Scouts to Teachers scheme to solve recruitment crisis

[noblegiraffe]

🤦‍♀️

"Scouts will develop “teaching skills” as part of attaining their badges under a new government scheme to boost flagging recruitment by “inspiring the next generation of teachers”.
The Scout Association has won a contract worth up to £129,000 over three years to provide 40,000 ‘explorers’ – those aged 14 to 18-years-old – with the “skills and knowledge they need to consider pursuing a career in teaching”.

"a DfE spokesperson said the Scouts scheme will “raise awareness of teaching as a potential career choice for young people, helping to build a pipeline of future candidates for Initial Teacher Training.”"

Because if there's one job that teens are unaware of, it's teaching.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/scouting-for-teachers-dfes-latest-recruitment-plan-revealed/

I doubt this new scheme will save the day. Retaining teachers is the problem!

Wow.

Bear in mind that this is at the same time as they've cut Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses for prospective teachers, and relocation payments for international teachers.

I think the fact that there's NO BADGE is adding insult to injury.

😂😂😂😂 this is so bad it's hilarious. Teens see how stressed their teachers are. My DD has a brilliant relationship with one of her teachers who is also SLT and it's put her off teaching for life! She says she'd love to teach, just none of the other stuff. And she's 15!!

WHAT. That's a piss take 😂

It’s a wonder they haven’t yet considered conscription.

I was literally thinking the same but thought I'd get flamed for saying it 😂

Bloody good job there's no badge. I'd be really fucked off if Bob had one and I didn't.

Don't speak too soon!

Yeah, that will definitely entice youngsters into teaching. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

It’s a retention crisis and nobody is willing to look at the root cause, just inventing ever more ludicrous sticking plasters.

That'll be a different pot of money. This will be spending from the budget that promotes teaching as a career. And might just be a little more successful than those gopping telly adverts

This whole thread is hilarious.

If only that project was a joke.

Yeah what "knowledge and skills" do teen boys need in order to "consider a career in teaching, exactly??

That's just laughable. Did they mean to publish this 9 days ago?

This sort of already exists within scouting, my DS8 had to teach a new game to his section as part of his leadership challenge badge. I actually think it's really good to develop teaching skills, whatever job you do there's likely to be times you need to organise groups of people, give them instructions or teach them a new skill.

Actually, I don’t think it’s totally ludicrous in the context of a young person going on to an undergraduate teaching degree programme, especially if a Scout has done anything along the lines of Young Leadership roles in Cubs or Beavers.

It’s certainly a better idea than the Troops to Teachers who never materialised, although that idea had its plus points! 😉

Of course it's a good idea to teach teaching skills. Doing it as a "pipeline strategy" or whatever they're calling it is laughable.

I wonder how effective it will be, say compared with Troops into teaching.

Not convinced that targeting 14-18 year olds is going to be particularly successful either? I mean, the recruitment crisis is happening right now, not in a few years once they've got a degree.

We already teach older scouts and explorers how to teach the younger sections...

They are called Young Leaders!

I did double-triple check the date on it before posting, @JanglyBeads

I actually think this is a great idea, Scouts are exactly the people you want teaching your kid. If it got more men into primary education that would be excellent.

I don't know if the scouts themselves actually want to do this though! They already do the young leader programme, how would this differ?

See conscription would cut out the middleman as people wouldn’t have to join the Army first. So it would save public money.

Well that's our system of government for you.

Mine are young leaders and one in particular would make a smashing teacher.

not interested in the poor conditions and wages

The final score on the Troops to Teachers programme appears to have been circa 200 people completing the programme, with a total budgeted cost of around £10m. 😮

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/troops-to-teachers-quarter-of-all-trainees-quit-course-without-qualifying/

Yes but this comes with a chunk of money to fill some of the gap in finances. The WSJ fiasco in South Korea cost what £1m?