

and if they still won't use the online resources, then they will have to leave the school.

So you are making school non compulsory for those who don't want to be there? From what age? What will those who don't want to be in school do if not in school?

I don't know what else you can do if kids don't want to learn. Perhaps send them to a special school?

Which special schools? PRUs perhaps? Those who are already in massive short supply? And who teaches them there?

I don't know what happens now if kids are asked to leave their school?

A series of moves to other schools, PRU if available (short supply), combination of PT school and some form of alternative provision - til finally they slip through the system and are lost.

@inthemarblejar
Yes getting section F specified and quantified is another battle all by itself!

But even then when it is you can not 'prove' or know fully if your childs provision is being fully provided. How do you fight this with your child saying the 1 to 1 was helping another child when they were distressed and needed help and the school say your child was mistaken and that is not the case?

And you are totally accurate you do have to be that parent. Having unnecessary meeting with the schoolwhen you are trying to work month after month as you know they are piggybacking on your child's funding for either other SEN children or as a TA for the class.

I only got to page 3 before seeing teachers admitting that funding meant for another child from a EHCP is being used for other things other than to benefit that named child to see not only is this against the law to do this its is morally wrong to do that to the most vulnerable.

And I have no sympathy for any teacher or school that allows this to happen.

No-one wants to be a teacher

My experience if that people do want to be a teacher, well in some subject areas/key stages. The main trouble often seems to be retention when they've been doing the job a while.

Most kids will understand it it is being explained by the best teachers in the country.

And those who don't?
Those with SEND, those with slower processing speeds, those with EAL?
Just let them fail even more so?

It's not "admitting" that funding is being used other than to support a child with an EHCP. When we don't have the TAs to provide everyone who's entitled to 1:1, what do you expect us to do?

Frank can manage without his 1:1 in my class because of the nature of the lesson; Jim can't manage in the lesson he's in at the same time.

So do we send Frank's 1:1 with Jim to stop him having a complete meltdown and thus trashing his entire week? Or do we keep Frank's 1:1 with Frank?

In an ideal world, this wouldn't even be up for debate of course.

Teaching is much more than presentation. You have to make sure that the building blocks are secure before you move on. One way of assessing that is a test, but that’s only one technique and a rather blunt one at that generally used for summative progress. When you explain a new topic, you are questioning, you are observing, gauging reactions, you talk to pupils about their work, every interaction, you’re assessing has this pupil really understood what I’m explaining and if not how can I explain it differently or how can I further this understanding. Student A with a particular variety of SEND will need me to do X and Y.

Depending on the response, you’ll adapt the lesson. You can not rely on a pupil flagging up that they don’t understand, sometimes they say they do, but when you go round the class you realise that they don’t. They might understand it enough on a superficial level to pass a test, but when you come to build on it then it frequently isn’t enough. The best teachers are the ones that can read a class, can skilfully question to ascertain understanding, act flexibly and adapt and then use different techniques to make sure that everyone has understood. They build relationships so pupils trust them and aren’t worried about making a mistake or asking the questions. Very few pupils would have the confidence to ask a teacher who they didn’t know questions. What about those who you’ve sparked something in and they start asking you questions to find out more and the whys? To degenerate teaching to just videos and tests is an insult to the profession and shows that some people have no idea of the skill thats involved.

How about we fund schools and children’s services properly and instead of just sticking plasters put in long term strategies to address the issues, e.g. funding SEND properly and having a variety of provision rather than sticking plasters? And make teaching a really attractive profession so people want to stay.

DD1s school seems okay, but she is in year 7 and she has a number of split classes and I’ve seen the same jobs advertised again and again. DD2 is okay but because quote she’s ahead of where she needs to be, she gets very little input and certainly no stretching. Where I’m a governor is hanging on by the finger tips - we’re okay financially this year and fully staffed but only because they reduced the number of classes because of a falling roll. We’re constantly looking ahead and the financial picture is bleak.

to do this its is morally wrong to do that to the most vulnerable.

Often the most vulnerable don't have an EHCP because no one is fighting their corner enough.

What is morally wrong is the government funding for education. What is morally wrong is the withdrawal of special schools and not funding the pupils that are now in mainstream to access the support they need. What is morally wrong is expecting teachers to single handedly abide by 36 bullet point EHCPs for multiple children in one class, without the time, support or money.

Genuinely (as I said I'm not a teacher I'm a send legal consultant I support families - I assume - like yours and I'm an EHCP SEND parent) I go into schools every day of my working week. None of them do this by choice. They don't want to do it. Every single one of my cases involving this at the moment is in schools that are desperately spreading provision that they shouldn't be because they are stuck up shut creek with no paddle. They have a child who does have the provision and 2/3 (or more that don't. Those 2/3 are disruptive to the point of physically hurting people - staff and children - and causing frequent classroom evacuations because their needs are unmet. What exactly are they supposed to do? It's an impossible situation. I have the utmost sympathy for them. They're not 'allowing' it to happen with no care.

Lying is awful. Not unheard of unfortunately.

Document everything. Everything in writing and get your local legal support services involved. IPSEA is nationwide, they can also help.

I'm sorry it's so shit.

@cantkeepawayforever
Yes it is the schools choice. It is a legal duty for both the school then ultimately the local authority to provide the provision set out in section F of an EHCP.

