Teachers should receive a 1.8% premium for not working from home

[noblegiraffe]

Interesting suggestion from the NFER who say the teacher recruitment crisis shows no sign of abating.

They suggest at minimum a 3.1% pay rise this year for teachers (govt recommendation is 1-2%) but interestingly, to make teaching competitive with other graduate jobs that allow some element of working from home, teachers should receive 1.8% extra on top of that.

I think commuting costs used to be a given for any job, but now it’s something employers are going to have to start thinking about paying for if they want people in the office.

https://www.nfer.ac.uk/press-releases/teacher-recruitment-and-retention-crisis-shows-no-signs-of-abating-new-report-reveals/

I'm another teacher ready to leave, next year will be my last year. A big pay rise won't stop me leaving, I would rather they reduced my workload and fix the behaviour instead.
I know an experienced teacher leaving this year and the reason is they want to work from home. So it definitely is a factor.
I would quite like a day at home to do my marking/admin tasks etc, then the rest of the time in school teaching.

I don’t want a pay rise as much as I want a reversal of the policies that have created industrial schooling. Schools have too many kids. The sense oh community breaks down. The huge academy trusts siphon money away from the chalk face. I’d much rather have more smaller schools in which children are known by all the staff and pastoral care is prioritised over authoritarian rules that alienate kids.

I also want a total overhaul of the secondary curriculum away from GCSEs with large numbers of high stakes exams at the end of Y11. All we are doing is teaching the kids who do well in school how to pass exams and the other kids are taught that they are a failure and a waste of space because they struggle with a method of assessment that bares no relationship with how success in the real world Is achieved. A system that fails a third of children by design is not fit for purpose.

That's unfortunate, since the poster you quote was just plain wrong about wfh coming into being during lockdown. As per the ONS, there were millions of people already doing it regularly in 2019.

Can you tell us more about why asking people why they can't go back into the office because you want them to would have any impact at all?

1 whole day per week would double my PPA time. We don't have the staff for that. Plus, I don't fancy 4 days solid teaching without any prep time.

Is prep a euphemism for a tea break?

@Newname927

No. It's time to log behaviours, organise photocopying, track down books that haven't been returned from book looks, order and practice practicals and countless other tasks.

So instead of hour long classes would it not be more beneficial to reduce them to 50 minutes with 5-10 minute travel time for the kids and a 10 minute slot for you to do those tasks? Then have your 1 day WFH prep

Newname do you know anything about teaching.

Can you imagine going into a meeting to pitch without doing any preparation.

I'm teaching a lesson about research methods tomorrow. I need to prepare for it. You don't just turn up and it's there!

(wondering if you're the poster that often comes out to troll teachers and doesn't engage)

As it happens I wish I'd qualified in SW/OT/mhn as there is room to diversify and progress on an allied health profession.

I dont get why posters want to nitpick about teacher hate without realising that teachers are leaving in droves and dealing with the issues. It's like deckchairs on the titanic. And dare I say it such a. Tory response (especially if kids are nicely in small prep schools away from tight curriculum and time for forest school and ballet and cross curricular...)

@Newname927 how do I practice practicals at home?

The more of these threads I read the less sympathy I have for teachers. Do you not realise the more you moan about your jobs the more you put people off entering the profession creating a doom spiral effect?

In other words STFU? Not looking for your sympathy. I have no desire to lie to people to avoid putting them off joining the profession. Virtually every teacher already tells their own children not to go into teaching. I guess we are all hoping that if the recruitment and retention crisis gets bad enough, a government might eventually do something sensible about it, rather than offer big bursaries to trainees who will quit after a year or go and teach abroad. I'm afraid it's the reality of the job that puts people off, not teachers moaning. Otherwise the ones who do train would all stay long-term, wouldn't they? Especially what with the excellent salary, pension and holidays.

I know there isn’t the staff for that at the moment, but I think reducing teachers’ timetables to allow for that would be a really positive step forward to fix the teaching crisis.
It’s fine if 4 days solid teaching doesn’t appeal to you; I had Wednesdays off, so it was only ever 2 days full teaching at a time and it worked for me.

I taught secondary for 20 years. If I say so myself, I was a blooming good teacher. Excellent results, great classroom management skills, mentored new grads and ECTs.

I left last year. Burned out, micromanaged, overstretched and sick of being got at by the general public who have no idea how hard the job is. I realised I had at least 25 years more to do before I could retire. So I walked.

Now I work in a related role for a charity. I WFH. I am treated like an adult, and it's easy street, despite going from part time teaching with all those holidays to full time and "normal" holidays. I am far less tired and less stressed and frankly, wild horses wouldn't drag me back to a classroom. It would certainly have to be a damn sight more money and a change in funding and support for schools.

@RomeoRivers wfh wouldn't work for me really if it was all of my PPA. There are some many things that I need other peoples input with that it would be a hinderance.

What a ridiculous comment. You're assuming they don't share their home with anyone else who might not be out all day.

Notably, the worst paid jobs, NMW/NLW usually can't be done wfh, commuting has to be taken into account. Running a car usually is involved. Maybe mileage should be paid..😉

I was in English, so didn’t require other people’s input and found it easier to mark the 100s of essays and stories etc from the comfort of my own home and without interruptions. I appreciate that if your subject does practicals, then the needs are different.

Pretty sure there is a tax rebate you can claim for this.

Hmmm.

My DS is applying for social work . Starting salary after training 35k.

I am not suggesting it's an easy job - and , also, it's not a competition!

There’s a massive shortage of social workers too.

There is indeed. And the people fleeing social work are not running towards the teaching profession. Or vice versa.

Oh wow I didn't realise social work had a higher starting salary. I guess that's their way of trying to entice graduates in.

@Bovrilla what are you doing now. I've taken a pay cut to leave teaching in schools and currently ponder future careers!

I regularly work from home as a teacher. Late at night, at the weekends, in the holidays...

@RomeoRivers I can see why in English it would be beneficial.

And probation officers. Including those entering from A levels. Not sure the pay progression is quite the same there, however.

@Piggywaspushed i don't think probation offers starting salary is as high. The info I found was around £25k. My sister certainly didn't earn more than that when she started. She did however get a degree funded by her work which is worth at lot of money.