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/

There are many things that make a job attractive, one of those is flexibility, particularly for women (who statistically still have greater childcare commitments). Jobs that aren’t able to (or can but refuse to) offer flexibility will need to start paying more to attract good talent.

Teachers holidays are a huge perk compared to the average 20-25 days a year a lot of people get. But again, it’s just one element that makes one profession more attractive than another.

The fact that we have a recruitment / retention crisis needs to be addressed by a combination of improving working conditions and increasing remuneration.

However, its weird and unnecessary to link a pay rise to the lack of ability to work from home.

Also, from what I understand, teachers do and have always done a percentage of their workload flexibly. They do not need to be in school to do their lesson prep and marking etc. they need to be in school during school hours. So in a sense they are ‘hybrid’.

I wfh about 20% of the time, about 80% of the time I need to be in the office for meetings etc.

The problem with that idea (apart from the fact that our pay would need to be increased massively to account for the additional working hours) is that a lot of workload can't be done in the holidays because it is generated by the kids and needs to be done at the time.

Marking is done in the evenings because the kids need their work back the next lesson, and the results of the marking are used to inform the planning for the next lessons which needs to be reactive. Safeguarding referrals and SEN paperwork can't wait till the next holiday, neither can dealing with behaviour incidents.

Teaching days are so intense because so much needs to be done that day.

They do not need to be in school to do their lesson prep and marking etc. they need to be in school during school hours. So in a sense they are ‘hybrid’.

If you advertised a job as 'hybrid' and said 'yeah, you need to be in the office every day but you'll also be taking work home too, that's why it's hybrid' you'd be laughed at.

Yes it's 100% attendance in fixed hours (not core hours). 8-4 with 15mins for lunch if lucky is similar to 9-5.30.

So core hours of 9-5.30 equivalent PLUS homeworking very night is the equivalent. Yay for the extra hours being flexible?!

And yes many teachers do leap at the all round job with 25 holidays. When I first read that I thought "I'd do that" if the work was contained iwthin the hours.

So maybe contact time morning Or afternoon and then planning on the flip side every day.

You'd need twice as many teachers at least so a lot more funding but yes I'd be up for that.

@noblegiraffe this is kind of what I do and I really appreciate the flexibility and consider it ‘hybrid’ I leave the office at 4.45 so I can pick my kids up from after school club, I take them home and do dinner and then log on and finish up the work I didn’t get done in the normal office hours. I work in a profession that expects long hours (not 9-5).

I made a flexible working request for this arrangement a long time ago and the flexibility enabled me to keep a career I would have otherwise had to quit. Flexibility comes in many and varied forms.

Presumably these expected long hours aren't being paid at 30k? And no flexibility and is highly intense every day. And isn't in a job people are leaving in droves?

Or if so they have the same problem?

It's still not what people mean when they say hybrid working though, is it?

teachers do and have always done a percentage of their workload flexibly. They do not need to be in school to do their lesson prep and marking etc. they need to be in school during school hours. So in a sense they are ‘hybrid’.

I’m in at 7.30 and generally leave at 5.30/6. Then do a couple of hours in the evening-usually lesson prep/emails/marking or assessment that I hadn’t got finished because we had meetings after work, it was a heavy marking load, IEP reviews, assessment week, parent evening week, Deep Dive week, observation week, assembly to prepare/display boards to change, newsletter or website to update, forms for a paeds referral to complete, moderation, Twilight etc

I don’t count that as hybrid working, it’s just having to work too many hours to get the job done.

Yes so if as people (who admittedly were criticising teachers) suggeated it got reduced to an 8-4 job with flexible days that would be amazing!!

So maybe 3 days delivery and 2 days home prep a week. (again need a lot more staff to cover this but would be worth it in the long run)

I have a friend working in a teaching adults type job (not adult ed as that's crap pay) - prep time and admin time is within the job so they don't deliver anywhere near as much. Similarly I looked at an early help/parenting course type role. Prep part of the job and the course is on repeat!! No pressure to get people through exams and difficult behaviour to the same extent...

If teaching became like that I think lots would stay. So yes reduce to normal hours, much less contact time and 2 days work from home to do all the non f2f work would be brilliant.

I considered a job that I previously had to be hybrid.

I had somewhere I needed to be from 10-4 (no chance for lunch or a break) but with prep work at home evenings, early mornings and weekends. 60-90 hours a week, very little holiday and less than £30k.

Thankfully I don't do it any more.

A few things: the DfE said on the Today programme that there are now more teachers than ever. That may well be the case, but they are not professionally active in the workplace ‐so many have left or are leaving.

Out of 8 colleagues who have exited my workplace in the last couple of years, 7 have deliberately looked for WFH or hybrid roles. They're evangelical. They are also much worse off financially each month, but are saying its worth every penny.