If section F is specified and quantified and the school does not provide this provision they are failing in their duty.

Ask yourself why schools are doing this? Because it is easy to do it without the parent knowing it is happening. Because a lot of SEN children can not be an advocate for themselves and fully convey what is happening so they are a easy target, so they get away with it as the parent is not present at school.

It is an easy way for a school to save on money by using a full time 1 to 1 also as a class TA also so this saving money every time they do it.

I understand that not all school will behave this way but a LOT of them do.

I think, however, that the match between ‘most vulnerable’ and ‘with an EHCP specifying 1:1 support’ is not a particularly perfect one.

For all kinds of reasons - country moves including refugees, parental incapacity, delay in the system, years-long waiting lists for key experts, for example - many children who from the level if their challenges need EHCPs do not have them. This is particularly true in primary, and particularly in earlier years, as it takes a very clued up parent whose child has attended settings pre-school to get a full EHCP prior to Reception.

The most vulnerable child in the class might actually be the one running round the class with scissors, screaming, who arrived 2 weeks ago and has no English. In the scenario where the only adults in the class are 1:1 or the class teacher, it’s entirely possible that the 1:1 TA may (illegally but morally correctly) step in to support the more vulnerable child who is posing an immediate danger to others.

If section F is specified and quantified and the school does not provide this provision they are failing in their duty.

And if they can't get the staff? What then? Do you think we like being in this situation?

I only got to page 3 before seeing teachers admitting that funding meant for another child from a EHCP is being used for other things other than to benefit that named child

Then you missed that I put it in the OP, and deliberately so.

Yes, it’s illegal. And yet it is happening in classrooms all over the country routinely because schools have had to make vast swathes of TAs redundant due to lack of funding. A lot of them went under George Osborne’s austerity years. The few remaining after that have been whittled down in the remaining years.

I’ve seen posters on here saying “I’m glad my child has and EHCP meaning they will get their support”. No. Extreme staff shortages in schools means that where a TA can be hired to cover EHCP requirements, they will be used to support other children too.

If you have no sympathy for schools who do this, imagine being in a classroom where there are 32 children, hands are up, pupils are asking for help, or becoming distressed, acting out, the teacher is floundering and you are expecting your child’s TA to put their head down and ignore it all because legally they are only there for your child?

A TA who can easily ignore children who need help or who are distressed is not the sort of person who generally makes a good TA.

If you want your child to get their EHCP provision, then you should be shaming the government for the situation that schools and teachers find themselves in, not schools and teachers for trying to do their best by all the children they teach.

It is a legal duty for both the school then ultimately the local authority to provide the provision set out in section F of an EHCP.

If you can't get the TAs?
If one section F says X needs blue ppts and one says Y needs yellow, who 'wins'?
36 bullet point EHCPs are unreasonable for the schools implementing them.

It is an easy way for a school to save on money by using a full time 1 to 1 also as a class TA also so this saving money every time they do it.

80% of schools will have to run deficit budgets - go into the red - next year. Schools are not allowed to run deficit budgets, so instead they will HAVE to cut staff, by far and away their biggest expense. There is no ‘fat’ to trim - to keep the lights on, the temperature above freezing, and one adult per class, pretty much everything else has to go. ‘Saving money’ sounds as if the school
is a miser hoarding bags of gold, not performing an impossible juggling act where there simply isn’t enough money to continue as normal.

I don’t know much about the financial structuring in education but the regulatory bodies such as ofsted: are they funded by government? If so you could pare them right down to more of a safeguard function. They are a bloody nightmare and s total pest for teachers. Cost a fortune and I don’t think they help much. There is far too much curriculum assessment and micro management of teachers. Use the money instead to help the schools where it is needed . There must be other similar areas of waste that could have funds redirected to schools. Also the mainstream schools for SEN needs to be thoroughly reviewed and overhauled because it’s not working

We have two in state and one in private. We are moving the other two over to private next year because the state schools are just floundering.

@MrsHamlet
I am talking about children who have full funding via an EHCP so already have a 1 to 1. Then this 1 to 1 as stated on this thread admitted by teachers is being used for either a class TA as they do not have any more money on their budget for this or for other SEN children that for what ever reason do not have an EHCP.

Why is it OK to use my childs funding and leave them unsupported and not provide their provision to go and help another child with their work?

Of course in an extreme situation where a child with SEN or without is behaving in a violent way that they could harm themselves or another child I am sure no one would argue with a 1 to 1 being used to help in this situation. But to be knowingly as a school regularly use funding for other children is wrong end off.

Yes I understand schools do not do this to purposely upset a parent or cause a SEN child distress or leave them unsupported.

But we already know it is happening day after day and its been admitted it happens by teachers on this thread. And when you complain to the school and they lie to you and back each other up and they know they are not using the funding correctly and do not want to be found out. Why are they just not honest and tell us what we already know? If they did maybe we would have more respect for schools/teachers and support them more!

Yes we understand it is because the government as incompetent and shit. But all we can do as parents is complain to the school and take the LA to court. Which is breaking SEN parents. It is not our fault either.

Absolutely and it just doesn't work

Some of it is unrealistic

I think the TA should be able to help another dc