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.

We've been lucky so far for primary and have had consistent teaching. My dd is dyslexic too and has has brilliant support. I know that's not the case for everyone. Our ds is now at secondary. The amount of supply teaching is through the roof. So much so we're going to send him to private for yr9-11 and will put dd in private from year 7. I know not everyone can do that of course. But we would never have considered it if the school could provide the basics - ie teachers. I know many teachers they are on their knees. I don't blame them for leaving. It's a mess.

We need to stop the narrative that pay isn't an issue. That's what allows the government to get away with allowing teacher's pay to fall below the level of comparable, post-graduate, professional roles. Pay isn't the only issue but it is an issue.

Workload and culture, behaviour and unsupportive parents (including the drop in the average quality of parenting) are also major issues.

@Meredusoleil
Ireland... Don't get me wrong there's lots wrong with the system here too especially as regards supports for children with SEN. Behaviour is definitely getting more challenging but class sizes are getting a bit smaller too. But overall my colleagues seem happy enough with their lot and no-one I know is currently considering leaving teaching. I teach in an all boys state urban primary school in a mixed socioeconomic area by the way and know quite a few teachers in different schools.

I think basically the approach here is more hands off and you have autonomy (whether this is intentional or not I don't know!) I feel I'm trusted to know what I'm doing . I don't have unnecessary paperwork to do. Also I think pay may be a bit better here too.. I have a principal who takes 'no shit' from inspectors or parents and makes no bones about putting staff first. But then again he has the leeway to do that.

I'm aware our system seems to be chugging in the same direction as UK so I'm not bragging here but really wondering how you protect (or reinstate) teaching as a worthwhile sustainable profession .. I hope the Dept Education reads Mumsnet.
I spent 12 years in IT prior to retraining as a teacher (I am 10 years teaching ) so can compare to an 'office job' and teaching is a very intense, emotional job in comparison - you need to feel respected and supported or you will burn out very quickly.

It is not as simple as saying Academies/Tories as some posters want it to be.
There has been a massive change in expectations of what schools should provide and a real sense of entitlement where parents insist endlessly on their little darling bring the only pupil that matters and sod the rest. This is compounded by weak school ‘leadership’ that kowtows to those nightmare parents /leaving the class teacher with an impossible situation so they either leave, or breaks them.
Kids arriving to reception in nappies is absolutely down to parents. Parents are only too eager to slap an SEN label onto the child to get ‘resources’ which means the genuine SEN are swamped and don’t get what they need.
I teach in secondary where the workload is better (less endless utterly pointless marking) but the parent problem there is getting worse and same issues with ineffectual school leadership.

My head is a great supportive head and cuts the workload for the teachers where possible and isn't into box ticking and we've had ofsted and got a good good!

The SEN crisis in schools is massive - it feels schools have become babysitting places for all children with a bit of education rather than providing quality of education. We have at least 3 children in our foundation unit (who are considerably older than foundation age) who should be in a special school. However they have been rejected from every SEN schools in the county as their needs can't be met!!!! But the children are in mainstream how do we begin to meet their needs if a SEN school can't and their pupil to staff ratio is much higher!

It would also be nice to get the SEN school pupil funding but these children which the SEN schools are rejecting - so mainstream could get the staff, training and facilities to support them!

Our school last year backed out of being part of an academy and is now just an associate as the academy wanted to cut staff and what we provided to the children which our head didn't think would be in the best interest of our children!

Academies are awful- the amount of money that stays at the top and what little gets filtered down! I hate that again your my own DD at secondary she will have to go to an academy as there is no alternative.

I work in a wonderful school but even we are struggling to recruit now. We used to be inundated with applicants for any vacancy but only had three when we last advertised.

We have anonymous, termly questionnaires about workload and wellbeing. The responses suggest, overwhelmingly, that the main issue for our teachers is parents.

We have never felt so micromanaged by parents who query everything, complain about everything, criticise everything. They defend their children from any sort of sanction. Nothing is ever their child's fault. They have unrealistic expectations about what can be achieved. We feel as if we are not trusted. The supportive, respectful parents are mainly those who have moved here from other countries which gives me hope for other school systems but makes we wonder how we will fare in the world market before too long.

