Is this the end of schools as we know them?

[Elephant4]

Teachers are leaving in droves.

This new variant will not come down to acceptable R levels for a long time, will it?

How will schools open up to ALL students without a government strategical plan in place? There doesn’t seem to be one.

Is our school system about to collapse alongside the NHS?

The number of teachers being trained has always outnumbered those that finally make it into the classroom.

And a large amount leave during the first few years of teaching.

Personally, I am concerned about those coming through not having sufficient training and classroom time and can see a larger amount leaving due to this.

Do stop with the hysterical panic-mongering fantasies.

MN should delete these threads.

If I was made redundant tomorrow, I would retrain as a teacher. I already have a degree. Many others would do the same.

@TheCap

If I was made redundant tomorrow, I would retrain as a teacher. I already have a degree. Many others would do the same.

Many have done this.

Many have not stayed in the profession.

I’m sure I’d be fine but thanks for your concern.

No.

Definitely aren’t leaving in droves here. I’m more concerned about the ones in training missing out on classroom time in placements, this is where you really learn.

As a teacher I’m really grateful to have such a stable job at this time.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia - Yes, and the problem for schools (and I am speaking as someone with direct experience of recruiting for schools) is that the agencies are charging fees that are in excess of 100% more than teachers are being paid. If the teachers are paid £100 a day, the agencies are taking £200.

Because so many teachers prefer agency work, nearly every school in London is relying on agency staff to function, and I’m talking about pre-pandemic times. But the costs aren’t sustainable - hence the difficulties schools have in balancing the books.

Also in London there is huge competition to get kids into ‘free’ schools. This means that local authority schools are half empty in some classes, and they are funded per child. When you have classes that aren’t full, you have less money coming in, and when so much of the money that you do have coming in goes to greedy recruitment agencies (most of them run by ex-teachers), you have a ‘funding crisis’.

But it’s not as simple as schools being ‘under funded’ by the government. It’s not to say that the government isn’t under funding schools, it’s just that the situation is a little more complex than it appears.

Still amazed that there are people who think the unions have shut schools

Have you heard about this out of control pandemic that’s happening?