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/

This.

I know 2 current ECTs who have handed their notice in
Both are excellent at teaching - it's the rest of the cr*p that needs getting rid of.

The offer to scouts: come and work with pupils whose behavioural standards are falling, one fifth of whom are persistent absentees, many of whom are hungry because of food poverty, and many of whom are sleep deprived because they live in poor quality housing. Expect to have to deal with nappy changes if you opt for primary and to teach a subject not your specialism if you opt for secondary. Pupils will almost certainly shout at you and so will some parents. You may be assaulted too, by pupils and maybe by parents. Some of your pupils may need mental health support and some families support from a social worker. Expect to wait months if not years for both. While you're waiting, collaborate with your colleagues to fill in the gaps and watch your skill set grow (no badges though).

As you dash from role to role being an unsung, probably underpaid hero - teacher, head of key stage, head of year, SEN co-ordinator, safeguarding lead, nurse, childminder, social worker, counsellor, surrogate parent, companion, buddy, mentor, mobile phone confiscator, resolver of disputes, breaker-up of fights, record-keeper, IT support worker, governor escort - you will feel something approaching love for some, perhaps many, but probably not all the pupils in your school.

At the end of each c.7.30am to c.6pm term-time day, your home will beckon, not least because there, you are unlikely to have to confront the risk of chunks of crumbling ceilings falling on your head.

Ah, home! There, a new round of tasks awaits: marking, planning, assessing, data entry, report writing, drafting of papers for governors' meetings, Ofsted inspection preparation, emails to colleagues, phone-calls to parents.

Ah, long school holidays! More of the same.

No need to worry. The Department for Education says the data show that academic standards are rising, a programme of building works is underway to restore the school estate and more money is going to schools than ever before.

They could earn £30k tax free to train as a maths, physics, computing or chemistry teacher.

@mitogoshi rather than getting 40 year olds into teaching the government need to find a way to keep hold of the 40 year olds they already have. Retention is a huge issue.

And 25k for design technology, biology geography and languages.

Plus up to £28k in scholarships on top, for the subjects you mention.

And, as well as being tax free, you don't have to pay them back - so if, like vast numbers of people, you choose to take the money and run, you're quids in.

I know a young man who did the PGCE (Sciences) straight after his undergraduate degree (having shown absolutely no prior interest in teaching or working with young people) and dropped out just after the start of the final teaching practice. It was in the final term, so presumably he had received all three instalments of the bursary at that point. He then started a different job and bought a flat almost immediately afterwards, having lived at home during his PGCE to save on living expenses. Funny coincidence that. 🙄

The bit you missed was that this funding is also to highlight teaching as a possible career option to the thousands of adult volunteers - who have already shown an interest in working with young people as they are scout leaders! It is an attempt to recruit - except that I know many volunteers who are already in teaching, and those that aren't understand the system enough to know the reality of it. So unlikely to work really.....

I know lots of teachers who used to run scout/cub/beaver/brownie packs but had to give up one or the other as they just couldn’t do both (with the high levels of additional work that is expected with both roles)-I can’t imagine this will persuade many adults into teaching!

How victorian: pupils ‘teaching’ pupils

I saw an article (can't remember where - sorry) that said that there actually isn't a recruitment crisis. There are more eligible i.e. not retired, teachers out of the workforce than there are in it! Clearly, it is a case of retention rather than recruitment! I speak as someone who has taught since 1995 and there was a very clear point in my career when I was ready to do something else. Thankfully, I moved past that a while ago but I could easily have been one of those teachers who are not teaching.

I remember in the olden days one of the many Secretaries of State for Education calling for a Mums Army to come into school, presumably to teach KS1 so as to release actually fully trained teachers to do “proper “ teaching further up the age range. Lead balloon response for that one.

As was the idea that former soldiers ( though not of course the ones with ptsd or severe alcoholism caused by their time in the forces) should be parachuted into tough inner city schools to sort out discipline. No takers then either.

Now Scouts.

If only recruitment and retention of good, qualified , experienced teachers was so simple. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of asking teachers what it would take to keep them in the classroom and then funding their responses. Sorry, I will take my silly idea and bury it in the box marked Education/ Health/Housing Solutions that Cost Votes.

I wonder if it's all just sticking plasters until the decline in birth rate means we've got enough teachers again.

I've got 24 years until I can claim my pension, just wondering what on earth lies in store.

Funnily enough, I did actually get a phone call from the DfE (or perhaps the GTC as it was then?) about six months after I had finally left teaching, asking for my reasons.

It was completely out of the blue one afternoon, so I had no time to prepare a cogent response, but what I said went something like:

Workload
Workload
I was refused flexible working after maternity leave - yes, really.
Workload

I was going to mention this today.

The fact the there are MORE teachers who have left teaching, despite being already qualified, and experienced, than there are people who are still in schools (though many of them don't want to be) is such a stark fact, it is difficult to understand why the DfE don't look at that, rather than continually thinking up ridiculous schemes to tempt non-teachers in.

Exactly @viques

it is difficult to understand why the DfE don't look at that, rather than continually thinking up ridiculous schemes to tempt non-teachers in.A

Because that would mean admitting there's a problem and talking to teachers. And they won't do that because they don't want to hear the truth.

As fantastic as scouts are they need to put the resources into parenting, things like sure start centres, mental health and agencies to support the schools. Plus a few pay rises without needing to strike would presumably help. My dc have some fantastic teachers, they just need support to help them teach rather than have to be parents/ psychologists/ social workers.

I saw an article in this and actually had to check the date as i thought it might be an april fools still floating about. I was really surprised to see 10th April at the top and had to process it was a real thing.