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/

Also - anecdotally - our local secondary school that never lost staff and is very well respected is now losing lots of staff. Hardly any support staff.
It's horrendous.

And they are being driven out deliberately in some cases to make way for cheaper ECTs.

Who don't stay in the job for more than half a decade.

Isn't that good old Tory policy, to thicken the general population? Well they've always been good at getting the cream for the private sector and education is no different

Tbh lots of parents don't care their state educated kids will be soon taught by online companies.
Oak academy anyone?

I’ve handed my notice in.

I’m gutted but I can work a much easier job for less hours and more money.
I also won’t have any of the stress or have to bring any work home with me.

I know several people who are doing the same.

@Mimosa08 - perfect. These kids will represent naff all competition and discipline issues are a thing of the past as nuisance kids never log on. Fine parents and continue giving high quality, interactive education privately.

I have one child at comp in year 10, fortunately very self motivated and she has constant cover teachers.
I have another child in year 7 at grammar school, also loads of cover teachers.
It's not fair on kids and I stand with striking teachers. Also never voted Tory in my life!

I’m not sure that things will be amazing in a private schools for much longer either. I know a few colleagues who looked at moving to the Indy sector but didn’t because they school had opted out of the TPS.

I know so many teachers who just left teaching in the last 5-10 years. The ones who hung on got broken by Covid. Nurses are the only other profession I'm seeing the same numbers leaving in. Some are simply leaving Britain behind and heading overseas.

I remember your threads Noble. I never doubted them because I actually know enough teachers who have left or are leaving. I'm not sure what it's going to take to fix the sinking ship Britain. Labour who should have been fighting for the poor and public services decided to fight twitter battles instead. Much easier to spout rainbows and #BeKind than actually robustly challenge the Tories.

Missing the point but YABU to make that dreadful generalisation about classics and private schools. My kids are at a bog standard comp that offers ancient history, Greek, Latin and classical civilisation and they are all really popular subjects.

Your inverse snobbery is showing.

I agree btw that things are already really bad. Nationally 75% of heads say they struggle to recruit. Vacancies advertised at the moment are 93% than in 2019. And things weren't "fine" in 2019 (the government offered their largest ever set of bursaries to teachers in 2019 to try and paper over the cracks). In some ways, the pandemic hid the extent of the crisis, so I think last year was a shock to a lot of people.

Anecdata, but my previous school has been without a full set of science teachers for 2 years now. Classes are taken by supply/cover, not usually specialist. Some of those students will have been hit twice, and had two years of supply teaching in science. They've actually changed the timetable more than once to try to deal with this.

My current job was advertised twice in order to get someone "suitable". We're advertising again this year (not for a science teacher) and one of the job adverts has been out 3 times to try and recruit someone suitable.

If a teacher gives notice just before May half term, you have no chance of filling the post. If a teacher gives notice mid year, you have no chance of filling the post. You can forget about getting specialist teachers for maternity cover or long term supply- you are lucky to be able to get someone competent.

Parents don't know/don't seem concerned, right up until it's their child being affected. A lot of Y11 parents were shocked when I told them their children wouldn't get any "extenuating circumstances" because they'd not had a physics teacher all year (by which I don't mean someone else was teaching them physics, I mean they had supply all year in Y11 for half their science lessons).

Things are getting worse in primary recruitment and retention too. We are a leafy village school in an excellent location in the South East. Can get to London in an hour on the train, high house prices but lovely area. SLT are very supportive, mostly great families and we’ve just had Ofsted so that’s not a worry.

We got zero applicants for a part I’m maternity cover. Reception class had to be covered by TAs or whoever was free until we sourced a temporary supply until the end of the year. She has no EYFS experience but we are trying our best with her.

All local schools have similar issues. It’s worrying.

I have a few friends who've made the jump recently. All have been offered pay rises compared to what they'd be on in the state sector- some quite large pay rises. I'm not sure how long private schools can keep this up for and remain financially viable!

