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/

I taught when Thatcher, Blair and Cameron were the PM and under Blair things improved immeasurably. Gone were the buckets of water in the hall where the roof leaked. However we still got paid as professionals even under Thatcher, it was Cameron and Osborne that really wrecked teaching as a profession. I know people say money isn't everything but if you work 50 hours a week and still can't make ends meet why put up with the stress and aggro in teaching? I told both my children not to be teachers and one wanted to teach maths - she earns more than I earned as a deputy head and she is only 28. It took me 25 years to get to my highest paid job.

i teach in a nice leafy town, in an outstanding comp, (but our behaviour has gone down the plughole), and when it rains, if i have a free, i have to wear a coat at my desk as the roof leaks down my back. We had to relinquish subscriptions to our ks4 resources for lack of money, we aren’t allowed to photocopy any more, there are loads more but some are too identifiable. I don’t know how we can get across to the general public how dire things are in terms of funding

Why on earth would any sane person work in teaching!

There are almost no male teachers, because the risk of having your life ruined and your family destroyed by a false allegation is just not worth the ridiculous low pay. A vindictive 14 year old girl with a grudge can literally end your career with one phone call.

As for the female teachers, why would you bother?

Teaching is a dead career, no money is worth the risk. There is no respect from the students, or parents, and OFSTED just want you fired.

It's second only to the police in terms of important jobs which have been made so difficult that nobody wants to do them anymore.

when it rains, if i have a free, i have to wear a coat at my desk as the roof leaks down my back.

And we're about to start the joyful bit of the summer where it is TOO HOT.

Basically, very little work gets done when it is TOO HOT. The kids are sleepy and sweaty and it is very, very unpleasant. So much lost learning time in the summer due to the heat. And it's bloody awful working conditions for teachers too.

I did see the suggestion that one of the best things the govt could do to improve learning would be to invest in air conditioning in schools.

@noblegiraffe And use even more power up and more expense? Try opening windows!

🤦‍♀️

Because NO ONE has thought of opening a window.

FFS.

How do you think people in offices cope? Or in factories? Or indeed anyone who doesn’t have air conditioning at work. That’s millions of people.

When I worked in an office we had air conditioning.

Regardless, kids cannot learn effectively when it is too hot in classrooms. If you don't want them to be able to learn, what's the point in them being in school?

Ah so have all those sanctimonious people who told people to look after and teach their own children during the pandemic realised that we might actually need professionally trained teachers after all?

Sadly if you want teachers you have to pay more taxes. Are people willing to do that? Experience suggests not. You can't have it both ways.

As for year 8 having cover teachers, that was the case when my ds was in Y8 and that is a few years ago now. If there is a shortage, it's Y8 that gets the cover staff.

There are now exam classes without teachers, not just KS3.

GCSE and A-level kids having to teach themselves.

Thank god someone suggested opening a window. We'd never have thought of that.

Not easy for the staff teaching in rooms without opening windows, mind.

I'm reading this and it's scary. I knew the situation was bad, but not this bad.

What can we do as parents other than not vote Tory? I know they have decimated all the public sector, NHS included.

I worry for my children, who are state educated.

It also doesn't help when the temperature outside is 30-odd degrees.

I feel so sorry for all teachers out there. The situation is getting so bad that a bizarre story becomes normal. DD3 said she had a sub for a Spanish lesson. So far, so normal. But he was trying to introduce a new topic and didn't know Spanish. He had worksheets for them that were in Spanish, using vocabulary that they hadn't been taught yet, and he didn't know. No dictionaries available.

Write to your MP asking that your concerns be forwarded to Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education. https://www.writetothem.com/ Ask her to negotiate workload reduction and pay with the teaching unions as a good start.

You should get a response from the DfE. And they might start to realise that parents actually care about this stuff.

For your own kids - ask them whether they have lots of cover lessons. Support them in subjects where they are missing out, perhaps by using online resources, CGP workbooks, or, if you have the money, hiring tutors. Teachers on MN are happy to give pointers for resources for particular subjects.

Support the teacher strikes.

People in offices are adults. Hot sweaty kids can’t focus when it’s too hot, and are lethargic. Adults can self regulate or go and use a fan. Children can’t.

I used to teach a practical subject. From Feb onwards, the windows magnified the heat from the sun so much it was difficult to use the machinery as hands got too sweaty and slippy.

@ThrallsWife 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

But he was trying to introduce a new topic and didn't know Spanish. He had worksheets for them that were in Spanish, using vocabulary that they hadn't been taught yet, and he didn't know. No dictionaries available

That's poorly set cover work. It probably indicates an overworked HOD. Or no HOD. Or a department of ECTs. That's the bigger issue.

Try opening windows!

Jesus wept. Please homeschool of you think teachers are so atrupid they don't think to open windows in hot weather.

Did you consider that for H&S reasons, school wi dows either don't open or open just a crack?

Wow, thanks for that.

And that's if people actually finish the PGCE ... I tried as a mature student and it was horrific.

I had two weeks in uni then I was in a school. After the first day, I was teaching alone as there wasn't enough of my subject teachers. 3-4 lessons a day that I had to create, plan and teach, plus marking, then evaluate every lesson for uni on a 4 page document, plus hand in an essay every half term.

I'd worked high pressure jobs before but as a single parent, this was impossible.

I will say the drama 30 Year 9s can create about being a shade too hot or too cold is almost literally unbelievable if you haven't witnessed it for yourself. It's lesson-ruining, especially if the teacher is also kind of hot and tired. One hot teenager can make everyone else's life a misery, and a whole classful just wind each other up beyond belief. And this is not helped by unventilated classrooms with no cross-breeze, doors that open on to noisy thoroughfares, blinds that don't work, and don't forget the ultimate lesson-destroyer....wasps.

Thank you. All are in primary apart from one. They have had a lot of staff sickness, and then supplies, but that is a separate but related issue. Staff sickness is so high at their school, it must point to other issues.

I will write, but it often feels like it goes unnoticed.

Teacher absence has reached an all time high this year. So it definitely isn't just your school, sadly.

@TizerorFizz you don't usually have 34 people in one office either. This clearly adds to the room temperature