Those who think teaching is easy should put their money where their mouth is

[noblegiraffe]

Teacher training applications which rose during the pandemic have now fallen to 15% below pre-pandemic levels when we already had a critical teacher shortage. The government's decision to slash bursaries is now looking completely idiotic.

www.tes.com/news/teacher-training-applications-drop-pre-covid-levels

The only thing that the government has put an appreciable amount of funding into recently related to schools is £24 million to ensure that they will all be Ofsteded within the next 5 years. With inspectors expected to massively reduce the number of outstanding schools, this is a punishing schedule rather than a supportive one.

This is causing Heads to quit, on top of how terribly they were treated during the pandemic (this continued with an email late Friday telling them that they once again have to take on the job of the NHS and set up covid testing centres for January, with orders needing to be in by Tuesday).

We already have a critical shortage of headteachers.

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/27/ofsted-inspections-headteachers-quit

I've noticed lots of posts on here from people who think that teaching is easy, that school funding is fine and there are no issues in schools, that you can leave at 3 and get lots of holidays.

So isn't it about time they put their money where their mouth is and trained as teachers? We are in dire need of them, and it's such a doss it should be a pleasure for them. A bit of a holiday even. And as it would be a public service, it would be guilt-free.

getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/

@MrsHamlet

I'm a lead practitioner. I get paid something like £50 a year more than when I was UPS3 plus a TLR

I know people who have actually had to take a pay cut when they've been promoted to a deputy position.

Even at the leadership stage, the pay to work/responsibilities/expectations ratio is off.

My Head and (virtually full time class teacher) deputy are leadership scale but there is no money for TLRs which means every teacher beyond NQT/ECT has one if not two subjects. The workload pressure of this with Deep Dives and Ofsted is immense, that’s without all the other pointless (but extremely time consuming) paperwork.

Most teachers I know want to leave. They would probably stay if the workload was properly tackled. It’s not particularly about the pay.

There certainly are some very highly paid academy CEOs. Some have not ever been teachers. But the pay gap between heads and lowest paid staff is nothing like the private sector can be. Heads are leaving in droves, and hard to recruit.

I've been a teacher. 7 years secondary level.

Said it in here before and I'll say it again, hardest job I've ever done by miles. (And I've 12 worked-hour night-shifts in homeless shelters before.) Nothing I've ever done compares. Actually really damaged both my physical and mental health....

@RestingStitchFace

I've been a teacher. 7 years secondary level.

Said it in here before and I'll say it again, hardest job I've ever done by miles. (And I've 12 worked-hour night-shifts in homeless shelters before.) Nothing I've ever done compares. Actually really damaged both my physical and mental health....

Sorry to hear that.

Are there any well-being initiatives at the school? Anything meaningful happening to help with mental health? You can't be the only one and I understand Ofsted take an interest in this are also.

They say they do. They don't. When they came to my school they didn't even ask where the staff survey that our head had hidden from us got to!

@noblegiraffe

About what the general public can do to improve teacher’s workloads

1. Stop voting Tory
2. Email their MP asking what is being done to solve the critical shortage of teachers and ask for their email to be passed to Nadhim Zahawi.
3. Email their MP and ask why we have allocated such a poor rate of catch-up funding and why our children aren’t valued

4, Email their MP and ask where the £11.4 billion is that is needed (by the government’s own estimate) to repair school buildings.

1. Email their MP etc etc etc
2. Don’t vote Tory.

I think the problem is your expectation that parents/the general public get on board to help fight your cause. I wonder if in most cases parents find the teaching 'good enough' not to get to upset about it? It may not be up to the standards you as teachers would like, but as long as our kids are getting a reasonable standard if teaching, are on the whole happy at school - which I think the majority of parents would say, then it's easier to just let you all get on with it. (And moan about it when things aren't quite right) On the other hand I do find it staggering that you have an expectation that parents are pro-active in fighting your cause for you, as per the list above. I can think of another profession where a separate group of people from the actual workers are encouraged to do something about their plight. Take the TFL staff who went on strike Friday over night working conditions, as far as I'm aware they haven't asked us tube passengers to start writing to our MP or Grant Schapps. So I think you have an unrealistic expectation in thinking parents are bothered enough to get involved...

The Guardian article in the OP shows that Ofsted are very much a problem, not the solution when it comes to teacher wellbeing. The article shows how brutal these inspections are, particularly now when schools are right in the thick of covid, battling staff and student absence.

Ofsted interrogating schools right now on what they are doing to recover from the impact of the pandemic while some are in the worst situation they’ve faced so far demonstrates the viciousness and contempt with which both Ofsted and the govt treat schools.

Obviously that should say 'I can't think of another profession'

I can think of another profession where a separate group of people from the actual workers are encouraged to do something about their plight. Take the TFL staff who went on strike Friday over night working conditions, as far as I'm aware they haven't asked us tube passengers to start writing to our MP or Grant Schapps. So I think you have an unrealistic expectation in thinking parents are botheredenoughto get involved...

By going on strike that's basically exactly what they're doing. It's not explicit, but the idea of a strike is to inconvenience passengers so they complain and demand a better service from the provider. When teachers strike they get pilloried, or individual heads blamed, so asking here is maybe a better option...

Imagine thinking that a teacher's cause could not also be a parent's cause.