I do think it is getting to the point where even some private schools can't recruit, and certainly they are having to take people on they wouldn't have considered in the past.

I hear a lot of primary schools locally to me struggle to recruit. Certainly primary teachers can be picky about where they want to work, and small rural schools seem to struggle. I think a lot of younger teachers want shared planning, and high house prices/long commutes put people off around here.

Even at primary, there's no need to take anything other than a permanent contract unless you want to!

Recruitment in maths, MFL, technology, computer science and English is also difficult. The quality of teacher training participants is often poor.

There are lots of PE teachers about . However, locally they train too many and a number don't get jobs and end up back in leisure centres.Meanwhile the course is training the next lot of recruits who have just left those jobs in the leisure centres. I help with some recruitment to the course and deliver some training- the standard of applicants isn't great, academically or in terms of professional behaviours in about 50% of them.

Teacher recruitment and training has changed dramatically over the last 12 years. Many PCSE courses no longer exist in some subjects. In others, the quality of applicants is lower and fewer people apply. Universities/Providers push them through courses and some qualify who should not. It is very difficult to fail. Teaching is tough and demanding and the drop-out rate over the first 5 years is very high. There are all kinds of 'arrangements' in place in schools to manage shortages and most are a very poor substitute for a strong teacher.

Schools are failing, nhs is failing, transport is failing, families can't afford to feed themselves, and yet people will still vote for the tories because all that matters is that they know what a woman is.

Whilst I agree that Classics and Latin are taught in a smattering of state schools ( like mine) that school is in no way a 'bog standard comp'!

Classics trainees were getting extensive bursaries til recently, despite not being a core subject,or widely taught. Stats point to many going straight to private schools.

351 physics jobs currently being advertised!

That is a lot and a lot of those won’t get filled.

Private schools will be okay - yes a few of the St Custards places will feel the pinch, but in the end, they will push the fees, and people pay. They may moan but they pay.

the puce students we’ve had over the past 5 years wouldn’t have passed 10 years ago. I teach in a gray local authority school, outstanding, lovely kids. We’ve got 15 vacancies…

That's all very colourless- puce, gray......

I’m looking to leave teaching and put my CV on jobs sites online - I get called and emailed day and night by supply agencies! I’m qualified as an English teacher so at least I know I’ll never need to go without a job (although going back into secondary English is distinctly unappealing to me). We’re also trying to recruit a sixth form Media teacher without much success. Usually Media is fairly easy to recruit for as a lot of people started in English and move across, and we teach in a traditionally attractive setting - plus Media roles will be filled easily by English teachers in the department wanting a change. But I checked TES and there were more than 3 pages of Media jobs which is something I’ve never seen in my life!

We've seen the same. The general quality of trainees is appalling. We have managed to fail one but it took massive safeguarding concerns to be able to do so. The universities usually push back so hard if we try to fail the ones who genuinely do not have what it takes to be a teacher that it is impossible to do so.

As for supply teachers, as long as they are breathing we keep them. The impact on behaviour is shocking.

I actually, genuinely disagree.

If there aren't enough teachers, eventually some private schools (not the really big names) will struggle to recruit for some subjects. Bear in mind as well, for lots of reasons, some teachers will never teach in private schools.

As I said, I've got a few friends who are trying private schools. They're burnt out in state and at least one is leaving teaching at the end of the year. He's a physics teacher. I'm sure the school will replace him- for now- but I'm not sure what happens long term.

Certainly, I think you could also see a rise in non-specialist teaching in private schools, and will parents think that is worth increased fees?

Maybe at the point where private schools can't recruit physics teachers, we will see a change?

We have just advertised for a primary teacher, main pay scale with possible TLR. Good school in an inexpensive area, housing affordable too( as an example, a single ECT could get a mortgage and buy a flat, two incomes would have no problem buying a small starter home)
Not a SINGLE applicant.