to want to know what parents can do about the teaching crisis?!

[BrightRedSharpie]

I'm in Scotland, btw, but I know there is a similar problem in England.

My DD's school is really understaffed. The P1 teachers have both been off all week, which has caused absolute havoc. They have had different teachers for mornings and afternoons because there are also no supply teachers available. P7 had to be split up for a teacher to come and take the little ones.

2 classroom assistants are also off on maternity leave, which either isn't or can't be covered. That's left 3 classroom assistants for around 300 children.

I know the school are doing their best. I've written to my MP and MSP. Is there anything else a concerned parent can actually do?

The emails!
When I was a CT, I used to wake up about 2am with the stress. So I used to use that slot to reply to parental emails, go back to bed around 3 and sleep til 6.
Occasionally parents noticed the time on them and got confused.
I had separate, named folders for the parents that emailed, so I kept all the correspondence in case of...misunderstandings.

Yes but the day to day operation is the teacher, and if you can't go: "oh jonny is working well on that, good. Let's use the LSA for ten mins with another struggler" I guess because I'm secondary and we don't get any support unless prescribed, and there are students who need it but don't get it, I'm seeing this from a different place.

One of my ds's targets is to ask (sign) for help, so if his 1-1 was helping another child but struggling, he would be stuck. But he is little (nearly 6) and can't communicate without Makaton or an AAC device so he does needs his 1-1 with him.

Lurked in depends entirely what is written in their ECHP/Statement. It may include small group working. What do you mean about getting no support unless prescribed? What portion of your school's nominal budget is set aside for SEN? I suppose in secondary there is more opportunity for setting, so some additional needs might be met in this way.

SEN budgets have been cut to the bone, when you used to have a class with several students with SEN you'd get anew LSA now they are only used when prescribed so you can have one child who had been granted one and another who needs support but not get them to so both, even when the prescribed child is happily working independently. Its draining.

Schools set their own SEN budgets from their nominal funding. The funding an individual school receives depends on the criteria set by the LA (ours formulated this criteria in consultation with schools) it included FSM and prior attainment.

Yes .. but schools also have deal with the funding given to them. Please don't lecture me on school funding rules and regs now. You really don't know just how hard the decisions are.

For example, cut the number of trips to save on cover or fund it and lose out on some extra curricular activities.

The SNOW budget is important but the paucity of funds means that schools will provide what thy have to. No more.

I'm just stating fact. If people don't abide by the rules, how can you tell whether the rules work or not? How can they be changed so they do work? There is so much subterfuge that it is difficult to know where to start...

Teaching was really great in the 60s and 70s wasn't it? Especially for the children in schools where rules and walls were swept aside. Where spellings disappeared and tables deemed unworthy when self expression could be used instead. When there was no assessment or monitoring.

That was I believe introduced by professional educationists. The ones who were training teachers. I think that's why so many of my children's teachers didn't really have a grasp of the basics. It was rather sad. The older ones who would now be 60 were great. Those who would be under 45ish now were great, the young South Africans and Australians were great but there was a raft of English educated teachers (not all of course) who were rather dire.

All I asked was for cheerful teachers with excellent foundation skills who liked children and who were responsible for helping me educate my children and supporting things like good manners, honesty, respect and kindness.

My job was to love, nourish, provide books, read to and with, play and nurture. I really believe a teacher's role is to teach and not to parent. There was an awful lot of pussyfooting when my dc were at primary school and certain parents who needed to be told directly what to do and how to do it because actually they didn't know. There were also a few who were a pain in the arse and I am laughing now at the eye contact one teacher and I used to make as one particular mother approached and I scarpered.

Having Sai all that there were also one or two teachers about whom one groaned and who really weren't connecting with the children. They really shouldn't have been able to get away with it year on year and I think that minority does such a disservice to the majority who do a great job.

It's the blurred lines I think. Teachers, teaching. The words say it. It isn't about and shouldn't be an extension of parenting and social work. I want teachers to concentrate on learning not on what children eat and how they get to school.

There is no subterfuge,schools will fund what they have to no more, providing for additional needs is now the responsibility of the teacher when 1 to 1 provision is not provided.

Schools will do what the rules tell them, the days of funding above and beyond are long gone as it would mean removing funding from somewhere else.

Lurked I have no issue personally with this. My DC overcame any significant additional needs that were present in the past and the Statement was ceased. My DC is now achieving above average in many areas.

