Maths teacher leaving before end of year

[Absentadditive]

Hello, a friend has sent me here to see if someone might be able to help.

My child is sitting Advanced Higher maths this year but their teacher is leaving at the end of this month. The school only has one other maths teacher qualified to teach at this level but they have not taught the course for many years and also I have been informed is not available for the full timetable of classes.

My child will most likely be asked for their advanced higher maths as a condition for some of their university offers. Is there anything I can do here? Mitigating factors sent into universities etc. It feels like a bit of a bomb being dropped on my child's future. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank you

Ah sorry @OnlineMathsTuition .

Thanks again to everyone for their help. I have looked to see if any colleges do AH maths but they only go up to Higher.
I am hoping she can teach herself the remainder of the course and still sit the exam as this is what she woupd like to do but I think she has decided to leave school as it was only maths and this teacher that were making her want to attend in the first place.

That reads badly- I mean she loves maths and loves the teacher that is leaving but nothing else about school this year!

Worth pointing out that in Scotland unpromoted teachers only need to give 4 weeks notice, not the term that is required in England. So no, not unprofessional of the teacher - you have no idea why they are moving!

There are many reasons why a teacher may chose to leave mid year. One of my colleagues has been receiving treatment for cancer with manageable doses for the first few months, but upping the dosage later on. They may have family issues or caring responsibilities or a partner who is moving. There are many things in life of far more significance than teaching maths. I think it's quite a leap of faith to assume they are leaving just to spite their pupils.

St Andrews in Paisley have a full set of AH notes, textbooks and video lessons online. Another fantastic resource is ahmaths.com which has past paper questions, video solutions, marking schemes all arranged by topic and tracks how you are doing with it. I think Esgoil also does online supported study sessions.
AH maths is pretty specialised and many schools will have only one or two teachers who are confident teaching it. A lot is actually repeated in first year uni level maths.
Most authorities take in consortium students in nearby secondaries so that might be an option but may not work if the course has been taught in a different order. There are some authorities that have a remote provision and do offer digital AH courses but again there may be issues with course content order so would be better if someone was able to take over the class.

Not relevant to the OP, who is in Scotland, but I am surprised at previous posters saying that teachers in England have to give a term’s notice. Schools must vary.

In my experience, for a classroom teacher, notice has to be given by half term to leave at the end of that term, ie half a term’s notice. That’s for state schools, and may not apply to academies I suppose.

The private schools asked for a term’s notice. It’s longer for senior management.

@meala ’s post looks to be very helpful.

Yes, annoying but if you really don't want your DC disadvantaged you'll have to find them a good tutor.

Teaching is generally 4 weeks to half a term notice in state maintained schools(the shorter end of this is Scotland).

If teachers responded to their own feelings of guilt and responsibility they would never leave a school.

Tutor (are you a teacher in a school since you seem so curious aboutfripp or- judging by your name- have you actually left the classroom yourself??).

I have no doubt the departing teacher (who you make sound as if he has only worked for a few months at the school! They could have been there ages!) feels bad. But it is not their job to sort out any issues left behind.

Honestly, the guilt tripping of teachers on this site is batshit. Might as well get AI in, as it seems teachers are expected to have no human qualities. One of the major recruitment and retention issues in teaching is that 'careerists' think it's not the job for ambitious people and they'll be trapped for ever in a mediocre position on moderate pay and side eye otehr jobs that offer progression and don't scoff at ambition. Teaching needs ambitious people as much as it needs saints.

I hope you get something sorted OP and that someone can speak to admissions at chosen uni. Aurea's post seemed to suggest there may be no cause to panic too much. Fingers crossed.

Happened to one of my DC for another subject (illness). NQT stepped in immediately and they sorted out a share of the AH teacher from a neighbouring school. Worked out okay.

Get on to your DDs pupil support teacher who should be able to outline schools mitigation plan and help with your DDs distress.

Is she planning on doing something that requires maths at uni? Even if AH not mandated she will regret not completing AH as it will be harder for her in 1st year. Leaving if uni offer is likely to have AH condition is madness.

There are good resources (study guides and online) available for AH maths. I remember my youngest using something online from Heriot Watt uni. Could school provide subscription/buy study guides (even teacher books).

Mitigating circumstances to UCAS might be useful if she misses a grade.