My daughter is in Yr 10 and complaining that she often has stand in teacher for maths and feels like she isn't learning anything. This is making her anxious as maths is one of her weaker subjects but she needs to pass it to get into the A levels she wants for college. I'm doing my best to help her at home but it's a long while since I did that level maths and the techniques they are meant to use are different to the ones I was taught.

Also, it's getting more and more difficult in early years. The expectations are higher from ofsted and yet the children are joining us more delayed with behaviour, still in nappies, etc. Our current cohort are more like 2yo than 3/4yo and although ratio is now 1:8 this group could still do with 1:4.

When I talk of parents complaining, they do do this in a polite way and with a smile. I think they think it's less irritating if they preface with 'I know he's no angel but....' or 'Now I know you've got 30 other children to think about but....'

I don't mind our slt (who all teach themselves and are realistic), Ofsted or workload but resent the precious time spent appeasing parents who won't just back off and let us do our jobs.

Teaching in this country is so undervalued as a profession by society it is unreal. And it has been for decades. Ingrained disdain for people who teach the future generation. 'If you can't do, teach' ho ho ho how original snd funny I am! ''I wish I could have 3 months paid holiday a year' blah blah blah yet on the other hand ' Why don't they teach cooking/ money management/parenting literally everything in school'? Teachers are generally disrespected by many in society, and as a result, governments know that treating the profession like shit will not result in a loss of many votes. My kids go to a really good school with few behavioural issues. They have had cover teacher after cover teacher. I left teaching to go into a related field. Again, I taught older secondary and mostly 6th form so no real behaviour issues above the usual teenager tardiness. The problem was, and is creeping into my new job of ' ofsted says we have to do A,B and C", so we have to do reams of ridiculous and time consuming paperwork to try and jump through hoops to get from good to outstanding. Getting to outstanding will mean less time spent on the learners and more time filling in forms and statistics and trying to demonstrate adherence to various government initiatives.

I’m a qualified teacher, qualified in 2002 and worked 17 years with only positive feedback. I’m also a qualified senco. I like working with children, I like teaching. However I have a family and the workload is compatible with having my own children.
I have another job now, still working with schools and earning the equivalent of the top of the teaching scale. No taking work home, less responsibilities and a pleasant culture. I feel like to return to teaching I’d have to sacrifice so much for my own children and my life.
Also emotionally as a senco it’s such a grind not having the budget to meet needs. Failing child after child as they have an EHCP worth £5-7k and need 1:1 like 4 others in their class. Imagine being in any job long term where you can’t meet needs, say working in a fracture clinic but not having time to reset bones- only cast them wonky. It’s soul destroying. The impact the lack of budget and resources has on many children is permanent, and you know it. But there’s no solution. Even if you have the budget to recruit an LSA they leave in a few months for retail/ bar work/ delivery work to earn a bit more and be less stressed

I left primary teaching 20 years ago. Now work from home teaching adults 4 days a week. Log on at 9 log off at 5 that includes all my admin- planning, marking, and doing a level 5 qualification myself.. I’m also paid more than I would be teaching in a school.

I'm a primary school governor. We have no staff vacancies and nobody off on long term sick leave. However, our head bends over backwards to ensure that staff are well supported - he works really hard to try to manage the workload, has staff backs when parents are being unpleasant, ensures that staff wellbeing is considered in every decision that is made. It's also a school where the majority of parents (not all!) are supportive and the majority of kids are very well behaved. Even with all that, I know that it's a really stressful job, so in a tougher school with a less supportive head, it must seem completely unsustainable!

Our school is fully staffed but it's only last year they struggled to recruit a head. The interactions with teachers needs to change we have a messaging app, blackboard and have to pick the kids up off the teacher everyday. Behaviour, that when I was at school would have got you a break time walking round the yard with the duty teacher now has the parents called in to discuss as little so and so was offended. Imagine how much work that is adding vs spending your once a week 15 minute duty with 2-3kids.

