Secondary school lack of teachers spiralling out of control

[noblegiraffe]

The govt released its targets for PGCE trainees for Sept 23 today and dear god we are in trouble.

The projection is that we will recruit less than half the number of secondary trainees that the sector needs. 47%.

We only recruited 59% of what was needed last year.

Jack Worth of the National Foundation for Education Research tweeted “Without an urgent policy response to make teaching more attractive, schools will face increasingly intense shortages over the next few years, which are likely to impact negatively on the quality of education.”

It looks like all subjects will miss their targets by a lot, except History, Classics (they all head off to private schools) and PE.

And today I hear of PE teachers handing in their notice because they are being expected to teach science instead.

On a thread a poster just commented that their child had to stop learning Spanish partway though the year as there was no teacher.

At my school, A-level students who have lost their teacher have had to continue by teaching themselves the course.

Parents of kids in secondary school, or approaching secondary school age: things are about to get a lot worse than they already are.

And still the government refuse to come to the negotiating table to try to fix this. What exactly is their plan? They don't have one. More and more kids will not have teachers.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-on-course-to-recruit-less-than-half-of-required-secondary-teachers/

Wycombe Abbey is advertising one teaching vacancy at the moment. For English to cover maternity leave! Looking at their staff list, it’s very very long! One suspects they don’t have staffing issues. In a grammar county, there are high standards in most academic 6th forms.

I suspect Wycombe Abbey doesn't have staff shortages, but I do know one of our local private schools (nice school, not a big name but some people will have heard of it) was struggling to recruit a maternity cover for maths recently.

The thing is, as a maths teacher, why would you go for a temporary role when there are lots of permanent ones available (including some in local grammar and private schools)? Maybe if you really wanted to work in a specific school, or the pay was so much better, but the school is known more for it's sports than academics so I suspect not that attractive to a maths teacher?

Up to a point, they can offer more money than state. But in the current financial climate, finishing work at a weird time eg February might not be very attractive to most people..

I have friends who teach in private and they all do get paid a lot more than me now! Or they get paid more than a teacher with equivalent experience in state. Yes, some of them don't get TPS, which would put me off, but some do.

But I suspect this is where it will hit private schools most - fixed term posts etc will become very hard to recruit for. Private schools can get around this by offering more pay, up to a point, but this will also have to be passed on to parents.

The longer things go on, the more it will impact private schools. Things are absolutely dire in state but most teachers who leave seem to just want to leave, not move to private.

You need to have QTS to teach in a state school. You don’t need it for adademies. But you will get paid even less.

The more cynical of us at my place (academic independent) have noticed that all of the recent appointments have been the youngest (and therefore cheapest) of the applicants, including for HoD of some big departments where internal candidates with lots of experience had applied..!

Exactly. Wycombe Abbey is where Rishi's daughter is. I don't believe that he cares what's happening in normal schools

@Convovulus Don’t be ridiculous. Politicians really can separate policy from their own lives. We have had rich Labour politicians too! We simply don’t have enough stem grads wanting to teach. We have so many current teachers saying it’s an awful job so who would do it? Puts everyone off. Many grads have more job satisfaction away from some modern schools and the type of person that works in them. Grads have been consumers of teaching and don’t want to join them.

WA won’t have this issue but the type of stem grad that wants to work with striking left wing teachers is limited. So the best academic schools get the teachers. Longer holidays and a lifestyle choice.

I definitely do not believe that the current government give a toss about what is happening in normal schools. The Right wing press have been demonising teachers for years. A good way of distracting from their own failures and underfunding.

Distracting from the government failures and underfunding.

It's all very well getting trainees to sign up for teacher training but you need a strong department to support them. If your department consists of two full timers, a couple of part timers, two non specialists and the rest is patched with supply and cover, there isn't capacity to offer classes to a trainee. We've had would - be trainees say they are unable to find a school willing to support their observation period before they sign on the dotted line because schools don't need the hassle of supporting trainees, especially if Ofsted are due.

Absolutely this. I’ve seen stuff on Twitter this week saying the way to solve the retention crisis is to have a robust supervision process in place for newly qualified teachers so that they feel fully supported by their mentor every step of the way.

What’s in place for those experienced teachers who get no money or release time or even choice as to whether they are a mentor or not and are on their knees with workload as it is. What’s the retention plan for them? Adding this plan to their already insane workload is just going to make them leave.

