So if teachers are leaving in droves

[BlastedPimples]

and recruitment is very low, what is going to happen? It can't continue like this surely and education levels will suffer enormously.

Massive classes for the teachers that remain?

Huge recruitment drive to entice more people into the profession?

Entice teachers out of retirement?

Recruitment from abroad?

@Bone11

No-one made it a competition. The point I was trying to make is that without the endless demands that go far beyond the teacher's actual remit, she/he could be far more creative and inspirational. It's the soul-sucking paperwork, the pointless timewasting and the grandstanding by SLTs and others that make it so exhausting.

If your school is anything like mine, the TA’s wont ever receive training beyond the occasional video from linked schools, and taking over intervention classes to free up SLT. We’re seen as the bottom in our school - on minimum wage, and watched every second of every day. I’m out as soon as I find a new role. I feel for teachers.

Supply staff do not have the burden of meetings and yet still often phone it in.

Phone what in? I don't quite understand this comment.

I would love to 'just' do the teaching bit-it really did feel like that's what the job was when I started in the 90s. The 'other' stuff is more like 80% of the job now and you feel like you are wishing the 'teaching' bit away, to get to the end of the day just so you can start the mountain of other things you have to do, just to try and make a dent in it before you go home and it all starts again.

It all feels rather broken-many TAs are doing the 'nicer' teaching bit, but are being expected to do it for pennies!

I strongly believe that if you took away the pressures/inconsistencies/expectations of Ofsted, the job would be a whole lot nicer and I strongly suspect the recruitment retention crisis would be far less awful.

My DD is in her first year Secondary teaching, she has a mentor she never sees for more 30 seconds, lesson observations that are cancelled or no one turns up and feedback meetings which are the same. I appreciate it’s not the teachers faults they have no spare time but the system is well and truly broken. I give it another couple of months and she will be looking for another career.

The crisis applies to TAs and LSAs too. I worked as a TA in a small school previously and the workplace was like a revolving door.

Teachers and TAs would leave all of the time due to high demands and low pay. I felt sorry for the children because there was no continuity of care.

What people need to appreciate is the knock-on that the lack of qualified teachers is having on support staff who are expected to act as teachers but for an absolutely appalling wage and doing a job they are not qualified to do. It's simply not fair on anyone.

This is exactly what's happened to my DD - she's resigned, she was heading for a breakdown. It's so sad. All that training and when it came to it, she was left unsupported.

@CountryShepherd and @DonnaDonna0 - please encourage your daughters to contact their appropriate body. They are entitled to support and the AB should be holding schools accountable.

I know it's hard - I have multiple ECTs in my remit - but legally, I am responsible for supporting them.

It’s so sad to hear that your DD is in the same position @CountryShepherd especially when they have joined a profession which is crying out for them.
Thanks for your advised @MrsHamlet , she is going to speak to someone on Monday. She has been putting it off, she doesn’t want to make it awkward at work and up until last week the teachers in her department have been friendly enough. But when she mentioned the lack of lesson observation and meetings they have closed ranks a little.
She feels between a rock and a hard place.

ECT induction is statutory and schools get funded (not enough, and after the fact, but still...)

Do I have enough time in the school day to do all the things I need to? No. But I have to prioritise the things that can ONLY be done then - such as observations.

The system is absolutely broken but it won't be fixed by losing career entrants.

Has she gone to the Head? She shouldn't have to resign because the school is not supporting her. The Head needs to know what's going on and if they don't care, she should look for a job in a better school. Essentially the Head ought to be overseeing what is happening and clearly they aren't.

@Meltedcandlewax she hasn’t gone to the head, her mentor is the head of her department and she’s felt uncomfortable going to the Head about it, the deputy head of her subject and third are saying that they are all too busy and she should basically bear with them. One of them even said “we observe your lessons as we walk past” My daughter was stunned, through a closed door for the 30 seconds it takes to walk past.
She has arranged to speak to someone independent next week but it’s her first permanent role and she feels totally stuck with no support and backing.

As a teacher with 25 years experience, I can tell you that Labour's claim to recruit 6500 teachers is for the birds. For many years it was the best job in the world. However in the last few years it's become a profession overwhelmed by a horrendous workload, abusive parents and toxic senior management. Many schools are now relying on cheap "cover supervisors"who aren't qualified teachers, teaching Maths, Physics, you name it. Retention of experienced staff is a huge issue. So just like the NHS, the government will recruit thousands of foreign teachers, many of whom, will have trouble being understood by the students. I know this is happening already. They will need to drastically reduce the workload and put the salaries up to encourage 6500 Brits to become qualified teachers. Roll on retirement in a few years time.

What happened with this in the end @DonnaDonna0 ?

So many people in SLTs are pathetic bullies. I got out. I think god every day.

@MrsHamlet she did speak with someone and they have helped highlight to her department some of the issues. Her mentor put some things in place, so she’s just hanging in there for another few months to see if what’s been promised happens.
She’s not giving up just yet but I think she’ll definitely be looking for a new position for next year.

She absolutely needs to go to the Head. This is totally unacceptable.

She needs to go to the induction lead, who may or may not be the head

I’ve been telling her to go to the Head for weeks but she doesn’t want to make things uncomfortable at work but I’ve said it’s past that now. Another observation lesson today and he just hasn’t bothered turning up, no apology; nothing. I feel I can’t do anymore, she needs to learn to deal with these awkward situations in her career.

The Head sounds absolutely useless. They should be overseeing the running of the school. I have worked in various roles in schools in the past in some really crap schools. Never come across a situation where new staff don't have their lessons observed in a professional manner. This sort of sloppy unprofessional behaviour exists because the Head is useless.

This was a ridiculous assumption made by the Labour government - utterly deluded to imagine we would be willing to teach in state schools under a Labour ‘government’

This new government are actively recruiting from abroad. I don't live in the UK but I've seen adverts for recruitment fairs to teach in the UK.

I think you are right that most wouldn’t - they moved from state in many cases to avoid over regulation etc - but why put government in quotation marks? They are the government.
The private sector benefits from teachers trained by state, as does private medicine with its staff. There needs to be some redressing if this I think.

The old government were too. Financial incentives for teachers from Nigeria to relocate among other things.

Yes, and Educational Psychologists, Social Workers and Care Workers.

We have a huge number in my LA, recruited during the Conservative Government tenure, as we just couldn’t find staff, despite repeated adverts. SEN creaking because ( amongst many other things) no EP reports as part of the EHCP system.
LA are now offering paid trainee EP and SW’s to build the workforce.