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/

It's SLT that are still pushing data, not ofsted.

Some ofsted inspectors are still asking for data, they did last week. That's another issue, ofsted are completely inconsistent.

The focus of inspections should have shifted away from data. However what has replaced the data focus sounds grim, particularly for primary subject leads. The shift to needing to be curriculum experts has led to more BS.

If ofsted don’t ask for as much data and SLT were/are actually teaching so know what works why do they want the stats and grids?

Teaching is a good job with lots of benefits. Of course it has its drawbacks too but it’s not a uniquely difficult job regardless of what some (and it is a small core of posters who are clearly unhappy in their jobs) posters say.

Just because someone doesn’t want to fo your job doesn’t mean it’s uniquely difficult. There may be all sorts of reasons why other work suits them better. I wonder if op is the one who needs to get a new job, she seems to be very unhappy with teaching.

No one is saying teaching is uniquely difficult. But if it is such a great career, why is it so hard to retain good teachers? Even ITT courses can't recruit people to train.

I love my job, being in a classroom with students and seeing them learn makes me happy. However it is frustrating that they could learn even more if I had the time to plan better lessons. Instead my time is spent on BS.

@Hercisback

No one is saying teaching is uniquely difficult. But if it is such a great career, why is it so hard to retain good teachers? Even ITT courses can't recruit people to train.

I love my job, being in a classroom with students and seeing them learn makes me happy. However it is frustrating that they could learn even more if I had the time to plan better lessons. Instead my time is spent on BS.

I think it’s because of the salary. If you’re an excellent, say, chemist and have a solid undergrad, why would you choose to be a chemistry teacher instead of a pharmacist?

Partly the salary... But being an excellent chemist doesn't equal excellent teacher. We have a country with lots of very good teachers in it that are no longer teaching. Something has gone wrong somewhere for that to be the case.

The average lifespan of a trained teacher is 4 years in school. It's not economically viable to continue with that model.

[quote Sparkles715]@Pumperthepumper
Happy to share admin from the last week.

Planning and prep and marking for my lessons - to be expected, not moaning about that.

Updating 8 send support plans and printing them off. Contacting parents to arrange to discuss these and have them sign them. Then having those discussions with 8 sets of parents including one rescheduled meeting because a parent didn’t turn up. Scanning in 8 signed send support plans and uploading to our system so the senco can check them over.

Logging behaviour incidents for a violent and disruptive pupil including completing a restrictive physical intervention form justifying why I had to use reasonable force to hold this child to stop him slapping, kicking, hitting and spitting at other children and staff. Emailing the behaviour crisis team to update them that their nice little interventions didn’t work. Speaking to the three parents of children attacked by this child and basically asking them to be ‘nice’ because the child has needs and their is no money to provide support.

Organising an author visit for my class because I want to do something inspiring and nice for them. I could just not bother but how sad is that if the teacher isn’t doing things like this or organising trips.

Replying to a parent email. A complaint that I haven’t heard their child read this week (sorry but I was restraining a child on Wednesday when I would usually have heard your child read).

Planning and prepping for a TA to cover my class while I attend a looked after child review meeting. TA covering because we don’t have enough money to use a supply teacher. It takes a lot more time to plan and prep for someone else. And as it’s a TA I still have to mark the work after the lesson even though I didn’t teach it.

Organising to subject my fellow teachers to some “learning walks” so I can get “evidence” about the subject I lead in case Ofsted come and choose my subject for a deep dive. It’s music and I don’t have a musical bone in my body but someone has to be the expert. Ofsted expect one. After I’ve done them I’ll have to type them up to go in my file. I’ll also have to email the link subject governor to update them.

This is all outside of my 8-4 when I’m prepping for the day, teaching or marking.[/quote]
Practically identical here.

But add in making resources, running the staff meeting and helping a trainee teacher.

All with a class with the most challenging behaviour that I have had in the last 15 years. Thankfully no one is violent but I do have a one child who spends most of the day screaming. In fact I’d say every child in the class would be one who would require additional support in other years.

@Hercisback - there’s a retention issue in many if not most sectors. Teaching has its challenges clearly but also advantages like most sectors.

@Hercisback

Partly the salary... But being an excellent chemist doesn't equal excellent teacher. We have a country with lots of very good teachers in it that are no longer teaching. Something has gone wrong somewhere for that to be the case.

The average lifespan of a trained teacher is 4 years in school. It's not economically viable to continue with that model.

No, I mean, the people who have a great love and knowledge of a subject won’t see teaching as a viable career option, because there will always be better offers elsewhere.

@Hercisback

Some ofsted inspectors are still asking for data, they did last week. That's another issue, ofsted are completely inconsistent.

The focus of inspections should have shifted away from data. However what has replaced the data focus sounds grim, particularly for primary subject leads. The shift to needing to be curriculum experts has led to more BS.

Again, that's down to slt. If subject leads are given adequate time out of class to do their subject leadership, deep dives really are a much better option. So much less stressful than having to be on edge for a solid 2 days because an inspector might wander in at any moment. Knowing that they're only coming in for phonics, geography and art is a dream compared to inspections in the past.

