Third of England’s teachers who qualified in last decade ‘have left profession’: DfE data

[sunnydaytoday0]

www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jan/09/third-of-englands-teachers-who-qualified-in-last-decade-have-left-profession

Nearly a third of teachers who qualified in the last decade have since left the profession, according to Labour analysis that has been released as the party attempts to shift the political focus on to education.

With the results of strike ballots by teaching unions due in the coming days, Labour intends to use a Commons vote this week to push their plan to impose VAT on private school fees, which they say would help pay for new teachers in the state sector.

According to a Labour analysis of Department for Education statistics, of just under 270,000 teachers who qualified in England between 2011 and 2020, more than 81,000 have since left the profession, or three in 10 of the total.

Why didn't Sunak make sorting out the absolute crisis in staffing in education one of his New Year promises?

I don't know about NASUWT because I'm not a member, but NEU sent a single ballot to all members.

They communicated by email/text where possible to tell members to check for their ballots. There was a lot posted on social media about what to do if your ballot had not been received.

They can't send, say 3 ballots to each address because the ballot is anonymous and that would allow some people to vote 3 times.

So I'm genuinely curious as to what more the union should do?

And you say "fair enough if they don't chase it"- next time they have an issue at work is it "fair enough" if their union rep doesn't chase it?

I have just looked into a hunch and found that I am right.

Much was made in 2011 of NASUWT balloting for strike action as they had been so moderate for so long. The turnout was just over 40%, with 82% of voters favouring the strike: www.theguardian.com/education/2011/nov/18/teachers-vote-to-strike

In the 2022-23 ballot, there was a 42% turnout with 95% of voters favouring the strike.

The voting membership of the union is more in favour of strike action now than in 2011. The only thing that has changed is the new strike legislation, under which the 2011 strike would not have gone ahead.

And you say "fair enough if they don't chase it"- next time they have an issue at work is it "fair enough" if their union rep doesn't chase it?

That has been my experience of unions, to be honest, so I’m probably not the best person to answer it.

So if they send a ballot out and the person doesn’t receive it and they can’t send another I’m stumped. I do know there is a lady on Twitter claiming she chased NASUWT three times about a ballot and still didn’t receive one. Obviously I’ve no idea if she’s telling the truth or even if she’s real but if that’s the case it is pretty bad. And historically, one teacher sued her union and got the fees back.

I'm frustrated more people didn't return their ballots but not everyone is on social media - I've returned mine bit certainly haven't seen any reminders other than in the NEU magazine (which I do actually read but I imagine a lot of people don't). I literally never go on Facebook and it has never come up on Instagram.

They can't send, say 3 ballots to each address because the ballot is anonymous

I don't think it is. A union rep told me that they knew the turnout for their school.

Not my message but seen elsewhere that I agree with:

I feel like this will negatively impact the NEU message as well though. Even if we do successfully ballot to strike, the government can point at this and say that obviously a lot of teachers are fine with everything and we're just being the classic "loony lefty" teachers.

I asked for another ballot paper both myself and via the rep at school.

It never arrived. So I didn't get the chance to vote.

I’m NASUWT. Our envelope was clearly marked as ballot papers. Yet some staff at school said they put all union stuff straight in the recycling, didn’t know anything about ballot papers and asked what they were for, what strike and why etc. I was lost for words.

If I were a school rep I'd want to tell them that they could fuck right off if they want union support in the future. It's a shame the union can't expel them.

I had similar.

As an ECT, it’s fascinating. The abuse and disgusting comments I’ve seen to fellow members of the profession is pretty disgusting - especially on Twitter. These people are supposed to be teachers. Professional standards? Swearing, bullying, malicious communications (which are a crime). It’s awful, I wonder if that’s why so many people don’t stay in teaching when new. It’s overcome by absolute bitterness from the top. I don’t think it’s a great profession to be in right now but abusing fellow colleagues isn’t the answer, it makes teachers look pretty horrible. Many didn’t get papers.

@ilovesooty

Some aren’t members of a union either. When they ask why they should be and you explain to them, it’s obviously never occurred to them

I'm glad I don't work in schools anymore for all sorts of reasons, but I wouldn't want to share a workplace with apathetic, spineless people like that. I certainly wouldn't communicate with them beyond what was professionally necessary.

And those unthinking, unknowlegeable, unaware people are supposed to be educating young people.

I’m glad you aren’t too.