@Ulelia

I can think of another profession where a separate group of people from the actual workers are encouraged to do something about their plight. Take the TFL staff who went on strike Friday over night working conditions, as far as I'm aware they haven't asked us tube passengers to start writing to our MP or Grant Schapps. So I think you have an unrealistic expectation in thinking parents are botheredenoughto get involved...

By going on strike that's basically exactly what they're doing. It's not explicit, but the idea of a strike is to inconvenience passengers so they complain and demand a better service from the provider. When teachers strike they get pilloried, or individual heads blamed, so asking here is maybe a better option...

I disagree. What Noble is asking is for parents to be proactive on teachers behalf. Passengers are inconvenienced by strikes, yes - but the RMT are not asking us passengers to write to MPs or act in any other way on their behalf.

@Tailendofsummer

Imagine thinking that a teacher's cause could not also be a parent's cause.

I don't disagree that it could also be a parents cause. I just don't think parents are so very unhappy with the status quo to go out of their way to do something about it. Nurses pay was a recent issue. All of us are likely to be patients at some point in our lives. Other than clapping on our doorsteps how many of the general public started campaigning/writing letters on behalf of nurses? Would you?

And sorry @Ulelia just to address your final point, about posting on here to garner support from parents. Obviously there's no real way of knowing but i suspect many if not most of the posters on here are likely to be teaching staff, rather than parents with no skin in the game, so it just becomes an echo chamber.
I've read most of the posts on here and whilst I'm sorry teachers feel the way they do, and understand what Noble and others would like to happen, im just not bothered enough about it to do something. And no amount of teachers telling me I should be bothered is likely to change my mind (completely accept I could be in the minority however)

@noblegiraffe and others thank you for starting the thread and highlighting the pressure and problems in teaching. I have a couple of friends who are teachers and the pictures painted by you and others on here (I’ll ignore the goady or deliberately-Devils-advocate ones) ring true. My friends are exhausted and demoralised. I also like your action points and think I will take 10 minutes off MN to compose an email to my MP. He’s a tory, so waste of time.

@Thunderpunt

And sorry *@Ulelia* just to address your final point, about posting on here to garner support from parents. Obviously there's no real way of knowing but i suspect many if not most of the posters on here are likely to be teaching staff, rather than parents with no skin in the game, so it just becomes an echo chamber. I've read most of the posts on here and whilst I'm sorry teachers feel the way they do, and understand what Noble and others would like to happen, im just not bothered enough about it to do something. And no amount of teachers telling me I should be bothered is likely to change my mind (completely accept I could be in the minority however)

You probably aren't alone. Regular polling has education below many other things in terms of voter priorities : health is highest, followed by things like the economy. Education runs at about the same level as immigration (although you'd never know that from the Right Wing press). Interestingly, the only time education was a top concern was when Blair came to power. That PM put it firmly at the top of the list.

@Piggywaspushed exactly Piggy.
In the grand scheme of things I think people are more likely to be preoccupied with whether their dad gets a hip operation or whether their kid is going to be stabbed (so health and policing) than education when on the whole most kids are getting an adequate education.
I appreciate it's apathetic attitude - but it's reality.

I taught live to timetable from day 1. I was struggling with my own primary children. The thread was deleted because I was jumped on and said I was a shit teacher. If anyone from any other profession called out for help for their mental health they would receive immediate support.

Unless they were a GP, in which case it's pretty much the same story

I really don’t want to go back to the Blair years.

I qualified then and it was bloody awful.

@ViceLikeBlip I’m a civil servant and my full time salary is £39k. It’s pro rata because I’m part time, but I still get a lot less time off than teachers who earn £39k, pro rata.

I enjoy my job. The work is challenging but not overly stressful, although I have very busy periods where I work long hours.

I manage people, which is the single most challenging part of my role. Grown adults who can behave worse than children, whilst accusing you of bullying and threatening with employment tribunals.

I just don't think parents are so very unhappy with the status quo to go out of their way to do something about it.

I am very sure that there are parents unhappy with the status quo.

The issue is that the complaints are aimed at the school. Why haven’t you hired a proper teacher for my Y13? Why have you cut this course? Why has my kid had 5 maths teachers this year? My kid’s teacher is terrible, please replace with someone who can teach. I’ve seen it in RL, I’ve seen it on here.

What do they expect schools to do when there aren’t enough teachers to go round, let alone good ones?

The pressure needs to be put on the govt. Teachers can’t do it, we’ve tried and they hate us.

This is not asking parents to fight the teachers’ battle, because who is ultimately losing out here? The kids.

As for education being a low priority? Why is that? It’s lack of coverage. Everyone knows the NHS is struggling, why do they not know schools are? It’s all covered up.

When Theresa May lost the election, this was in part to the school funding campaign and website that showed parents how much money schools were losing. Parents cared then enough to change their vote. There’s no reason that they can’t care again.

It’s your kids.

@parentingperson

Thank you for your concern. I left the profession 10 years ago, so can't comment on what mental health support is in place now. (There was none whatsoever at the time and the implicit implication from my school's management was it was an issue of fragile individuals unable to hack the rigours of teaching.) I hope it's different now.

Has a grown adult got their dad in to threaten you recently? Thrown a chair at you? Called you a fucking bitch?

@Piggywaspushed

Has a grown adult got their dad in to threaten you recently? Thrown a chair at you? Called you a fucking bitch?

What?!!

I hope the parent has a permanent ban from site.

Hahaha. As if!