England is running out of teachers

[noblegiraffe]

Or, to be clear, people who are willing to teach in schools. It has plenty of ex teachers who have vowed never to set foot in a school again.

While everyone seems to understand that you can't expect to see a doctor or dentist anymore, the message about not being able to expect your child to have a teacher anymore doesn't seem to have filtered through in the same way.

The number of cover lessons that kids are having is going through the roof. Some people think that if a kid has an adult in front of them then they are learning something, where kids know if they have a 'supply' timetabled that afternoon they are in for a doss lesson. Some people think that if a kid has a teacher for their subject that the teacher actually knows the subject being taught, which is increasingly not the case. Some people think that if lessons are being planned for those teachers and the teacher just has to 'deliver' them then that will be good enough, which is often not the case.

Exam classes at least used to be protected and given the 'good teachers', which is increasingly no longer the case, with Y11s reporting that they have a variety of supply teachers, even in core subjects.

There was a thread recently where an A-level student hadn't had a teacher for a year, wondering why the school hadn't done anything about it. We cannot magic up teachers! A-level students at my school are increasingly in the position of not having a teacher and having to teach themselves, and schools are now encouraged to put 'no teacher' on UCAS applications as relevant information for universities.

Recent threads about suggesting teachers need to be paid more to boost recruitment, or given a day off a fortnight to boost recruitment have attracted replies about teachers thinking they are special, or lazy, paid well enough already and having enough time off already.

But the education system is in crisis and something needs to drastically change as it's only getting worse.

The DfE's solution is to hire from abroad, at a time when the rest of government is seeking to reduce immigration.
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/dfe-mulls-boost-international-recruitment

That is probably true. I do suspect there were one or two kids who were dyslexic and unfortunately would get a hard time from the teachers. Back in the 60s though you’d have to be pretty foolhardy to mess around in class bearing in mind there were flying heavy blackboard dusters and cane carrying heads (which I don’t agree with!).

Also if you got a punishment from school like a detention you’d probably get a telling off at home as well.

This is the UK's 'fuck around and find out' moment! They told teachers if you aren't happy go and get another job....and they did!

I know of 4 ex investment bankers who left due to burn out and stress. 2 became teachers.

Do you know, when you saw the thread title you thought it would be my thread, but that isn't a guarantee these days. There have been quite a few threads about the state of education recently that could have been started by me, but weren't.

People are starting to cotton on, and they're not happy.

Also suggesting that I quit teaching - you'd better hope I'm not your kid's maths teacher when you suggest that, because they aren't going to be able to replace me.

Do you ever post anything positive?

Here you go https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5009967-who-is-your-favourite-gladiator? or https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5034651-new-business-idea-im-going-to-make-millions or https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4962952-i-have-solved-the-small-orange-problem or (and this was one of my favourites of all time) https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4919338-why-do-horses-get-coats-and-cows-dont

Never said it wasn’t a motivator or detractor. There is an over supply of law graduates because many of them think they will earn big money but the fact is that lots won’t even manage to qualify and many more will not earn huge salaries. You don’t like people misrepresenting your profession so I’m sure you will understand that I feel the same about mine and, like many others, I wished that I’d never gone into it.

In every ks3 and 4 class I teach there is at least one student who should be in an alternative provision of some kind - either a special school or a more suitable provision for their needs.

Only one of those students has an EHCP, and therefore has the support they need. The others get nothing, even though they need it. We don't have the funding and even if we did, we can't get the staff.

For students without additional needs, we get approximately £6000.

The trouble is that we have a number of students who do have additional needs but those aren't diagnosed. We've managed to get some alternative provision for some of them - at a cost of over £30,000.

The shortfall is why we're not replacing staff who leave. So if your y11 doesn't have a science or maths teacher in my school after Easter, that's why.

I am sure the 1-2% pay rise is going to encourage those ECT’s to stay, especially when they see the 5-6% pay rise plus bonuses their fellow Uni degree friends are getting year on year!

Presumably they could afford the massive pay cut quite easily.

I'm Science and feel exactly the same.

There is an over supply of law graduates because many of them think they will earn big money

Well that's exactly the point I'm making so I'm not sure why you're arguing with it.

People are motivated towards certain careers by money.

Why do they have to be taught in Welsh? Does the whole school only speak Welsh?