If subject leads aren't given time to do their job, then yes, I can see it would be hell.

DD has been a TA in a primary state school for 1 term after 3 years in a independent as a TA. She is looking for another job. Having been kicked, punched, spat at and sworn at every day since the beginning of term she has decided its not for her. If the authorities want to know why teachers are leaving maybe look at that. As DD said teachers and TAs are not paid enough to put up with it. She feels sorry for the children in the class who have their educational opportunities reduced by constant disruption.

@coldwarenigma

DD has been a TA in a primary state school for 1 term after 3 years in a independent as a TA. She is looking for another job. Having been kicked, punched, spat at and sworn at every day since the beginning of term she has decided its not for her. If the authorities want to know why teachers are leaving maybe look at that. As DD said teachers and TAs are not paid enough to put up with it. She feels sorry for the children in the class who have their educational opportunities reduced by constant disruption.

She should also feel sorry for the kids doing the hitting and kicking though (which I appreciate is very difficult, believe me!) because their needs are not being met either. It’s firefighting, not education, and we’re going to see a massive backlash from that over the next generation.

l think it’s because of the salary. If you’re an excellent, say, chemist and have a solid undergrad, why would you choose to be a chemistry teacher instead of a pharmacist?

I don’t think it’s that. If I could leave tomorrow for another job with the same salary I would.

In small primary schools, often one person is subject lead for 2-3 subjects. No primary can afford to accommodate the time for that to be done properly. Your school sounds great if they give that time, but this is not the case nationally.

All the secondaries I have heard of have had a mix of deep dives and random walk rounds.
Based on the people I have spoken to, media reporting, twitter, your ofsted experience seems to be out of the normal.

@PriamFarrl

l think it’s because of the salary. If you’re an excellent, say, chemist and have a solid undergrad, why would you choose to be a chemistry teacher instead of a pharmacist?

I don’t think it’s that. If I could leave tomorrow for another job with the same salary I would.

But you went into teaching in the first place? What were your other options?

@PriamFarrl

Yes, SEN funding is a joke. That is probably what I have found most challenging in recent years.

When I first started, you'd maybe have 1 child with obvious needs, maybe a few more with milder needs. My last few classes have had just under a third of the class that need 1:1 or very small group support. But with only 1 TA who has to stick by the ones that run or throw furniture, it's impossible to meet their needs adequately. I tend to stay in ks1 or eyfs so it's quite rare for them to have EHCPs in place and I always get laughed at for trying to put 'too many' children on the SEN register. But once they're in ks2 suddenly, it's noticed and all attempts to help them lower down and offer early intervention were ignored, even though early intervention is the most effective way to help.

there’s a retention issue in many if not most sectors. Teaching has its challenges clearly but also advantages like most sectors

Well of course it had advantages. Trouble is at the moment the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Fewer people are training to teach and we have a retention crisis in teaching.

Obviously the same is true for many sectors. Does that mean teachers are never permitted to talk about the current issues in education?

If teachers are struggling, they can’t teach to the best of their ability. This is bad news for children. I find it really odd that some parents don’t care about the education system in this country.

You would think parents especially of small children would want to know this (the OP's post) as it will impact on the education their dc get when they reach school.

@Hercisback

Admittedly, I know very little about secondary and how ofsted operates there. But in primary, everyone I know who has been through one recently (they've been through our area hard in the last month or so) has felt it was much less stressful and pressurised than in the past.

I left teaching a few years back as I was just not enjoying it any longer. I read about the shortages recently and felt a bit guilty so briefly considered returning until I read an article about the number of teachers and heads leaving particularly due to Ofsted. I don't think any financial enticement would make me go back, actually.

But you went into teaching in the first place? What were your other options?

I did loads of jobs before teaching. I don’t have any qualifications that could get me another job that pays as well.

@PriamFarrl

But you went into teaching in the first place? What were your other options?

I did loads of jobs before teaching. I don’t have any qualifications that could get me another job that pays as well.

Right, so you’re supporting my point. People who go into teaching are not the ones who have a massive range of options elsewhere. If you had had qualifications, would you still have chosen teaching knowing you could get 10-20k more elsehwhere?

I'm not sure people in RL think it's easy. Most people I know think it's a hard job - me included.

I know I couldn't do it - but then I've never met a teacher that I thought would be any good at my job either - I guess we all have our own individuals skills.

Some people online shit stir and say crap like all teachers leave at 3pm or some nonsense. But then some people claiming to be teachers do also suggest online it's the hardest job in the world. My view is take what's online with a huge sack of salt.

My first degree was in biomedical sciences. I could have used it to do graduate entry medicine, pathology, forensics, pharmaceuticals.... loads of other options. I hated lab work though. Loved the theory, so I looked at teaching. Did some volunteering in secondary and decided I preferred the younger children so did my pgce primary in ks2 and have ended up spending the majority of the last 14 years in reception or year 1 as reading/phonics lead and English co-lead even though I hated English at school! (Although I think that is part of the reason I'm good at it, because I remember the dry forced discussion in gsce English lit where you couldn't possibly disagree with the teachers viewpoint unless you wanted shouting at)