Nearly half of teachers plan to quit in the next 5 years

[freebritknee]

I saw this from a survey carried out by an education union.

Unmanageable workload is a significant factor.

This is madness how have the unions allowed the state of teachers employment to get this far where nearly half of them want out?!

I don’t care where our maths trainees have come from, uni, finance, wherever. I’ve seen good and bad from various backgrounds and degrees.

But we DON’T have a trainee at all. From anywhere.

So, Sonic, why is there, in your opinion, a critical shortage of teachers?

@Piggywaspushed

Apparently anyway we won't or shouldn't get a fresh batch straight from uni because this is A Bad Thing To Do.

It is not a bad thing. But it is not a solution because: (1) people are not signing up to train in the numbers needed (especially in fields such as Maths and Science) (2) people who do sign up are not staying in the job

Teaching has a recruitment and retention crisis.

Saying.... let's solve it by recruiting and retaining teachers is not helpful - that is exactly the bit that is proving hard to do!

I was being ironic ochre. See upthread...

All this contempt for the profession is seriously going to bite some parents on the arse. When I say some, I mean the ones who can’t afford to hire in tutors so I include myself in that bracket. My y7 has gaps and it’s not going to get any better. There will be swathes of uneducated young people which is what I guess the Tories want.

Get the working class kids working again! They don’t need to educate themselves.

That isn't the take home pay sonic. Are you being wilfully obtuse by spiriting up imaginary pay if they didn't have the unpaid holidays they actually have?? And, yes, I do understand your figures.

Articles in the News about real term pay cuts for public sector workers and well below inflation pay rises are more at the heart of the issue. People who read those articles are hardly going to rush to the public sector.

So, Sonic, why is there, in your opinion, a critical shortage of teachers?

That’s a different question. I’m addressing the notion that teaching is “low paid”.

All this contempt for the profession is seriously going to bite some parents on the arse. When I say some, I mean the ones who can’t afford to hire in tutors so I include myself in that bracket.

But that’s a good thing - the general public will be galvanised by their children’s education being terrible, and that will lead to reform. It won’t be because teachers have managed to convince people the job is hard.

Yes it is a different, but related question, Sonic.

If the pay is good, what is it that means we have a critical shortage of teachers? In your opinion.

@Pumperthepumper what reform do you think will actually happen? Education has been underfunded for years, many of the reforms that have been introduced over the years haven't actually helped the children's education

[quote toomuchlaundry]@Pumperthepumper what reform do you think will actually happen? Education has been underfunded for years, many of the reforms that have been introduced over the years haven't actually helped the children's education[/quote]
I think a total curricular overhaul. Loads of money pumped in, and a vanity project for an MP.

But in reality they really won't be galvanised will they? As we saw with covid there was only mass public outrage when schools were physically closed to most. The really vulnerable children that people were so concerned about may not have parents involved enough to care about their learning.

Well, they won’t have to, if they can’t get to school because 50% of the profession has left.

Not so many posters talk about vulnerable children anymore, it's as if the problem has gone away, which it hasn't.

Classrooms are filled with unqualified staff instead of sending kids home.

@Pumperthepumper

Nar, a lot of people just don’t care. I was told at parents evening the gaps are across the board in year 7, and I can’t see any parent kicking off about that. No one’s blaming teachers for it and we have acknowledged the effects of covid, however most people don’t care as long as their kids are out the door between 9-3.

A lot of people won’t give two hoots kids are getting taught by anyone and falling behind.

@noblegiraffe

Classrooms are filled with unqualified staff instead of sending kids home.

We’ve been hit pretty hard, and we’ve never had unqualified staff teaching, we may have merged classes but always qualified. Maybe out of subject, but teachers. I don’t think it is as terrible as people are making out if I’m being honest!

No, they’ll care if their kids can’t get to school, because the building is shut, because 50% of the profession has left.

But surely an out of subject teacher is no better than a non qualified teacher if you are looking at a GCSE or A-level class?

@Pumperthepumper

Very true. Only then will things change.

Maybe out of subject, but teachers.

Primary has certainly got TAs teaching classes.

I would also consider it unsatisfactory for my child to be taught maths by any old teacher with room on their timetable. Or by a string of supply teachers even if qualified.

Oh yes my family member is teaching a whole class of year 5s with nothing but TA qualifications. She has her own TA now. Does she have GCSEs? questionable to be honest as her spelling is atrocious. She absolutely has not got a degree. Sometimes I read the schools newsletter just to be nosy and her weekly summaries are littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes. How the head is okay with that being published is beyond me.

I mean I’m not Einstein but I’m certain some year 5s could teach her a thing or two.

She’s dirt cheap though.

@JangolinaPitt Do you get paid more as a new teacher because of your previous career?

I'm so sick of the glorification of teachers

Would someone be so kind as to direct me to where this is happening? It would make a lovely change to read this "glorification" instead of being called a lazy moaner and being told what my job is like by non-teachers who refuse to accept the job is as hard as we say it is and so we must all be lying and should all just leave.

[quote OnceuponaRainbow18]@noblegiraffe

Classrooms are filled with unqualified staff instead of sending kids home.

We’ve been hit pretty hard, and we’ve never had unqualified staff teaching, we may have merged classes but always qualified. Maybe out of subject, but teachers. I don’t think it is as terrible as people are making out if I’m being honest![/quote]
I think this very much depends on the area of the country you are in.

One area I know about is Luton which has horrendous recruitment issues and has been trying to recruit teachers from overseas for years.

On the subject of out of subject, many rather arcane GCSE and A Level subjects are taught by technical 'non specialists' (eg classics, film, sociology) but they are certainly qualified teachers with strongly related degrees or lengthy teaching experience for it to ever work.

At the moment we have a core subject teacher teaching food , which is clearly ridiculous.