Presumably because it's a Welsh medium school in Wales.

If you want to see more of the grim picture for children and parents in Uk schools head over to the Sen boards, its an eye opener how bad things are. Home schooling is starting to become a mainstream option for parents of SEN children

As I have already said, I never said that it wasn’t a motivator. The point that I am making is that the salaries aren’t what people believe them to be.

I would imagine that the teacher shortages have both a regional and a subject component.

Teaching salaries are basically the same everywhere bar the London weighting. Cost of living is significantly higher in the south east and London,

At my school (I'm south east) a number of people leave each year to move north. They've come to train as a teacher in my area but cannot afford to buy a house or even rent anything other than a house share so move to where they can.

I'd guess the north has fewer issues with people training and then moving away.

There's also the subject aspect. For some subjects there always seem to be lots of applicants. PE is classic. For others - physics, maths, IT, science - it's much harder to recruit teachers.

So lots of schools drop IT/physics etc a levels, often MFL a levels as well and maybe only offer one MFL at gcse. So choice gets eroded.

Realistically anyone with an IT/physics/maths degree can earn more money in better conditions than teaching.

The focus now seems to be shifting to training non-specialists - usually PE teachers to teach y7 and y8 maths and save the teachers with actual maths degrees for the older students.

Equally lots of chemistry/bio people are teaching physics at a lower level and sometimes up to gcse.

When I trained as a teacher, there was a surplus of everything. One of my friends was told there are 30/40 candidates per role in her subject. She did supply for 4 years. This year her school has not managed to rectuit a single person for the post to replace her because no one turned up and they advertised 4 times. I am going to leave the profession in the next 5 years, many of my friends feel the same. It's not really ebout money but the disgusting workload and expectations to work 80h a week and constant guilt tripping because if you dont do xyz some ids (who mostly dont give a shit) will suffer. I have had enough.

But with technology and AI, there is no need to have a teacher for each class.

We need the best teachers in the country to produce lessons for the whole country that the kids can watch and learn from.

It is ridiculous that hundreds of teachers are preparing and giving exactly the same lesson all round the country. It is a waste of time and money.

No child should have to sit and revise because they don't have a teacher.

Well in my school there is no way you could get that without management allowance. I guess you are in London? Anyway, schools vary a lot both in terms of intake/cohort and management and many teachers have to out up with the unthinkable.

I'm not surprised. The lack of funding for SEN provision is shocking, and the continuing cuts to high-needs provision just unspeakably awful.

I don't know how the increasing number of parents who are homeschooling are coping.

DD is taught by an ECT, she’s absolutely horrendous. The warmth of a rock and zero class management ability. So you can see for a lot of parents, who’s DC have a really shit teacher, how the endless strikes and demands for more money do stick in the throat.

And yes, like all things, if the job paid more you’d get better candidates. But you could say that for bin men. Primary teaching especially doesn’t actually require massively high academic ability so I’m not entirely sure how much higher the salary should realistically go before it would rapidly become disproportionate to the actual ability needed to do the job.

We need the best teachers in the country to produce lessons for the whole country that the kids can watch and learn from.

Step forward Oak Academy. That's why the government are pouring money into it.

However, as previously mentioned, a large part of a teacher's job is getting kids to do the work, and a video can't do that.

So you can see for a lot of parents, who’s DC have a really shit teacher, how the endless strikes and demands for more money do stick in the throat.

Totally understandable. But you're not going to get any better teacher for your kids unless you demand better for teachers. It's the bigger picture that needs to be considered, rather than thinking about handing more money to a shit teacher.

Teaching is not just delivering,it is about helping children learn, know their needs and adapt to make sure they can all make progress. Not to mention the human connection. Otherwise as you say we could just put them in front of prerecorded lessons like the oak academy in lockdowns. But that is not teaching!

From what I’ve experienced, there seems to have been a shift towards a more toxic management style amongst headteachers and members of SMT. Teachers are no longer valued for their hard work and dedication, their achievements go unrecognised. They are treated as if they are disposable and most have either witnessed or experienced (or both) the underhand tactics of school leaders. Once you have realised this, you can’t unsee it.

There are not enough teachers for the students we have.
A shit teacher is better than no teacher.

Do I think this is okay? Absolutely not.
Do I think this is the sad truth in 2024? Yes it is.