Does your child have a teacher to go back to next week?

[fuckityfuckityfuckfuck]

My reception child doesn't.
There are 12 unfilled primary teacher vacancies within a 10mi radius of us. Only 1 of those I could perhaps be reluctant to work in due to reputation. There are also another 16 vacancies with later start dates.

Primary has historically been oversubscribed. I know this has been an ongoing issue for a while in secondary maths/science but now it's seeping into primary which has always been more desirable, I don't see how parents can continue to ignore the issue.

Gillian Keegan has warned the independent advisory board to "consider school budgets" when recommending a pay rise for 24-25 so I would imagine there will be even more classes without teachers next year!

As its AIBU... its time parents started complaining to their MPs to protect state education.

Yes and my sons school has said they are fully staffed and intend to stay that way.

I don't believe them one bit, I work in a different high school but know to well you cannot forsee long term sick, teachers finding a better job when more are advertised towards the end of the year or any other issues that unexpectedly pop up like maternity leave. It's just not possible for any high school to guarantee this in the current climate.

Eg our department was 'fully staffed' at the start of the year, one teacher was very ill after a planned operation and still isn't back, anther has gone off sick with a health problem.

Then we have the fact that actually half our year 7 classes are being staffed by out of specialist teachers, so not qualified in the subject but at lest they have a permanent teacher and this happens all the time.

I didn't say they said they guaranteed it. I said the staff had committed to it.

I disagree. It worked fine last year so I have no reason to doubt it now.

Your ECTs are very lucky then @MrsHamlet but like @Postapocalypticcowgirl has said, this sadly isn't the case for many ECTs.

Often, they are in their first job and doing their best to please - as you do when you are young and trying to make a good impression in a new job. Then, even where they know they aren't getting what they should - ECT time, Mentor meetings, TA support for the pupils with EHCPs in their class - what are they expected to do, when the 'management' to whom they might otherwise turn, are the people who aren't supporting them in this way ?

I've been working most of today and have bought books for next term with my money - such a hassle to order through school as we can no longer buy ourselves then get reimbursed.

I'm 60 in just under 6 weeks. What am I doing? Apart from dc4 at university, my children all earn more than me (with and without university educations) and certainly have a much better work life balance. I don't want to do this any more because all the joy has been sucked out of it. Bit too old (and live too remotely) to find another job. I don't need my full salary but would love a bit of flexibility time wise.

Sad as it is, it's lovely to see a thread that doesn't bash teachers on here.

For the first time ever, my LA has ‘blanket’ teaching, ancillary staff (cooks, cleaners) and teaching assistant job adverts out.

We are so short of staff.

So many temporary posts, so much change.

@UsingChangeofName ECTs should have a contact at the Appropriate Body to whom they can go for support. And they should also speak to their union rep.

One of our local MATs has started hiring teachers that way. So students are accepting a job with the MAT without knowing which school! The schools are quite different. I think it's madness.

@GrammarTeacher can work though, if you apply for a role and during the process it is felt that you might suit another school/cohort better eg if you have experience of mixed year groups

Many MATS will have mobility clauses in contracts so can be moved between schools especially if schools are in same area

@Amana

I think a lot of schools are now ensuring that staff are on contracts that enable them to be used in an agile and efficient manner. DH wants to ensure that resources are focused on teaching and learning rather than ancillary roles.

DH believes it is a better use of limited funds to have ancillary roles carried out by teachers rather than employing staff solely to carry out these roles.

DH believes it is a better use of limited funds to have ancillary roles carried out by teachers

This school sounds dreadful.

Yeah, I would in no way treat that as gospel. Unless asked for a reference, the deputy head won't necessarily even know someone is looking.

If my boss asked me "are you committed to staying for next year?" I'd probably say something reasonably affirmative, but if a really good job came up, I'd definitely apply...

Plus circumstances change and people have to move jobs for reasons beyond their control!

