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.

No, it's not widely accepted. And we're literally not paid for it. How many hours do you work unpaid a week?

Your DH is not flexible in the other direction- sick leave and time off for medical appointments is also a legal entitlement.

Ultimately, your DH can expect what he likes, but I would expect any teacher with any other options to leave when asked to do food prep at the expense of their own lunch, so he'll be struggling to retain and keep decent staff.

Why would a good teacher bother to stay somewhere where they clearly aren't valued.

Unfortunately, I have met a few heads IRL who are that stupid, and then moan they can't recruit staff!

In free market capitalism, isn't the idea that if you have a shortage skill, you get better pay and benefits?

People can't have it both ways...

No I'm not, but the staff have stayed the same for quite a few years now so I have no reason to doubt it.

I'm not for one minute suggesting that the education system isn't a huge mess . It's entirely the Government's fault. But it's not a complete disaster across the board imo as some areas seem far more badly affected than others. Dc don't suffer from large classes either. Dc class is 16 now which is apparently the average for these parts. I think perhaps rural areas aren't as vulnerable to turnover.

I left the profession in July after 30 years. Until recently I loved my job and was proud to be a teacher.
Covid was hard but the years after that impossible.
Nothing would make me go back. No amount of money. I feel physically sick at the thought of it.
If I hadn't left when I did, I dread to think what state I'd be in both physically and mentally.
I admire any practising teachers still working at the chalk face.

For every teacher who works "70+ hours per week" there is one who will hand out worksheets and sit scrolling on her phone all lesson <<narrows eyes at DDs GCSE History teacher>>

I'm a qualified teacher. The pay wasn't the reason I left at all, and to be honest nor were the kids or their behaviour. It was entirely the paperwork, marking and admin I had to do on top of the teaching and the pressure to make every child succeed even if there were a hundred other issues completely out of my hands preventing it.

I remember having a meeting about why one child in my class hadn't made accelerated progress that year. He'd made expected progress but was a child who had been identified for acceleration. The fact his attendance was 60% apparently wasn't a good reason.

@Willyoujustbequiet class sizes of 16 are not sustainable. Rural schools can struggle to recruit as won’t necessarily be housing for staff moving into the area

I don't doubt there are some teachers like that. The ratio od lazy to hard-working is not 1:1.
The overwhelming majority of teachers work either hard, very hard or stupidly hard.

Some of the teachers who word stupidly hard when they don't need to are also the ones who moan endlessly and give us all a bad name.

It's the average for my area and has been this way for many years so it clearly works in some places.

I'm a primary teacher. Up where we are, there are far too many teachers for posts available. Newly qualified teachers really struggle to get work.
Our biggest issue is that the school cannot afford to take on supply staff to cover illnesses. We have had a couple of teachers off on long term sick. There is no more money to pay for cover. This is scary as we still have many winter bugs to struggle through.

It has worked in the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s sustainable going forward. The smaller rural schools round us seem to be closing one by one.

Just to add...

Fully staffed in 2023 would have been dangerously understaffed in 2013.

In primary, I don't know of any school which has a general class TA anymore, they are all 1:1/PSAs. When I started teaching in primary, almost every class had a class TA (although often part time)

Yes we have had some close - schools with only 10 pupils. But dc schools are much larger so there's no danger of them closing.

@Willyoujustbequiet have you got mixed classes, how many pupils in the whole school?

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2023/may/29/more-90-primary-schools-in-england-to-close-or-face-closure-for-lack-of-pupils

Yes mixed classes. Several hundred.They aren't primary. That's not our system here.

Not sure what this has to do with my original comment that dc teachers aren't leaving.

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

You know that teachers were on strike for a very long time during the 80s precisely so that any lunch duties undertaken were paid and not voluntary? Any teacher doing these should be paid, it is an absolute right to be allowed down time in the middle of the day to eat a sandwich in peace.

as for an expectation that teachers are ‘flexible’ and ‘agile’, I think you will find that teachers literally bend over backwards where they are respected, trusted and supported. And where going on sick leave is not something that needs to be negotiated.

It sounds made up!

High level of Special needs with no additional support such as a TA and toxic management who seem accountable to no-one are reasons my primary teacher friends cite for leaving

Assuming you are England? Because theres no teaching jobs in Scotland. The situation is utterly dire! This will be my last year teaching because I'm not prepared to beg for a temporary contract again just to end up with nothing at the summer again. It is a joke. Yet uni perpetuates the myth theres a shortage and guaranteed work, utter shite!

One daughter-in-law a primary teacher, the other DiL qualified but helping son 1 run a business.
2 big issues IME

1. Workload-must be possible to be both successful teacher and parent
2. Current govt. tend to ‘aspire’ to private education for which they pay thousands pa. They want an advantage from that investment and therefore IMHO have a vested interest in keeping state sector mediocre at best.

If this is real and not some weird troll post. Then your DH is a complete tool and the teachers in that school should get the union involved because this has to be one of the stupidest decisions I have heard a head teacher make!

"sorry wee Jimmy can't read, I was too busy making lunch, phoning the parents of the kids who arent in and sweeping the bloody floors" 🙄

Someone needs to tell the clown that staff ARE a resource!

Me too.
I think we would be in for a big shock.😮

Can teachers afford to live in your area?

@Onceuponaheartache are you talking about SEN kids? Because having had 4 kids at primary in 2 different countries, and worked in both of those schools myself, I've never ever seen one 6 year old in nappies-I'm surprised you seem to have seen many?