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 one has left at DC school and I was told they have committed to the year after too. I'm pleased they will have the consistency, I realise many kids aren't that lucky.

@Shinyandnew1 Not forgetting disgraceful budget cuts!

I’m another ex-teacher who has left the classroom forever. I’m retraining in data science, and even in the entry-level data analyst job I have alongside my part time degree, I earn almost the same as I did as a teacher for about half the hours of work and less than 1/10 of the stress. I taught for 10 years and I loved my pupils, but the workload, the parents and the curriculum would be enough to prevent me from ever going back.

how do teachers work flexibly though? How does the school make sure each class is covered? I think flexibility should always be offered when it is feasible but for many it isn’t. You wouldn’t want a fully flexi time police force for instance, where none are available until 10am because the cba getting up early (I work flexibly and this is the case for many, many people).

I work flexibly but no one is relying one me being at a certain place at a certain time, I have deadlines but these involve work that I am doing alone and doesn’t involve anyone else.

Im not being critical btw just interested as to how it would work.

Every single member of staff in your child’s school has already been asked and has confirmed they will definitely stay not only this year but next year, and they have informed the parents? I have to say, that’s most unusual!

I would be really interested in hearing more about this.

I had a quick look at data analyst jobs after reading your post and see SPSS mentioned as a skill.

I used this about 20 years ago! So not exactly up to date! But would love to retrain in this area too.

Would be really grateful for a point in the right direction or details of your retraining.

If you're happy to share, please feel free to PM me so as not to derail the thread. Thanks.

(I have nc for this thread but would be happy to let you have my usual teacher username if it would make you feel happier about sharing.)

Yes, and she is a genuinely amazing human being! I hate the thought of her being so overworked she leaves, the school, and the kids would be so much worse off for it.

Things need to change for teachers, and many public sector workers intact.

@Shinyandnew1 And let's face it, part-time teachers work on their days "off" so it's just mpre unpaid hours!

No gaps at my child's school. There are quite a lot of part-timers and unusual hours though. Say two teachers per class for quite a few classes; one might only do one day and the other four or one does morning and the other afternoon. Then the TAs are full-time including after school, breakfast club and holiday clubs but with a range of holidays or special hours, lots of TAs sharing the 1-1s, groups and other tasks. Even the caretaker has two part timers. DS does prefer having one teacher for consistency, but he copes fine and I like to see the school seamlessly working in the different adult needs and I suspect the flexibility is one of the key reasons it is such a popular school for staff. I've explained to him that work should be flexible and it's like how we both finish work to hang out with him after school, so he understands the reasoning.

I'm am ex reception teacher. The job is completely unmanageable for most people. I worked 7am-6pm every single day, no more than half an hour break. I worked weekends too and during my (unpaid) holidays. I was never ever on top of anything. Expectations are completely unrealistic and get worse all the time. You are never praised and nothing is ever good enough, your targets get more bonkers every year like 'get every child in your class to make above average progress '. There is no welfare for teachers, you're meant to just
keep going. If youre off sick, you have to remotely resource and plan a whole day for the supply, even if you're puking your guts up. It's easier to work feeling like death, than take time off.

Before and after teaching I've had other jobs, including a high profile and high pressured civil service job working with press and Ministers, and nothing comes close to teaching. I'd never ever go back.

By contrast, a secondary school maths teacher friend was informed that it wasn't possible to reduce hours nor job share, apparently "impossible" to timetable. So she left. Slow hand claps for that head teacher.

@Willyoujustbequiet doesn’t mean the school will have the budget for them. Also the school can’t hold them to that commitment so no guarantee that they will stay. Can’t imagine who would have told you that they are committed to staying

@GRex maybe they didn’t have another teacher to job share with

Yep, I'm part time and have to work every day because it's too difficult to timetable full days off. So I have bits of time off here and there.

Loads of part timers have left my school because it's ridiculous.

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.

This. All of this, as has been demonstrated by all the posters on this thread.
It is so sad. I know so many excellent, qualified, experienced, great teachers who wouldn't go back into school for twice the pay.. The issue is, that teaching is such a small % of the week's work. Add in to that the fact they just stuff children with hugely significant and complex needs into school - often several in a class - that you know you are doing nothing for, but yet they take so much energy and time away from all the other children, so you know you aren't doing what you want for them, either. Then there's the lack of autonomy. Complete lack of trust in your experience and professional skills. Then there's the ridiculous demands of a small minority of parents.

So then advertise for one, like every other business in the world does!

@noblegiraffe - that's pathetic. There are plenty of scheduling software options that would take specific restrictions. It's just basic allocations.

Agree, there are so many passionate, fantastic and talented teachers driven out of the profession. It's so sad.

All seems OK at my DS's school. It's a secondary though so he has different teachers every year. Obviously I don't know what's going on behind the scenes though. He's had the same form tutor for 5 years.

And huge CEO salaries, often ‘mates MAT’s’ so all self appointed and pay scales agreed.

Our local MAT was asking parents to ‘donate a book for christmas’ rather than give staff a present. Perhaps on his £180,000 wage the CEO might like to donate a book or two.

Have you asked him how many cover lessons he has on a regular basis?

In some ways, I would imagine leafy suburbs are more impacted by wages. I am a teacher but house prices in area are low, even so, if I wasn't already on the property ladder, DH and I would be hard pushed to afford our small 3 bed house. There is no way I could afford anything in a 'posh' area (even with the equity built up). If there is a large area like that, meaning a long travel time / increased travel costs, of course it means pay is an issue.

Overall, workload is the biggest downside of teaching - it gets so disheartening not being able to spend time with your own children because you are spending your evenings & weekends working. No matter how lovely my pupils are, my favourite 2 children in the whole world are those I gave birth to!

As an ex primary school teacher myself (now a TA because I enjoy seeing my own children on evenings and weekends) I feel very lucky that, so far, both my DC have had excellent teachers and attend a very good school. But we did receive an email from the Head at the end of term saying that a teacher was leaving and that they couldn’t afford to replace her so SLT were going to step in and cover. She was brutally honest about the school’s budget and lack of funds.
YANBU and it’s a very worrying situation. I’ve gone from thinking the govt don’t care to thinking they are actively trying to damage the education system.

I’ve gone from thinking the govt don’t care to thinking they are actively trying to damage the education system.

I can see why the Conservatives are doing this with the NHS-if they run that into the ground, they can dismantle it and sell bits off to their mates. The general plebs can either pay for medical care or die-I doubt they care too much.

That won’t work with schools though-what’s the end game? They want to get rid of all the expensive teachers by forcing them out, but that leaves us with young, inexperienced ones who are overwhelmed, unsupported and leave quickly so the standard of education is crap poor and staff ever-changing. But the constant pressure from SLT, observations, Ofsted etc still remains so you can’t continue to pay staff crap wages and expect them to put up with it. Maybe they just don’t care as their kids don’t go to state school.

Advertise for a maths teacher? Err...

I’ve gone from thinking the govt don’t care to thinking they are actively trying to damage the education system.

I think I agree.

At the very least, they are taking advantage of the fact that teachers generally go into the profession because they care about children and want what's best for them and assume we will give ever more of ourselves to do what's 'right' with little thought or care for our own families and wellbeing.

As much as we might complain, we still do the best we can because of the children.

I know that a lot of people thought schools and teachers were lazy and did fuck all over lockdown, for example, but my school worked incredibly hard and yet the government still encouraged parents to report to ofsted of they didn't think their schools were doing enough. Not a word of thanks for any of us!