That’s just daft, paying teachers wages for those jobs.
Cant be real. In reality it’s teachers being cut as they are the highest paid. One teacher for two classes and a hlta. HLTA providing PPA and sickness cover. HLTA as DSL meeting parents and having CIN/ CP meetings.
no one is mad enough to have someone on teaching pay do anything but teach. It’s literally about twice the cost of employing TAs, office staff or midday assistants 🙄

Yeah, I have seen how quickly it can all fall apart. At a previous school, my department went from fully staffed (borderline overstaffed) to "short staffed and cannot recruit" in the space of about 2 years.

And once there's one unfilled vacancy and everyone is picking up the slack for that, more and more people start looking for jobs.

I think every school "intends" to stay fully staffed. My current job is at a pretty popular place to work, but they ended up having to advertise twice in order to recruit me, and at one point I believe they were really worried they wouldn't be able to recruit!

This year, some of the vacancies we had to fill for September couldn't be filled straight away, because we had to wait for people to work their notice periods in other jobs etc.

In a previous school, we've had ECTs pull out at the last minute because they couldn't find housing.

I don't believe any school intends to become short staffed, although I do think some recruit more aggressively than others!

As an ECT, if everyone in your school does lunch duty, or cover in their PPA, or whatever, then you may not even realise that it's not allowed, or there is anything to be discussed? If there's no rep in school, and everyone else goes along with it, then they may just struggle along, quietly getting burnt out.

I do think some schools deliberately employ ECTs because they are less likely to know their rights.

My friend teaches reception, has done for over 20 years, she always preferred the little ones, but has switched to a junior school this year because kids are now arriving in nappies, unable to sit still for 2 minutes, hitting and biting, unable to hold a pencil, poor language ... note all British born to English first language parents and same area, but it's as if parents stopped parenting their toddlers in 2020! I'm pretty sure covid is the reason, and something needs to be done to address this, catching up the kids already in school and urgently getting to youngsters still in preschool/parents through health visitors. Special needs is not the reason for most, it's simply not enough input to learn these things

There is a lot of talk about ‘rights’ but in my view there has to be a bit of come and go on both sides. While lunch duty may technically not be compulsory, it is widely accepted by teachers that this is a vital part of making schools run smoothly.

DH expects staff to work in a flexible and agile manner in line with the school ethos. However, he is also receptive when flexibility is required the other way, such as for medical appointments or sick leave.

Is that in addition to their roles as teachers?

Having teachers heat up lunches is impossible. Who is teaching their class while they are in the kitchen faffing around with frozen food?

@lavenderlou I'm afraid @FishyTree carefully picks which questions to answer. Perhaps the clue is in the username?

The school budget problems may well be the driving force behind these expectations. This head may well be a decent person who has to ask for this or the school won't function.

However, these expectations are a significant factor in the problem of teachers leaving the profession and another reason why I , as a teacher of over 25 years, would never recommend that anybody ever becomes a teacher. The nation does not deserve teachers if this is the way it treats them.

There is a lot of talk about ‘rights’ but in my view there has to be a bit of come and go on both sides. While lunch duty may technically not be compulsory, it is widely accepted by teachers that this is a vital part of making schools run smoothly.

Ha Ha
These posts are getting funnier and funnier now.

Sorry! Ignore all my posts!

Just read all of Fishytrees posts.
Either they are lies to stir up trouble or the head is just a joke of a man.

No head in real life is that stupid.

One DC does, the other has a class teacher but needs a 1:1 staff can't get the staff so currently not in school. They are both the lucky ones, from a class teacher point of view anyway, the rest of the school is a lot of job shares where one half is off on stress, in some cases part covered in others entirely covered by supply teachers. Obviously not ideal for older kids either, but it's a disaster for primary especially the reception kids who have never known continuity.
All the teachers I know socially are on the way out of the profession though, because the pay does not match up to the level of stress and responsibility, they are unsupported by senior staff, and the crisis with SEN children going long times without EHCP, lots of class disruption etc. I wouldn't be a teacher for twice what they get paid, horrible thankless job these days

Which LEA is your husband’s school in?

DH expects staff to work in a flexible and agile manner in line with the school ethos. However, he is also receptive when flexibility is required the other way, such as for medical appointments or sick leave

Aren’t medical appointments and sick leaves allowed anyway? That’s hardly being flexible.