Teachers leaving and long term sickness

[Jennybeans401]

Middle moved school last year due to bullying. She settled well into the new school and things have been okay for her.

About 5 weeks ago the lovely, long term TA left the school. The TA worked in dds class, dd liked her a lot and she provided a lot of stability. The class has a lot of children with SEND requirements. The HT hasn't replaced the TA, dd said the class was difficult but she loves the class teacher so tried to get on with it.

The class teacher took sick leave 2 weeks ago, she seemed very stressed and now the class just have a TA from Reception teaching them (no other TAs to support this young lady). The class is very disruptive now, dd can't concentrate and doesn't understand the work anymore.

I spoke to the HT yesterday who said they don't have any other options but to continue like this until the teacher is back.

AIBU to think of moving dd again if the problem doesn't get resolved?

You have never seen posts about the teacher giving a child a funny look, or being off hand when busy, or telling a child off for misbehaving or, not letting them get the part they want in the play or, on fact, not putting the poster's own child at the centre of their world. Then there are the posters who are totally distrustful.of all men - it is a thing.

Yes, it’s true. This wasn’t an ambivalent government strategy, it was an active one. c.2011, Gove decided teachers could be anyone with a degree. He wanted scientists, writers and artists to come into teaching and share their knowledge without the shackles of a teaching qualification. This was the rhetoric. In practice, Dawkins, Rowling and Hockney are not going to wake up one day and want to teach middle school. Instead it meant TAs could take classes and be paid at an unqualified rate. Also no cost to train them. When those in education challenged Gove over this, he called them The Blob.

Yes but this was all starting to happen before the last election but people voted them in again because of ridiculous reasons like Boris Johnson seemed like someone you could go down the pub with (actual comment made to me). Despite the fact that our economy is tanking they're still quoted as being safer with the economy, largely because that's what newspapers like the Daily Mail tell them.

I can't believe that in a couple of terms this Government has dismantled public services that took decades to set up and leaving this country in tatters: roads with potholes, a barely functioning NHS, education in disarray, social care on its knees, transport services floundering, and yet at the same time increasingly expensive. And still the DM is telling us we can't trust Kier Starmer.

@electricmoccasins - there was a period much further back than 2011 when anyone with a degree could be a teacher! They tightened the rules and relaxed them again. It wasn’t Gove who came up with that idea though.

Without wishing to derail the thread, I think the last election result happened largely because the Labour party thought that Corbyn was electable as a World Leader. He wasn't so even lots of left wing people (like myself, I admit it) were not prepared to vote Labour.

This with bells on.

As a floating voter I just want to know what he will do specially about this situation and the NHS .

he must know by now . Give us figures and facts . How much will Ni increase , how much will tax increase . Where will the money go . How will it help recruitment . Because not all of these problems are down to money .

Very true

You’re right. When I started teaching, there were some nearing retirement who didn’t have a teaching qualification. Gove’s idea was that ‘Great Minds’ would come into teaching and he removed qualification barriers. He intended these people to not only have degrees, but PhDs etc. In reality, there was no stipulation for any qualification. So rather than Heads hiring these Great Minds who were surprisingly unforthcoming to start teaching, they instead could hire anyone and pay them anything. With tight budgets, that is exactly what happened.

You don't know the employment background of the person teaching. They could be a HLTA or a recently qualified teacher (many TAs by us are teachers who stepped away from teaching).

I would love to teach & a few people have suggested I'd be really good at it, but these threads always make me realise its like jumping into a burning building which is a shame.

Not just academies. I work in a maintained primary school and 5 of us went on maternity leave this academic year. Only two of the teachers were replaced by qualified teachers. Two classes have student teachers in them (previous TAs who started their teacher apprentiship in September) and one has a HLTA. They either couldn't afford to appoint anyone else or couldn't find anyone.

Not sure a change in Government will miraculously change everything in education. People don’t want to be teachers, numbers training to be teachers are nowhere near the levels required. About a third leave within 5 years of qualifying. Well established teachers are leaving in droves. Even if schools had better budgets there is not a big enough pool of teachers to recruit from. Even private schools are struggling with recruitment.

@pokabubble . The male negativity on here with regard to anything to do with children is constant. There was a recent thread on here about a teenage son being rejected as a baby sitter. Lots of threads horrified by any male nursery nurses. Is there any wonder that men are frightened off teaching? Women with young families don't want to teach because of the lack of flexibility. I asked a young male graduate yesterday if he would consider teaching. He said he wouldn't dare.
We have to look for non traditional entrants to teaching. The number of men entering teaching is at an all time low.

No I've not seen that. But then I haven't really paid attention to those threads I guess. What a shame. Maybe the government should do a campaign to get more men into teaching

See I thought men were traditional entrants but I haven't been in a school for 20 odd years! What a shame.

Not sure a change in Government will miraculously change everything in education.

I bet an incoming Ed minister would engage with the teachers about pay strikes. Labour have already called for reforms to Ofsted-those are two huge issues that are affecting recruitment and retention now.

There has been a campaign for I can't remember how long to persuade young men into teaching but, as the young male graduate said to me yesterday, he wouldn't dare.

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2022-0197/

MN with its constant negativity towards men has to take some responsibility for this. Women want to work from home and so are turning their backs on teaching and yet many women, particularly on MN are not keen on men working with children

We had quite a few men in the secondary school I worked at but primary teachers are predominantly female.

If you were a young mum who could choose a cosy job in the Civil Service working from home, fitted around collecting her children from school or teaching where the whole world weigh-in to tell you that you are doing it all wrong. Oh and society and MN tells you that actually they don't like men teaching young children. Where are the future teachers coming from?

I do agree it probably is too late for a new government to change the staffing crisis, but more funding for schools and staff is likely to help retention - if not recruitment. Lots of additional needs that makes teaching harder should be assessed at earlier stages if there was funding for it, lots of kids who shouldn’t be in mainstream but can’t get into SEN schools. Teachers not having as much TA support as they used to, more TAs would help. The issue isn’t that conservatives have suddenly cut funding, it’s that after 12 years of cuts people are in poverty, they’re not having assessments, classrooms have no money and staff numbers have fallen. It’s all had an effect

I qualified as a teacher (primary), there is only 1 person that I went to uni with of about 30 that I have on social media/see that still teaches. It’s been a steady decline perhaps over the last 10 years but more have left since covid.

It’s a shame because go back 20 years and it really was a wonderful job, there was more autonomy and respect.

It's not illegal in maintained schools as long as you make reasonable efforts to try to employ a teacher

It has taken a long time for schools to get into this sorry state and it will take a long time to get us out of it, literally years.

But at least a Labour government will have an interest in improving education in this country & will start the process.

I would kick up an almighty fuss to governors, council and Ofsted or equivalent if you are not in England. And media and MPs. This is outrageous. For the kids and TA who is probably crying in the way to work each day as she can’t cope! Many TAs have zero qualifications, others a basic level 2 or 3 ( equivalent to gcse or a-level. Regardless, the TA clearly can’t cope and has lost control of the class.

Get other parents involved. Start to kick up a fuss. This is outrageous. The LA will find money for a supply if they need to.

Though it won’t solve the problem if the teacher is sick due to not coping without TA support.