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

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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 was you, back in the day. I even wrote a shitty letter to the TES complaining about older teachers who were always complaining. They bloody published it as well - with my name attached - when I was working as a consultant for the local authority. That was embarassing. Now I'm the older teacher who's complaining and I think I might be even more embarassed about the things I said in that letter now, than I was then - because I no longer even agree with what I said.

In fairness, as soon as I realisd I had become that teacher, I dropped my hours and responsibilities and now I just do cover. Much better.

And by the way, I only started reading off flipcharts when the school started insisting that we use those animated maths ones that came out a few years ago.

I'm saying it isn't the only way of teaching

I don’t think anyone on here-particularly those of us who have been teaching for 25+ years-have said it was.

I’m not saying using a textbook all lesson, every lesson for all pupils would be good practice either. My point was…textbooks used to be ok to use and then suddenly, they became the work of the devil.

Good textbooks, used well, were helpful.

Isn't this about respect for the profession, the lack of interest in learning and curriculum which isn't fit for purpose.

No textbooks ?

Because of course, nobody had a low reading age in the past 🙄

I teach with a pen, paper and visualiser a lot. You'll find if you do your reading around cognitive science that that approach actually helps your bottom set instead of your pretty distracting PowerPoint (see redundancy effect and cognitive load)

I teach mixed ability groups, including those with SEND.

I get the best results in the department, and the department is the top in the school on terms of CVA. So yeah.....you've got a lot to learn yet.

And this is why we can't retain experience.

Well I misunderstood your original point.

Textbooks are a fantastic resource.

The issue I've found with them in my school is that the students simply cannot access them.

GCSE exams are written with a reading age of 16. I don't think even 50% of our year 11s have that level.

I think that a large department like Science having a teacher who is still learning the job themselves illustrates a part of the massive problem facing schools.

Absolutely correct, @noblegiraffe

I used to drink with a primary school teacher. In her words she went into teaching because “It’s the only professional job you can get that’s reasonably well paid with less than a 2:1”.

There aren’t always ‘high quality’ people wanting to do the job. And can you blame them? My ex’s sister had a 2:1 and went into a law firm where her starting salary was near £50k. This was late ‘90s, why the hell would someone go into teaching when they can have two/three times the pay for not much more stress?

@Quinoawoman I don't even insist my dept use PowerPoints.

I just insist that you don't give your students a textbook, ask them to read the information and answer the question whilst you sit on your laptop planning your next lesson or reading through emails.

Likewise there's no point having a PowerPoint if it's just information on a slide that you're reading out.

I insist on continuously checking the progress of your students in the lesson, not moving on unless your students have understood the content so far, giving them opportunities to practice independently, but also collaboratively, working with students individually to ensure they have a good understanding and so on.

I'm not slating experienced teachers for teaching with only a pen and board/visualisers (which I love btw). I'm slating teachers who lecture the content without checking understanding and then throw questions at them from a textbook that they probably haven't even looked at beforehand.

We've surely all known teachers who can keep classes entertained, enthusiastic and making great progress armed with nothing but a whiteboard pen and teachers who teach crap lessons no matter how much whizzy tech they use.

I agree with this 100%.

Spot on

I've reread my original post and I can see how it came across arrogant and I apologise. I didn't articulate my points very well at all.

The reason I don't like reliance on textbooks is because when I've seen them used, they aren't used effectively. Students are given them when a teacher hasn't properly prepped for a lesson, so students are just reading the content (not understanding it) and then having to answer questions that they can't access.

Textbooks are great when teachers read them through with the students, explain the content, go over words they don't understand and so on.

When I said prep a PowerPoint I essentially meant prepping your lesson. I include lots of knowledge checks, plenty of MCQs, differentiated questions, modelled examples and so forth. That's what I meant by prepping. Not sticking pretty pictures on a slide.

I include knowledge checks, questions and do my modelling live. Diagrams, a large proportion of everything.

I spend my prep time writing a plan and working out my scaffolding and explanations. No PowerPoint required.

Experience, you see. It makes the world of difference being 10+ years in which is, I believe, the recognised minimum years required for becoming a true expert in any skill.

Trust me, give it another 5-10 years & if you're still mad enough to be teaching then you will have changed your tune!!

It's a similar story in many public sector jobs, i.e. nursing, social work, policing etc. The government does not want to spend the money and reduce staffing levels to the bare minimum, causing work-related stress, burnout, high sick rates and recruitment issues.

I nursed for eight years until the constant pressures took a toll on my mental health, and I left. I refuse to look after 10+ patients each shift, knowing that the only care I could provide was well below par and putting patients' lives at risk. I dread thinking about what our society will look like in 10 years when there are barely any qualified key workers left.

I think you need to open your mind a bit. Five years is nothing. Teaching takes many forms. Everyone has their style and is effective in many different ways. I've been teaching 20 years and am still learning every day from ECTs and experienced staff.

I just insist that you don't give your students a textbook, ask them to read the information and answer the question whilst you sit on your laptop planning your next lesson or reading through emails.

But you contrasted this, clearly crap, experienced teacher with your ECTs who use 'modern' teaching methods to get more progress from the kids. As if all experienced teachers read out powerpoints or hand kids textbooks and know nothing about how to engage kids and all ECTs are great teachers (they're not).

Engaging kids in your lessons isn't a modern teaching method.

@noblegiraffe I was only referring to the teachers I've come across in my dept.

When I said 'modern' I was referring to a PowerPoint with all the strategies aforementioned. Of course those strategies can also be implemented without a PowerPoint.

Are mini whiteboards modern? The more experienced staff in my school hate using them

What do you use mini whiteboards for? I know what I use them for but I teach in primary.

I was only referring to the teachers I've come across in my dept.

Because you have limited experience!

When I said 'modern' I was referring to a PowerPoint with all the strategies aforementioned

Do you think the strategies are modern, or the powerpoint? Because teachers have been checking kids understand stuff, giving them questions they can access, modelling solutions etc for a very long time. Rosenshine didn't invent teaching!

I'm still learning too! @Sherrystrull. Maybe I'm just bitter because of the lack of effort that the more experienced teachers put in at my school (which shows on the students' faces that are slumped over the desks staring blankly at the teacher).

Mini whiteboards for checking knowledge and understanding. Maybe as a starter to see what they've retained from previous lessons or in the middle of a lesson to gauge understanding so far. Normally only multiple choice questions or simple recall.

The PowerPoint of course!

I just haven't seen the strategies being implemented without it.

So some of the more experienced (and less experienced) staff that aren't using PowerPoints aren't doing any of the other things either.

Maybe I'm just bitter because of the lack of effort that the more experienced teachers put in at my school

You mean your department, yes? You've got some crap teachers and you think it's because they're experienced and not because they're crap.

You see I'd find mini whiteboards a faff for checking understanding, there's always pens that have run out and kids that draw a picture/on their hands/on the person nearby, I'd rather do multiple choice answer A with hands on heads, B with hands on knees and C with arms folded for example. Much quicker and less faffy. But that's just my preference.