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?

Are you a teacher @Twiglets1 ? I would like to know how you think any government will address recruitment? Since Covid we have had a big switch to hybrid or total work from home. Traditionally, teaching has been a female heavy profession. Those females now want the opportunity to work from home so they are rejecting teaching. MN and other social media discourage young men from entering teaching. so, what does the future hold? I know of a Year 2 class that has four different class teachers. They can't find anyone to do the job full time.
The key will be to offer teachers greater flexibility. Already there are some schools offering WFH to some senior teachers but that is bad for discipline and school behaviour management.
I fear there will be greater online teaching for older students. Eventually, MN and other social media will start to consider more male teachers in primary schools. The current situation is untenable.

I agree. About 20 years ago we had a male teacher come on supply in our school Nursery, he went on to cover Maternity leave, job shared with the teacher when she came back and then took over completely. The parents were supportive and wrote letters in his favour when he applied for the permanent job. He was an excellent Early Years teacher and is still working in a different school Nursery. I'm glad that the parents in that school were not as suspicious or judgemental as some one here. We actually had a higher than usual number of male teachers in that school.

Traditionally, teaching has been a female heavy profession. Those females now want the opportunity to work from home so they are rejecting teaching.
WFH might be a factor but teaching is no longer the family friendly job it once was.

No I'm not a teacher, I'm a TA (or was, I resigned last month).

Whatever the industry, recruitment problems are normally addressed by making the job more attractive aren't they? The government could bring back fully funded PGCEs for a start so graduates didn't have to pay to train to become teachers. They could increase the salary until it became an attractive choice to graduates. They could run advertising campaigns particularly targetting under represented groups such as men going into primary teaching.

What’s the alternative? There’s a massive teacher shortage and schools don’t have the budget to buy in supply.

Those females now want the opportunity to work from home

Using ‘female’ as a noun gives me the ick. It’s so unnecessary. And massive lol for blaming mumsnet for putting men off teaching 😂. Mumsnet is putting everyone off teaching because the teachers on here are reporting to everyone the reality of their working situation and it’s CRAP.

There have been endless campaigns targeting young men and encouraging them into going into teaching but you can't fight social media and MN in particular. So many posters on here don't like men being around children and they are very vocal about it.
As the young man I spoke to said, he wouldn't dare. MN is full of posters that want their children taught by female teachers

The world doesn't revolve around MN.

Increase teacher salaries and the men will follow into the profession.

Increase teacher salaries and the men will follow into the profession.

Absolutely

Going back to the OP I would definitely complain nothing will change if no one does.

Schools are in the shit. There is no money. When it was cold we could only have the heating on in the morning as it was too expensive to be on all day. It's awful out there right now

The only schools Rishi will care about is the top private schools his kids attend. He won't give a stuff what a mess the tories have made of state schools.

But it is not just about salaries, pupil behaviour, parent behaviour, constant paperwork, reforms, SLT all can have an impact on teacher retention

That's literally every schools situation. It's the same everywhere

My 16y gets £10 an hour for folding clothes in a London fashion shop. TA and care workers’ pay is disgusting.

The only thing I can suggest is to put more money in fund raising days at school (but check it's not for an outside charity event) and volunteer if you have time? I used to volunteer in a school and i just had to make copies, collect work sheets from the printer, help small groups with reading and writing, walking around the room and helping when the kids put their hand up. It was great but I can't do it anymore. It really does take some of the pressure off.
Also chopping the sheets on that big cutter, putting stickers in books (date, title and Learning objective- this saves teaching time waiting for the kids to copy it off the board, they just start right away) and sticking in work sheets (again saves teaching time)
I used to go in for 2 hours twice a week and was absolutely run off my feet. It was the same situation as your school, one ta for 2 classes and when she leaves (close to retirement) they probably won't replace her.
The school also did away with having a nursery and start at Reception now. But it's freed up the TAs from there so I don't mind at all.
It's desperate times in schools right now.

I really disagree here. Corbyn was very popular. Increased party membership, lots of people liked him. Then there was a mighty smear campaign - his clothes, his perceived antisemitism, his jam-making. Msm went for him and he stood no chance.

An awful lot of mothers look at MN and it is so unfriendly to the idea of men teaching in infant class settings.
However some of you are so confident that a bit of extra money will solve teacher recruitment. It won't. The world is changing. Young people don't want to be teachers, nurses, carers or nursery nurses anymore. Teaching will need to widen access in terms of recruitment and lots of MN will not like that.

@tiredhadenough people need to complain to the right people ie their MP, Education Secretary.

Complain to the MAT, they will just shuffle someone around so another class will struggle. They are not just putting a TA in the class for shits and giggles. Yes they can have an in year deficit but only if they have sufficient reserves to cover. They will be more than likely eating into their reserves already and next year will be even worse

My DS has his first GCSE exam today. It's in Economics, a subject for which they've had two years without an Economics teacher. They had a sub for a few months, then a pe teacher, then eventually were told to 'read from their textbook'. For some subjects they just have to go and study in the school hall all together as several classes don't have cover.

It's a grammar school that's in the top 10 schools in the country. If they can't recruit teachers I shudder to think how local primaries and comps are managing. This government have run our country into the ground.

@toomuchlaundry I agree.

I think too much focus of the strike for teachers has been about pay but really it's the conditions which are the issue and it is the children that suffer!

It is - and that is one reason they shouldn't be asked to cover for teachers. Also, they have no training to do the job because it's not their actual job.

What next? Maybe the staff cooking the school dinners could lend a hand?

Lots of people liked him... the electorate would beg to disagree

The top private schools still have a lot of trained teachers. Won’t there be a negative trickle-down effect if people don’t train as teachers? Because presumably a large number of private school teachers come from UK teacher training and the state system. If people do not train as teachers in the first place, then the private and public school system will be affected too surely?

Same goes for private medical care. Eventually everyone will be affected, even the wealthy. Idiots.

Good education is needed for every profession and for the economic growth, mental health etc of a country. Why are we not investing in it??

I agree people can be weird about male caregivers. We were the minority and used older teen boys as sitters.

But do you think mumsnet is that powerful? It doesn’t always have a diverse set of views that represents the masses.