I think we need to go back to teachers having a strict 9-5pm what isn't done simply isn't done. Get rid of the messaging apps and let year 3+ out to find their parents on the yard so teachers aren't facing a can I just ask you this or what about X.

The comp in our local town had a retired police officer as a behaviour officer so teachers didn't have to deal with it. That would be an excellent idea for a lot of comps. Also the low level things like phones out or vaping need to be just ignored to take the pressure off. It also needs to be easier to expel kids showing persistent disruptive behaviour when they are preventing learning.

I quit teaching this summer after 10 years in the classroom and I can’t believe the difference it has made to my life! I had been part time teaching 3 days a week for the last 5 years and I’m now full time in the civil service and there hasn’t been a week that I’ve worked more in my new 36 hour a week job, than I did teaching part time!

I backed the strikes and whilst there has been a small pay rise, nothing has been done to address the horrendous workload of conditions teachers are working in, which was the reason I left.

I genuinely worry about the education my children will receive as more and more people leave teaching because of the horrific workload. Of the cohort I graduated with in 2013, there are two of them who I know to still be teaching which speaks for itself!

The closure of sure start centres and other things hasnt helped. Schools are expected to absorb extra social duties and functions that they aren't staffed or qualified in. If these surrounding complimentary support services were adequately funded things would be quite different. The Tories have been the ones to close these.

It's the pay as well. Let's stop saying it's just the workload. Clearly that's an issue too. Teachers take home pay after tax is not much better than FT minimum wage - or benefits. That's because on lower incomes you're entitled to some help. Teachers earn enough to pay lots of tax and get zero assistance from the state.

No issues where I am in NI. No shortages, lots of young teachers who can't get permanent posts.

Sorry, my point being it has to be about more than pay.

There has been a drastic reduction in the respect and understanding of our state education. Unfortunately I am not convinced Labour will focus on this

The only school-based plans aside from removing the one-word judgement from Ofsted (which absolutely needs to happen) that Labour seem to have is making schools responsible for wraparound care, as there is this belief that the buildings are just hanging around empty and they can just snap their fingers and get more people back to work. The two main problems will be

1. we can’t hire people to work as TAs 9-3 even when their own children are at school because the money is so bad, let alone 7-8.45am and 3.30-7pm.
2. The buildings are falling down.

but I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons.

This beats the Conservative plans of not reforming Ofsted at all, suggesting teachers don’t have a pay rise next year as they should think of the schools budget and removing the right for primary teachers to strike at all. Neither party appears to be offering a reduction of workload though which is what is actually needed.

There isn’t a shortage of teachers in England. There is a shortage of teachers willing to work in the current way they are currently being forced to. The Facebook group, Exit the classroom and thrive’ had about 10,000 members a few years ago, now it has over 145,000. Nearly every teacher I know on FB is on it.

GK should be ashamed and be thinking what she needs to change to get all those qualified people back again, rather than whining that everyone should tell her what a good job she’s done.

Pay has a massive impact, but not always due to the obvious, a very large part of a schools budget goes on pay, so if most of the teachers have been there a long time, there will be little left for other things and inevitably the only way to generate funds is to lose posts

How is that exclusive to teaching though? Lots of jobs that pay that salary have no issue recruiting and that's with small amounts of holidays remember. I don't believe it's about pay at all. It's the dreadful working conditions, which imo would still be intolerable with 3 times the pay.

What is the difference in NI @FUPAgirl ?

Do more people want to go into teaching or do fewer leave, and if so why?

Do other schools pay better? In my school, the HLTA’s are on a FTE of 29500K a year. I’m a TA and my FTE is now 22.5k.

I don't believe it's about pay at all.

We can't recruit graduates (and teachers have to be graduates) because graduates look at the comparably shitty pay for incredibly long hours, with no option to WFH and don't even consider teaching.

NI still have the 11+ so there is mad parental pressure in late primary- parents are less likely to kick off. Also teaching is a good public sector job and there are fewer opportunities.

I must admit I give a hollow laugh when my NI relations complain about their public services- they are light years ahead of those in England, because they’ve mostly been left alone for so long and are better funded.