I had this as union rep both in the UK and Oz. As common was the sudden interest in picking one's brains for advice when they were in the shit, all without paying subs, of course. Naturally I declined.

Lostinalibrary Do you have a problem with someone who can clearly differentiate between what they think and what they do, i.e behaving like a professional?

OK. The feeling is mutual.

I'm not going to change my utter contempt for people who know or care nothing about fighting for decent conditions. If you think that sort of apathy is OK then you're entitled to that view. Of course if everyone had taken that view we wouldn't have annual leave, maternity pay etc. It's only because union members in times past cared enough to fight for them. Still, if you don't think those things matter...

She evidently does. I never at any point said that I wouldn't be professional. It's perfectly possible to manage the basics of professional and necessary discourse with people even if you despise their values - or their lack of them.

Says who? You have no idea what I think. I do know a lot of people who didn’t get ballots. Abusing them and calling them spineless and anyone who calls you out for it isn’t a good look. Nor is joining in with fellow posters to start talking about someone in a public thread. You’re doing current teachers no favours what so ever. You’re not being professional on this thread at all, it’s an awful read.

I'm not talking about people who tried to get ballot papers and didn't receive them. I'm talking about people who seemed unaware of the potential strike action and / or deemed it unimportant. I thought that was quite clear. I'm sorry if I made that insufficiently clear to you.

I’m just wanting to play devil’s advocate to this statement

How many good, experienced teachers are hounded and ‘managed out of teaching’ their experience throughout education is what has taught new, not as experienced teachers the ropes. Taught the very challenging classes and shown newer teachers how to deal with situations of the cuff and actually are spoken of very highly by those students in the future, as the teachers they respected and think of fondly because during times of struggle and difficulties those teachers knew how to take care of them but maintained standards.

Also the media saying teachers are not good enough also feeds into a narrative and parents not supporting teachers but throwing the school and teachers under the bus at times rather than all working together.

At the end of the day most teachers go into this job as a vocation and because they love the job.

Yet, how many parents can say they back up a teacher, they stop the badmouthing of a teacher and ensure a young person respects that the teacher is nearly always professional and puts in a lot of time, and emotional time in ensuring a child meets their potential and when difficulties arise will put in a lot of extra time and work and emotional care into ensuring that person is the best they can be.
A lot of the time whilst having family, their own personal lives and children and family
Yet most teachers will say they care about the students they teach.
All the time meeting targets, vilified in the press and barely any positive input and interactions from parents who will tell that teacher they are grateful, thankful and appreciative of the work they do.
What you get is my child isn’t doing well in this area…. At the end of the day, what responsibilities are put back to the parents. The children are the parents responsibility, a teacher is doing a job.
maybe if a teacher felt respected and backed up not as many teachers would leave.

It seems in some instances the parents but all responsibility on a teacher without doing anything themselves.
I would have assumed after the lockdown when some parents struggled to get their child/children to work they would have understood the difficulties in some cases.
amplify those behaviours by 30 and imagine how you would teach and control a room whilst completing all the other jobs each hour

Maybe the moment parents and media respect the job a teacher really does then education can change.

NEU ballot result: teachers have voted overwhelmingly for strike action:

Teachers in England 90% on a 53% turnout✅
Teachers in Wales 92% on a 58% turnout✅
Support staff in England 84% on a 46% turnout
Support staff in Wales 88% on a 51% turnout✅

@NEUnion
The union is declaring seven days of strike action in February and March, though any individual school will only be affected by four of them.

The first will be on Wednesday, 1 February, affecting 23,400 schools in England and Wales.

The full list of strike days are:

➡️Wednesday, 1 February: all eligible members in England and Wales.
➡️Tuesday, 14 February: all eligible members in Wales.
➡️Tuesday, 28 February: all eligible members in Northern, North West, Yorkshire & The Humber regions.
➡️Wednesday, 1 March: all eligible members in East Midlands, West Midlands, Eastern regions.
➡️Thursday, 2 March: all eligible members in London, South East, South West regions.
➡️Wednesday, 15 March: all eligible members in England and Wales.
➡️Thursday, 16 March: all eligible members in England and Wales.

I’m NASUWT, so won’t be striking. I would say our staff is 2/3 NEU, so them striking will mean school can’t open. I asked our deputy head today what it will mean for those of us not striking and he wasn’t sure yet. I have 2 DC in primary so not sure what I will do with them if they’re off but I’m not. Might be take my children to work day!