To be utterly dumbfounded

[Swansandcustard]

DD17 is currently almost 1 year into A Levels at 6th form. She’s doing Classics, Ancient History and Sociology, with a view to go into either Archeology or Anthropology etc.

Yesterday the Classics/Ancient Rome teacher informed them they had basically been headhunted by the local private school, who were offering a lot more money and would fund their masters.

This teacher is the only non-private one of these subjects in our county. It’s very hard to recruit to, they’ve said they might put an English teacher in as substitute. The class is moving onto the Aeneid in the Autumn and they’ve been told they might have to teach themselves it. The departing teacher is leaving her material on Teams ‘in case of the worst’.

So, potentially 2 of DD’s 3 A Levels are fucked. Classics is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult A Levels as it is.

It’s horrific that the state school system is so unwelcoming to teachers that this kind of thing can go on. As annoyed as I am, I don’t blame the teacher. Why wouldn’t they take the offer?!

@Swansandcustard It also isn’t as easy for the school (who presumably didn’t want to let this teacher go!) as just saying “no problem - we’ll just bring in another Classics / AH teacher from the crowd of them waiting at the gates for a job” is it?

i feel sorry for your daughter OP but also the school who have been landed with this problem through no fault of their own. And not an inconsiderable problem given the state of education recruitment.

@JellyBabiesSaveLives have you any idea how hard it is to recruit computer science teachers? Can you imagine why someone with a computer science degree would want to go and teach? I can’t! I speak as the partner of a recently ex-computer science teacher.

Why aren’t we hearing more about teacher shortages in the media? Because it’s really happening government need to act on this and fast.

I suspect because it’s not fitting usual narrative that teaching is a cushy job with short hours and long hols. If it’s such a good gig why does no one want to do it.
My DCs school traditionally was ok - it’s a grammar, outstanding and decent behaviour. I can imagine it’s one of better schools to work. Her young maths teacher left after gcse - simple economics he could earn much better elsewhere with his skills. She never had a qualified physics teacher.
Now in sixth form the Philosophy & Ethics teacher been off sick for months and they can’t get qualified cover - a pe teacher sitting babysitting class while you teach yourself isn’t great. Deputy head is going to learn syllabus and teach it going forward.

Did you get a response from school @Swansandcustard

I feel your pain. I went to a state grammar school 25 years ago and had to do a A level Ancient History at a different school (the "brother" grammar school) and gave up two lunchtimes a week to walk there. We got signficiantly less class time for our Latin A Level than we needed as the shcool used the only qualified teacher to also teach years 7/8 history and classical civiclisation. She ended up tutoring us in her own time at weekends for free.

Studying Classics for state school kids is so hard. 😢

I dd get decent grades and went on to do Classics and English at a Russell group uni (I now work in public and regulatory policy - but that is another story).

As others have said if she needs to drop Classics she doesn't need it to do archaelogy or anthropology so another A level could be found.

As others have said if she needs to drop Classics she doesn't need it to do archaelogy or anthropology so another A level could be found.

She is a year into A-level course though - chances are she is taking 3 A-levels and dropping down to two would limit her university course options or leave her trying to pick up a new course and finish in a year or staying on another year in sixth form.

I can see why none of those options are great and I do think the school will have to find a new teacher for next year as there are 45 kids in the same boat.

I am assuming OP is in England here in Wales I do much prefer the set up where they can do 4 AS levels and then drop one for final year and just carry on with three A-levels.

My sister is a qualified physics teacher and was told she had to teach maths as well due to no maths teachers. So she left to be a dinner lady. Says it’s much better.

When I recruited for the IT industry they snapped up Classics students. The attention to detail needed to translate classic texts was thought to be highly transferable.

If it helps hardly any of the archaeology students on my degree at uni had those subjects as A levels.

So frustrating for you.

I earn 26k as an archaeology specialist but i needed an MA as well. Archaeology degrees can lead to more than archaeology so dont let it pu you off.