Until the government stop focusing only on getting trainees in through the door and trying to keep them in role for the training period, it’s just sticking masking tape around a bucket that’s got a massive great hole in the bottom.

There is no shortage of qualified teachers in the country, just a shortage of teachers prepared to work in school in the current situation.

A few of my friends teach and as much as pay and ofsted are issues trying to get some screen addicted I saw it on tik tok so it must be true know it all to actually listen is exhausting. My mate just retired early at 58 because she could afford to, that’s a chemistry teacher with decades of experience.

So well enough paid to retire at 58. That’s a good result and unattainable for many. Constant moaning by the teaching profession puts people off joining them. Less so at schools where there are still great teachers. Schools with militant teachers put off grads who are not like them. Those who can do something else. It’s a bit like the police force recruiting in the image of itself. Many privately educated Dc won’t teach in state comps in challenging areas. They don’t feel welcome. I think teaching is partly killing itself.

So well enough paid to retire at 58

This teacher certainly won’t be retiring at 58; my retirement age is 68.

So well enough paid to retire at 58.

If she's got decades of experience then she'd have a reasonable final salary pension built up from before Gove got rid of it.

My DD is just completing her QTS and is struggling to get a job. The schools just don’t have the capacity to take them on when they still need some level of mentoring for the next year, they are so short staffed it’s just not a viable option.

I think teaching is partly killing itself. @TizerorFizz why do you think that is?

Some level of mentoring for two years under the ECF.
And a reduced allocation for two years.
I have 6 ECTs starting in September. That's a huge amount of work.

@MrsHamlet sorry my mistake there it is two.
Although it is a high amount of work it’s good to hear some schools are still taking QTS.
Unfortunately in our area there are smaller secondaries (rural) it’s a real struggle to take on a QTS when departments are small and half of the team are already missing.

We scrapped teaching Business and it looks like Economics A Level will go next year as our two fabulous economics teachers retire.

too much competition for too few teachers

We don't have a choice if that's the only applicant!
And often they're employed because they're cheap.

The government have spent years giving the public the impression that teachers are shit and lazy.

The job is, believe me, and absolute bastard! I have a handful of friends still in teaching from my PGCE year, the vast majority leaving the profession within 5 years. 2 are planning to leave now and another is off to teach in Saudi.

All people see are holidays and 9-3 working. I have never met a teacher who doesn't spend a good chunk of holidays working or who actually does 9-3. Those with kids are forced to put their own in after school clubs too and then stay up late marking etc if they want to spend a couple of hours with their families in the evening.

Most people also bang on about how teachers sat on their arse throughout lockdown and refuse to accept that EVERY school was open and manned for the children of emergency workers all the way through the pandemic.

People also treat education staff as childcare and are furious if they are inconvenienced by eg strike days, even though teachers are really struggling financially. Why stay in a job that hard when you can earn more elsewhere?

I don't see why anyone would want to join the profession at the moment, frankly. The government will start to offer perks for training, as they always do, but at least 40% of those trainees will have left in a few years.

@TizerorFizz ‘ Many privately educated Dc won’t teach in state comps in challenging areas. ‘. The reason for that is because they are used to smaller class sizes and better resources & facilities , so going into a standard comp is a surprise.

@MrsHamlet I appreciate it’s difficult but we all have to start at the bottom and we need more teachers. They don’t get trained adequately then we are just going to keep going round in a circle, although that doesn’t mean the current overworked teachers need take up all the slack. Maybe the government need to go further to get these now ECF’s (QTS in old money) fully up and running

Adequately trained doesn't mean they stay. All of my current y2 ECTs are staying next year but of the previous 3 only 1 still is, and she's planning to leave in a year.

@Countdown2023 Exactly. More pleasant experience.

@Philandbill I think many posts talk about how awful teaching is. Undoubtedly some people love it but you only hear from those who don’t. Listen to any news item or phone in on education - it’s dominated by people who don’t like the job they chose. Then ask yourself: why would anyone want to join them? It’s largely the fault of SLTs, MATs, Government and unions. Take your pick. So many non state jobs are not unionized, have a great culture and are not blaming others so people thrive. Life is easier without constant arguments and a blame culture. Not to mention a largely left wing workforce. Who needs it? Few it appears.