Labour to give new teachers £2400 to stop them quitting

[noblegiraffe]

The plan is for Labour to give teachers who have finished their ECT induction £2400 to stop them quitting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66078820.amp

🤦‍♀️

Like, a one-off payment? How will that keep them in the job the year after? Every teacher can tell you of the trainee teacher who took the massive training bursary and then fucked off into the sunset.

And once again, what about the experienced teachers? Every sodding thing is aimed at early career teachers. They've have repeatedly better pay rises so that the pay scale is getting flatter and flatter - experience is paying less and less.

And yet schools need experienced teachers. They really need experienced teachers. Who do people think are training these new teachers (for no extra pay) who are getting all the bonuses shoved their way?

We have an increasingly young teaching workforce, one of the youngest in the OECD. The proportion of teachers over 50 is dwindling. What about trying to retain those teachers?

And apparently this £2400 will be paid for by taxing private school fees. This tax on private school fees seems to be paying for everything. It seems to be infinite money while putting no extra burden on the state sector.

Do better, Labour.

Good proposals. Except the tax-free part, everybody pays income tax, why this recent issue with teacher’s bonuses being taxed like other bonuses?

Current teacher retention payments are tax free.

SUPER-TEACHER HIT SQUADS https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/squads-super-teachers-help-turn-30372071

What.

This has always been a Labour policy though, I got a golden hello in 2002 at the start of my second year 🤷‍♀️ and I got a bursary to train.

Hit squads? That’s up there with Troops to Teachers!

Send in hard hitting Sargent-major types to shout children into getting good results…what could go wrong?!

And on a par with parachuting teachers in to rescue schools. The language is very interesting.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/teachers-national-service-failing-schools-wilshaw-gove-481100

How did that all work out?!

I am leaving after 3 years qualified (nearly a decade in school in various roles) and am taking a pay cut to get out and get my life back. It's not really about the money. It's the working conditions, the hours, the stress, and the impact on all the other parts of my life. The only future I can see for me in teaching is ever increasing levels of stress, and the further up the pay scale I go (and the older I get, I'm late 40s) the harder it would be to take the plunge and change direction. If schools were properly funded again (and Speech and Language, Ed Psych, Camhs etc) then I might look to go back, but not the way things are at the moment. A one off bonus would make no difference.

My goodness how things have changed. I well remember one of the many Ministers for Education proposing a “ mums army” of untrained mums to fill an unexpected shortage of KS1 school teachers, because after all, they are only playing aren’t they. Seems schools have got tougher, they now need the SAS.

The National Teaching Service failed because it turns out that outstanding teachers don't want to be parachuted into a tough job in Bradford. They didn't get anyone signing up.

Very much like Troops to Teachers.

I remember when we were an LA school there was a maths teaching advisor who used to come into schools and give advice and observe and stuff, which was fine. I know MATs now have people like that too. Isn't that why inadequate schools are forced to become part of a MAT? To give them access to that sort of support?

These crack teams of super teachers, are they just sitting around waiting for the bat call, then they'll jump in a van and head off to wherever for a few weeks? Or will they be actual teachers who then have to abandon their classes to cover?

I was an SLE when that was a thing. Schools could - in theory - buy my time. In reality, my own school was so unwilling (and reasonably so) to let me out of my own classes that I did very little support. And actually, since the planning and prep was in my own time, it was a hugely unwieldy commitment.

Or will they be actual teachers who then have to abandon their classes to cover?

Sounds more like it. I’m sure their head teacher and the parents of the kids they currently teach will be thrilled that they’re now being taught maths by a TA whilst the super teacher is whisked off to show ‘inadequate’ teachers across the country how it’s done. Their results won’t suffer at all.

Yeah, I raised this at well being recently. Where's my long service reward?

Oh, to be fair. My Council put a certificate in the post when I'd completed 30 years with them. Could anyone want more ? <---sarcasm for the hard of understanding.

I mean, they couldn't even be arsed to invite me to a cup of tea and a little recognition presentation. The POSTED me a certificate.

Bridget Phillipson has written an article for the TES on her vision for education. It is meh.

She says that there are three things that Labour will bring to England's schools straight away.

As a comment on twitter said 'is it teachers, support staff and external experts?'

It is not.

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/exclusive-bridget-phillipson-labour-plans-education