Our State School in South London teaches Classics and Ancient History. It's one of the lesser taught subjects in the state sector but there are teachers out there.

At this stage don't panic as there will be a comprehensive scheme of work and teaching materials that the new teacher next year can use for continuity. If the school cannot recruit a qualified Classics specialist they will have to be inventive and perhaps use a Classics graduate under the close supervision of the Head of Department. Classics is one of the larger courses at Oxford (I seem to remember 300 students a year), so there's sure to be an enthusiastic and knowledgeable bright young graduate to impart their knowledge.

Btw, I'm surprised the school have told you that the teacher is leaving as it's always top secret until the last week or two of the summer term in the schools I've worked at.

That is really awful, I can't imagine what a nightmare it is to find classics teachers? There may be some history teachers who could? I did classics a level back in the day, however only because one of the teachers in my state school did a PhD in it... hard to find!! I wonder if the head would consider sine sort of temporary arrangement so they could finish their A-level, if enough fuss is made you never know? It does not look good on your school or the private school for a class to be left without a teacher. I have never heard of classics being one of the hardest A Levels though? I found it much easier (by far) than my other sciences and I got an A (which was undeserved really as I did minimal revision due to panicking about passing my chemistry!!) however, it may have changed as I'm a dinosaur now... sorry not to be much help but I just felt for you, it's a wonderful subject, but does seem to be elitist and rare in state school, which is a shame. Maybe the school governors can influence? Good luck 🤞

Ps. Maybe the English teacher may have studied classical literature as lots of comedy, tragedy etc and seemed to be a bit of an overlap with the plays poetry, themes etc from my memory? Split the rest with the history teacher?

I did classics/philosophy/English lit a-levels and went on to archaeology degree.

I wouldn't say classics is one of the hardest!! If your daughter is very worried she could maybe restart her studies with a history a-level (virtually no one on my course had done ancient history a-levels). But at 17 I know it's hard to stomach the idea of losing a year.

It's probably best to speak to the admissions department at university she wants to go to and explain the situation, they could provide guidance. When I was finishing my degree applications for archaeology dropped massively, I don't know if they've picked back up.

Spoke to the dep head today, he’s ‘confident’ they’ll recruit into the role. There are no plans to collaborate.

It does involve Ancient Greek, so is the more complex one. The grade boundaries are horrific so getting an A is challenging at best.

It isn’t as simple as her just going to another school - I did mention earlier on she has severe anxiety and on the way to an ASD diagnosis, and yes, some ASD kids might cope, but we know they’re not all the same. Also, transport isn’t great as it is, so getting to some of the places mentioned is impossible. Also nurseries don’t cover all the expenses of a private school - we don’t have money to pay, as it is we forage around to try to get the books.

‘If there is one teacher in a school offering a niche course - and it is known that there are very very few teachers of the subject nationally - the student and her parents should have considered the risks of retirement, better job offers, maternity leave, death of that one teacher.’

This is utterly ridiculous. Blaming a kid who chose an A Level, for not considering that the teacher could die!

I’ll admit I did think about teacher leaving (retirement/sick) when my dc was thinking of choosing classical civilisation A level as it was same 1 teacher per school scenario. I can remember saying to her after open evening that I didn’t think he was near retirement age (he dresses in old fashioned style at first glance appears older) Lower school would have been less of an issue as she’d just have had 9 not 10 GCSEs. It’s potentially much higher stake at A level.
Ultimately though it was dc’s choice.

Online provider? Inter high is popular with sen homeschooling gets mentioned quite a bit. Some kids ehcp have funding for it

https://kingsinterhigh.co.uk/online-a-levels/classical-civilisation/

Not a great situation to be in, but honestly classics is one of the easiest A levels, and I believe it’s generally acknowledged to be such. I learnt it myself from books (because I hardly ever went to college, I’m embarrassed to say), and got an A. If she has to learn it herself, it’s doable (not like something like maths where you really do need someone teaching it).

OP I found this thread recently. What was the outcome for your child in the end?