Extra pay isn't as attractive to many teachers as sensible measures to reassess workload would be. Each night this week, I've had to serve my DC beige food and pop them to bed with an audiobook on Alexa as I am having to "work from home" (only teachers do it for free...) from the moment I get in from school until I finally close my laptop at around 1am.

A few things: the DfE said on the Today programme that there are now more teachers than ever. That may well be the case, but they are not professionally active in the workplace ‐so many have left or are leaving.

There’s also more children now than ever.

At the last count, 10% of my teaching colleagues are leaving at Easter or end August for wfh roles. Young ECTs in core subjects are seriously considering it when they report that every SINGLE one of their friends/university classmates work from home for more or the same money, have no stress, can exercise, walk a dog or do housework during their lunch hour (hollow laugh). It's actually crazy how much of an issue this is becoming.

Come on, do you really think only teachers work in the evenings for free? 😂

Most graduate level jobs routinely require unpaid overtime, often just add much as teachers, and with far less holiday. And yes, often not for more money either.

I'm not saying teachers have it easy, but acting as if you're the only one is ridiculous.

Extra pay isn't as attractive to many teachers as sensible measures to reassess workload would be

I think there has been overbearing scrutiny of teachers for so many years that the government, even if they wanted to, and they don't, wouldn't know how to let go. The question would always be, how do we know the teachers are doing their job? Where's the evidence? That's why so many places are infatuated with ridiculous marking in different pens as one fatuous example.

When I moved to Australia in the mid- 2000s I was amazed that my lesson record was actually what I had done, not some laborious A4 sized minute document of what I planned. Of course I planned, of course there were units of work and expected assessments, but they were sane, and teachers were trusted to get on with it. I only had one lesson observation in 16 years.
There is no version of OFSTED - the unions saw that off years ago, before my time.

I'm sure it's what gave the boost I needed to work on, and made working until 67 perfectly doable. I loved it.

Of course it's all changed now, with oppressive accountability via silly paper work and ta da! there's a recruitment and retention crisis nationwide. A report has just come out, bemoaning the lack of teachers, none of which addresses their working conditions. Quelle surprise.

Most graduate level jobs routinely require unpaid overtime, often just add much as teachers

Data doesn't support that claim.

I'm not saying teachers have it easy, but acting as if you're the only one is ridiculous.

Nobody is acting as if teaching is the only one. They’re pointing out that the overall package is unattractive in comparison to other graduate professions. To the point where lots of schools are unable to put teachers in front of classes. This issue has been affecting some schools (generally in poorer areas) for a long time. But now it starting to affect leafy comps something may actually be done.

Yup all of the above.

Minimising/other g the experience of teachers may make some posters feel good but ultimately there is a huge crisis in teaching which is going to take money and a lot of change to turn around.

We are already failing so many kids currently. And so many clever, qualified teachers are leaving in droves.

Of course if other professions are experiencing the same they also need to look at how they work and conditions, no teacher is saying they wouldn't. But the whataboutery isn't relevant. The issue is the crisis in school and the crisis in staffing schools. Even those in shiny prep schools ought to be able to realise this is an issue as its our next generation of workings. And poor outcomes leads to poor health poor housing poor all sorts which will cost the country more anyway.

Obviously the NHS is going through a crisis currently too. The whole thing together is a huge nightmare.

But that compares similar graduates - what are they? Not all graduates. Put the lawyers, accountants, bankers in there and it will tell a different story.

Teachers work incredibly hard and should be better paid, the retention crisis needs thinking about. But equally there is a massive gap in understanding of non-teaching grad jobs. You aren’t the only ones doing huge unpaid overtime, never having a lunch hour, not being able to plan anything in the week. Yet many of you assume you are.

It needs to hit rock bottom.
Teaching has not kept up with the times and older students can easily be taught online from home. Then there won't be the need for so many teachers.
Teachers are not the only ones struggling, but they seem to have the loudest voices.
With respect an online education is in no way inferior to being taught by a teacher who so obviously doesn't want to be there.
Its time for change, bring it on, it can't to be any worse than the current state of education.

Each night this week, I've had to serve my DC beige food and pop them to bed with an audiobook on Alexa as I am having to "work from home" (only teachers do it for free...) from the moment I get in from school until I finally close my laptop at around 1am.

This post literally was saying that only teachers are doing it for free...

Put the lawyers, accountants, bankers in there and it will tell a different story.

Most graduates don't become lawyers, accountants or bankers?

Neither do they become teachers. So that’s not really the point.

What are similar graduates? How are they defined?

Well no, but it seems a bit pointless saying 'bankers work long hours just like teachers' if those bankers are earning 6 figures.