Just to expand on my earlier post, they are a few students that study the comp sci course at Edinburgh Uni with just highers. The course does not require the knowledge of AH maths but it certainly makes the transition to first year uni easier. This is relevant for the integrated masters too which my son is studying. His course this year is 50% maths 50% computer science and he is in lectures with maths students.

My DS says the first year maths modules he is studying comprise repeats of the advanced higher maths syllabus along with areas of maths that he (and his English friends who studied A levels) have not previously studied.

PS: his offer didn't come through until early March. He is non contextual state school and Edinburgh Uni appears to typically give offers to widening access students first.

@meala thank you, your post is super helpful.

@SandyIrving - yes she has applied to study maths at uni. She will continue studying the course and sit the exam independently but at the moment the school cannot add any value, the teacher that is to be teaching the class twice a week is the teacher my daughter had for higher and the pupils used to have to correct her in lessons as she did everything wrong so classes with this teacher could potentially pull a grade down.

@Piggywaspushed teacher has been at the school for years and it very popular with pupils and parents.

Just to add I didn't start this thread with the intention of there being a debate about teachers and their commitment to their role. Apologies if it has surfaced some raw feelings for people. I was just looking for advice on whether universities would accept it as extenuating circumstances but I have also received some incredibly useful advice for which I am very grateful- thank you everyone.

I remembered one of my DDs friends doing AH maths at college and looked it up. Glasgow Clyde college offer distance learning course two nights a week. Could that be a possibility?

Thank you, I will look into this, very helpful as the colleges here seem to stop at Higher.

I’m not surprised you’re worried, but in my dd school advanced higher was just self-stuffy at the back of a Higher class, so for an able student it may be ok. ( It wasn’t for my dd, but she shouldn’t really gave picked that subject in the first place).

Unless Edinburgh uni have changed tack in recent years (my DD is 4th year) they usually give Scottish students unconditional offers (probably look at higher bands, maths challenges awards etc).

Self teaching might be a good thing for a subsequent Edinburgh degree as staff not so teaching focused. Although can't really comment about maths (DD only did a first year maths module as an outside course - it well taught).

Yes I was a teacher, and if we go by your requirement that a teacher shouldn't leave half way through the year, teachers would never leave as they are always half way through a course.

If you want to blame anyone for the schools not being able to replace teachers there are plenty of choices that are not aimed at the teachers that are leaving. pick one of them.

Since it is never going to be possible to guarantee a teacher won't have a good reason to leave midyear (maternity, health, etc), perhaps a more important strategy is that schools should try to make sure they always have at least two people capable of delivering any course. In England, most schools split each A-level group between two teachers, which means that if one goes, the only problem will be re-jigging the timetable. However there was a case a bit back on here where one teacher was delivering two A-levels single-handed - which was a major problem when they left, particularly for anyone taking both.

Unfortunately it can be very hard to recruit teachers for some subjects. Presumably it's also harder to attract a teacher who would enjoy teaching advanced higher if there's only enough teaching for them to have a group alternate years.

The four week notice period for teachers in Scotland is alarmingly short - barely time to recruit even where there isn't a shortage. The English notice periods are easier on schools, but quite constraining - if you haven't got the new job in place by the end of May, you're stuck until December. Most teachers would prefer to make a move in the summer, but if your partner's (better-paid) job means relocating, it may not be an option. If you say people can only move midyear in exceptional circumstances, those exceptional vacancies become even harder to recruit for.

Oh dear the belittling starts.

I hope you were not a maths teacher because, NO, teachers would not always be half way through a course.

If they start in September, under NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES they should have a contractual obligation to stay until the end of the school year. That is my opinion.

A teacher that teachers GSCE or equivalent will always be half way through a course.
A levels in England are also 2 - 3 yr courses.

As a online maths tutor you should be able to figure this out.

As for being inappropriate I couldn't give a fuck what some random thinks of me on the internet.

As for misquoting and lying, who pissed on your chips, You are obviously not used to being pulled up on your BS.

@FrippEnos You sound lovely.

A s a side note , although I hope we can put this one to bed, schools that do employ people on annual tie in contracts usually have awful recruitment problems and high staff turnover.

aww, your so sweet.

It's also going to be hard to recruit a good teacher in a rural area. There is almost certainly a limited pool available. Schools are working with limited budgets and can't just conjure up a good experienced teacher from nowhere.

It’s not necessarily the case that rural schools cannot recruit. Some people really do like living rurally. Even teachers.

It's almost impossible to find someone who can up sticks and start within a couple of months. (Typed from Cornwall).