I can see it may be difficult for those newly seeking top up funding to cater for High Level needs, if a school cannot demonstrate an initial spend on provision to show Higher Level funding is needed. There are often schemes and interventions that form part of the Local Offer. I have heard it is possible to apply for emergency grants in some case scenarios.

I am unaware as to how dramatically total funding has been cut. As I said earlier, previous to the funding reform our LA reduced the AWPU because so many schools were applying for Statements (reserving a greater sum for this) , thus reducing the level of additional need required for a Statement. Now schools get paid more direct and LA withhold a lesser proportion of funds.

Did you know fewer statements are being handed out too?

My school made a load of its TAs redundant a few years ago due to budget cuts. Then we lost a maths teacher due to budget cuts, class sizes are now ginormous. So I'm teaching bottom sets of much larger numbers with no support at all. If a kid was in my class with an attached TA (seems rare these days) and was getting on with work happily then hell yeah I'd hope that TA would help me out with some other kids.

Because the teacher crisis is because we're at breaking point.

Lurked I can quite understand that fewer Statements are handed out now a school is responsible for an initial spend of 6k from their own (adjusted) budgets, before top up funding an an ECHP (which replaced Statements) is applied for.

Previously applying for a Statement was a relatively low risk endeavour for a school, when it came with funding. Especially if schools were not monitored too closely in how they used the resource. In areas which gave schools proportionally larger initial budgets (the LA withholding less for SEN), Statements did not always have additional funding attached. Less schools were keen to apply for unfunded Statements, surprisingly. A Statement is not really a good indicator of the level of additional need, per se.

Let's be fair that 6k thing is basically a ruse to stop schools applying. Secondary schools rarely do anyway, but it means responsibility for students with extra needspecial are being put onto class teachers.

It's a sad state of affairs designed to save money whilst looking like the government are ding somehing.

Well I am unqualified to comment on that, Lurked since I am pretty sure my DC did not ever have very severe additional needs, yet received a Statement with a significant level of funding. This is potentially extremely detrimental too, in that it certainly affected people's perceptions of and aspirations for my child. Also in clinging onto funding, the longer this went on, the more distorted the perceptions of my child's actual needs were, the more my child's progression was suppressed, until it could be no longer. My child had begun to pick up on some of the altered treatment received from school staff. If this had not been resolved, I dread to think what position we would be in now.

Well said BeauGlacons if only teachers were allowed to get on with teaching instead of carrying out tasks parents should be doing (our latest being cleaning teeth 😧)

Saying that, I am in Scotland and we do not have to put up with a lot of the endless paperwork and OFSTED stuff our English colleagues do

Argh I'm sorry. But I can't discuss this just from your perspective any longer.

Yes to teaching not doing all the other stuff. I shouldn't be the one suggesting how you manage your ds and his computer time!

I'm supply and since April 1st there has been a change in rules for tax/expenses.

Until now I have been able to claim expenses against tax on a week to week basis. Now I have to wait until April 2017 if I want to claim taxes back.

Now it could be argued that other people do not get to claim travel expenses to their everyday work place but last September until 1/2 term I worked 300 miles from home. I could send in the receipts for overnight accommodation and get the money back within the month.

I was contacted yesterday by an agency, they are offering me almost double my usual rate to work 90 miles away. I can't afford to take it.

I'm not the only person in this situation.

OK that's supply.

For all other things.

Please get your child to school on time and either fed breakfast of with a snack for morning break. Do not phone or SMS them during the day.

Do turn up to parents evening and do listen to the teacher.

Do make them go to bed at a reasonable time and make them do homework.

Do teach your children that cleaners are in school to clean not pick up after dirty children. I got a kiss teeth for saying that to child, but as I said to them, "If you are sticking chewing gum under the tables then you are dirty".

Do keep in touch with school if thee is anything that could affect/effect learning. If grandma is about to die, you have mental health problems, you are divorcing etc etc. There are some things we can do. Eg id your depression means you can't get out of bed on a morning tell us, we may be able to do something to get your child in to school.

If they have a supply teacher then this is not an excuse for a riot, I might not be a specialist in your particular subject but I try my best to actually teach you not just give you yet another handout to copy. Yes the teacher does not know your name but he/she does have a photograph of you and can see your phone/laser pointer/that you are hitting another child.

Above all, teach your children to value education. You (student) don't know now what skills you will need in the future so even if you see a lessen as pointless because you are going to win 'Britain's got talent' ext year 1) you don't know it might be useful in the future and 2) it might be useful to someone else in the class and you are being selfish to stop someone else learning.

You can lose your home, job, family, country but your education cannot be taken from you.