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.

@FrippEnos My teacher training establishment wouldn't take anybody on to do a PGCE unless they had a 2:1 and a decent amount of recent experience schools (2003). They were in fact, oversubscribed!
Having said that, within about the first few months a lot of the students had left and a significant number less than had started actually graduated.
Of the people I'm still in touch with from my PGCE, most have left teaching (including me).
It's an awful career choice.

Another point is the amount of experienced reliable TAs that are either not required due to cuts or have packed it in since they've scrapped being salaried (&treated as professionals)....The UNITE union was 💩 on this matter. So TAs are less likely to help with non statement kids / stay an extra hour or 2 /do extra curricular activities - hence more pressure on the teachers.

I qualified not long after that.
And am in the same position with those in my year that are no longer teaching. I my class of 15, 5 are still teaching but three are part time.
The Maths class that should have graduated with us out of 28 students had a 100% drop out rate.
It is as you say an awful career choice.

@Vynalbob Agreed. TA pay is truly horrendous for the work they do. I wonder if most people know exactly how low it is?

I think that part of the problem with TA's pay is that being a TA is seen as being a hobby job for parents that want to do something outside the home.
Very few people seem to know how hard a job it is and that it is barely minimum wage and pro rata.

@LorlieS

Our life became increasingly difficult during Covid, two of our children are disabled, their needs increased ten fold and teaching is not a career that can be managed alongside the life we have.
I am now at home full time so am around for them and all the appointments they have and the many calls I receive from their schools etc and in turn get to spend time at home with our youngest too.

When/if the time comes I’m able to reduce my caring role and have more flexibility in life, I would return to a HLTA or cover supervisor role for the hours and work/life balance. I love teaching but it requires every ounce of your soul and there is nothing left to give to yourself or anyone else whether you are a single person or have a family.

Far too many excellent teachers being lost to the current dire state of education.

@TruJay I'm so sorry things are so challenging for you. I'm a qualified teacher (20 years next year) but for the past five I've been working as an HLTA. Used to love it but now not so much as I'm very often being used as cover for closed of 30 with no TA (on HLTA wage of course).
Still it's bettter than teaching, even if we're totally skint!

@LorlieS
Thank you, it’s incredibly challenging but there is simply no other option. Another killer is we recently lost our excellent childminder so no longer have that help for me to work. Finding a childminder for disabled children is not easy and they had provided exceptional care for close to a decade so certainly not easy to replace. Me being home is the best/only option right now.

Don’t get me wrong, as tiring as it is, I do love being home for/with them but I worked so hard for my degree, I do feel a pang of sadness I’m currently unable to use it.

The wages for those roles should be so much higher, it is a tough job. When a school is receiving the skills of a fully qualified, experienced teacher in those roles too, you’d think there would be scope to increase the pay also.

I have a 2:2 and it doesn’t reflect on my standard of ability at all! My placement modules were pass/fail, the only thing my 2:2 reflects is my ability to write essays at the time (something I don’t need to do as a primary school teacher). I was 21 at the time, with a job to get through uni that meant I worked or had seminars 7 days a week and Had to do my essays on top of that. I was diagnosed with a disability that led to lots of trialling meds, I received PIP and had a blue badge and had to learn to walk with a cane. So I’m proud of my 2:2 and I don’t think it means I’m less able than a teacher who got a 2:1.

Why would anyone want to be a teacher, literally half of what is on here is slagging off teachers

@Abbimae Agree, there is very little respect for teachers these days. It's bizarre. There seems to be (absolutely rightly) a huge amount of respect for nurses, doctors, other professions, so why so much disrespect for teachers?

The truth is very few people want to be a teacher.

A large percentage of those in the job want to leave the profession.

A very low percentage of those who could becomes teachers don't want to join the profession.

The teacher haters have won. Ironically they now hate schools for not having enough teachers.

Apart from being told they were going to pay me the lowest salary possible for the third year running, I left teaching because I was forever being told I wasn't up to scratch, no meeting Teaching Standards and being subjected to mock Deep Dives rather than constructive lesson observations. In my previous school I'd been complimented on my Outstanding teaching by Ofsted...Teachers are set against unnecessarily high standards that they are expected to meet every second of every day. We are expected to be 100% outstanding. Yet we are not paid a salary that reflects this level of accountability. We are not surgeons. Providing good, solid lessons most of the time for most of our students should be a minimum but we should not be expected to be excellent, outstanding lessons all the time for all students. It's what we should strive for, certainly.

MN has probably fueled a lot of the hate tbh. We have noticed a massive increase in parents just storming into classrooms or refusing to leave reception until the headteacher appears (not expecting the police to come 🙄). Forums like this, as well as parent WhatsApp group become a sounding board for one-sided stories, brewing hate until they feel confident enough to take action. Something that could have just been a query over phone is blown massively out of proportion.

I have a 2:2 and have taught for 25 years. I also have a masters in education special needs with merit though so maybe that makes up for it!

I wonder...for those of you that are still teaching...had you your time again, would you go into the profession,?

No. I wish I'd gone onto do a grad scheme

That's a very good question. I feel like I was meant to be a teacher. I love it and know I'm good at it. I'm still proud to be a teacher.

However, the decline of funding, social standing, behaviour, SEND support and time to do anything ever, increases every year and the reality of failing my class becomes more and more expected. It breaks my heart and I know it will be the thing that would force me to leave at some point.

@CheesecakeAddict Likewise.

If I could go back to 1998 I would still tell myself to be a teacher.

If I was thinking of starting a career in teaching in 2024, I would tell myself to never consider a career in teaching.

Yes. I love my job.

I've done it for long enough and well enough that I can cut through most of the bullshit. Being a union rep also helps!

I wonder...for those of you that are still teaching...had you your time again, would you go into the profession,?

Depends on your question.
Do you mean, would I start teaching again in the mid 1980s ? in which case, yes.
If, OTOH, you mean, if I were starting my career in 2023, would I become a teacher, then no. Not a cat in hell's chance. which is such a shame as I know I have made a difference to lots of people in my career.
I wouldn't go back into the classroom at the moment though, for anything.

No. If I knew what I know now, I would have focused less on choosing a career where the emphasis is helping others, and more on a career that would allow me to live a lifestyle I would enjoy (i.e. a good salary and reasonable hours).

Alternatively, I would have possibly moved abroad to teach in international schools, but I'm too settled to do so at this stage (late 30s).

Exactly this but you worded it much better than I ever could!

DD(Yr1) yes, although her Reception teacher left in July, quickly replaced (regular, constant Yr1 teacher) . DS(Yr13) hasn't had a regular Biology teacher since Yr11!