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.

Yes, we had to tell parents the score, but there was no ‘expected’ standard. I’m sorry if your county advisors misled you - it was there in the guidance for everyone to read.

Thank you.

Teacher Training targets massively missed:

twitter.com/warwickmansell/status/1598280400962715649

And they inexplicably lowered the target for training maths teachers by 27% even though we need more maths teachers, not fewer. If they hadn't lowered targets, the figures would look even worse!

Yes, here's the fuller figures and story:

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/01/number-graduates-teacher-training-england-catastrophic-level

Another day of ringing around agencies with no teachers available. Another day with 20 plus teachers off.

No supply available in a 60 mile radius of us, either.

Are you suggesting that they might be trying to fudge the figures? Surely not...

Yes, and the Guardian fell for it "There was better news in maths, with the government reaching 90% of its target for trainee maths teachers."

NO! The news for maths is also terrible.

I think some places are their own worst enemy though,I've heard of tas absolutely hauled over the Coles for a few minutes lunch break, when they came in early anyway which wasn't technically paid for.

The target for subjects like maths really needs to be increased, to fill all the existing holes in the system. Bursaries really aren't enough- I wonder if something like student loan forgiveness would appeal?

One of my colleagues left a maths job in another school in 2021. Her post hasn't been filled yet. Her old school is really quite rural and isolated- the only people who really want to live in that area are people who are very into watersports and are happy to live well away from any cities/larger towns to pursue that. But it's a nice place to go on holiday, so house prices are also really high and it's hard to find a long term rental. Unsurprisingly, the school struggles to recruit!

My new idea is that teachers who are willing to work in these sorts of places (as well as nurses, GPs etc) should get reserved/subsidised/council housing.

Why can't they have a lunch break. Isn't everyone entitled to 30 mins

Presumably the pp means a few minutes over their allotted lunch break, so 33min break instead of 30mins.

I doubt it. I've never seen a member of staff take anywhere close to their full lunch break. I can well imagine a TA getting a bollocking for taking 3 minutes to stuff a sandwich down before heading into the hall to supervise lunch duty. Or a teacher get into bother after nipping to the loo between lessons to change sanpro meaning that their awful y9s are waiting on the corridor for 60 seconds.

TAs, cover supervisors, admin and pastoral staff are all expected to work unpaid overtime - some of my former colleagues are doing up to 3 hours a day (coming in at 7, going home at 5.30, not eating lunch on a 8-4 contract) and are insanely envious that my new job is literally 9-5 with a paid lunch break and subsidised meals. And for better pay. I'd never go back to a school job now.

It really wasn't and never has been in the guidance; although I don't doubt that is what your advisors were saying as I've heard it on the Internet many times. I trawled the guidance and there was nothing there - I have a copy of it saved somewhere. Children working below NC expectations did not need to sit the test as all and you didn't even need to submit evidence for this. I had a child working at KS1 level so he did not do it. We have recently been Ofsteded and they didn't even ask about the MTC.

Not only not enough people applying to do teacher training, but the quality of trainees has gone down too.

Or a teacher get into bother after nipping to the loo between lessons to change sanpro meaning that their awful y9s are waiting on the corridor for 60 seconds

Yep - people just don't get things like this. In perfect health and form the teaching day is sort of manageable - throw in a heavy period, a bladder infection, perimenopause or problems at home (or basically using energy for anything other than work) and it is rapidly unmanageable. I've got a kidney infection currently and only when it got really bad did I recognise it for what it was and realise that I've been fighting off the same sort of symptoms at a lower level since going back in September. We make light of not having time to pee but it's actually not healthy.

I know people like an early finish but I would much prefer reasonable length breaks. It all felt so much more manageable when you had an hour for lunch plus a break and movement time between lessons. The day is so condensed now at my school and that really ramps up the pressure imo and destroys any chance of staff forming bonds or doing all the informal work together amidst chatting at lunch time eg. passing on info, sharing tips about student x, sharing lesson ideas etc.

The tbf dfe made clear that it was an hours in school target they were setting not hours learning and even, I thought, made clear it could be added to a break with talk about how schools were setting too short lunchtimes (because they can't control student behaviour outside of the classroom ime) yet my school added 10 minutes to form time whilst simultaneously reducing 'buffer time'.

I would welcome a rule that said a full lunch hour had to be given to staff and students despite it meaning finishing 20 minutes later - I rarely get out before 5 anyway - it takes half an hour at least to catch up with the gazillion emails sent to me during lesson time by non teaching staff.

I'd say there are still some good trainees, but it's certainly true if you apply for, idk, physics, you'll get offered a place on an itt course even if you are clearly unsuitable.

Tbf, most unsuitable trainees don't get very far into the year, but it does mean that teacher and school time and energy is effectively wasted on them.

That's the other thing with these low recruitment rates. How many of those recruited will actually end up teaching? (Let alone be teaching in 5 years)

My school was graded 4 in the summer. We have been unable to recruit in science (2 science teachers left in July), 1 new one came to the first inset day in September and then never came back.
We have 2 humanities teachers leaving at Christmas, and haven't been able to appoint yet. We had 4 called to interview last week and none turned up.
On Monday last week we hit our "record" of staff absences. We can't get enough cover and teachers are giving up their PPA time, as well as admin and support staff genuinely covering lessons (babysitting)
I've worked in this school for 20 years and have never ever known it this bad

toomanypillows
Something similar happened in the grade 4 school I worked in, but that was around 10 years ago. I dread to think what it must be like in similar situations now.

It's a vicious cycle because people leave for good personal reasons, then more work piles on existing staff, then more staff end up leaving.

Another example of how dire the situation is

I need to recruit 3 teachers - 1 permanent post, 1 temporary but may lead to permanent work and 1 for two terms

I had 11 applicants in total.
Shortlisted 7 - by the time we interviewed (7 days after the advert closed) 3 withdrew from interview.
Of the 4 we interviewed 1 was shocking in all areas of interview, 1 was very poor and 2 were adequate so in order to have teachers in place for January I have had to appoint 2 adequate teachers

They probably have the potential to improve but it will be a long hard slog and will mean existing staff have to put in a huge network of support at a time when they are currently stretched to breaking point.

5 years ago we were getting up to 30 applications for a post and many of them were so strong it was hard to whittle it down to a shortlist for interview.

@HeadCreature we have completely the opposite problem in quite a few areas of Scotland. Teachers who have done their NQT year several years ago can't get permanent jobs. We're lucky if there's one permanent job in the council's advert and that will probably get over 100 applicants.

I know there are reasons why people often can't make a long distance move, but I think a lot of these teachers could find permanent work in England/Wales. Yes, they'd have to learn a different curriculum, but up to the end of KS4, it's not that different!

Surely it's worth considering for the security of a permanent job?

A school I previously worked for was in a similar situation.

Staff giving up their PPA to cover regularly and not in an emergency is not sustainable long term- I'm sure you know this, but it was the position we were put it, and it becomes a vicious cycle. Working more hours (because the planning etc still has to be done) leads to more people feeling more run down, and taking time off. It also leads to staff taking days off because they can't cope mentally with the thought of going into school.

And of course admin and support staff need time to carry out their roles, and so those tasks are not being done, and it puts more pressure on everyone.

Some of us did challenge the situation via the union, and things did improve slightly but ultimately a lot of staff voted with their feet and left- and you've seen how difficult it is to replace them. And I know from friends still working at the school, things haven't improved.

I don't know what the solution is, by the way, but I know it's a horrible situation to be in, and please do message me if you want any advice about pushing back.

I'm very interested by the idea that they are "adequate" but you feel they'll need a support network beyond the norm to cope in the job. To me, as someone who isn't in a position of making recruitment decisions, adequate would mean they could start the job with the normal induction/support that anyone would need?

I hope maybe they just didn't interview well, and when they start they surprise you?