Unqualified teacher increase of 60% in last 4 years

[noblegiraffe]

The latest workforce survey appears to show that more than 5% of teachers are now unqualified. I really doubt they are all experts with PhDs who just couldn't be bothered to get QTS, and that children are being short-changed because the government keeps failing to meet its own recruitment targets and qualified teachers are leaving the profession in ever-increasing numbers.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40720697

Some of the them will be teachers who qualified overseas and who aren't UK qualified but are properly trained.

Are you surprised? This is what's happening in education now. Academies can hire whoever they want and they will hire whoever is cheapest. God forbid the big bosses sacrifice their bonus to make sure children have qualified teachers.

Some of them would also be school direct (salaried) or teach first trainees, working towards QTS.

However, it is true that instead of paying qualified supply teachers, many schools are now using TAs/ HLTAs as PPA and sickness covers.

Or they could be suckers applying for jobs like this:

"Would you like to work as an Unqualified Science Teacher while gaining QTS through an assessment-only teacher training programme? "

There is no assessment-only teacher training programme.

www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=e7ad0668de39d307&from=serp

My DS Is at a super selective which employs a number of unqualified teachers who have Oxbridge degrees in their subjects.

He is at least being taught all 3 sciences and maths by people with relevant degrees rather than by a geography teacher like my friend's child.

Allthebestnamesareused

Having a degree in a subject doesn't make you a teacher.

Clever enough to go to Oxbridge, but not clever enough to get QTS and off the unqualified teacher pay scale?

Maybe the next thing to happen will be to drop the QTS pay scale and just have a free for all !

You get what somebody or school is prepared to pay...

Regardless of QTS or non QTS qualified...

There are several Assessment only routes noble. I help with one ! It's for staff who have been teaching for several years (so working as unqualified !!!) and they then have to provide a portfolio of evidence and be assessed. Costs about £2000 so cheaper than PGCE and schools can help fund through CPD budget. It's quite a popular route for older people.

www.reading.ac.uk/education/pgce-qts/ioe-assessment-only.aspx

In case any one fancies taking that job 😁

I have just hosted a trainee on the assessment only route. She had been a youth worker for years and then a secondary T.A. She was a real find with great potential. I was sorry I couldn't offer a post for September.

That's exactly what I'm talking about, mums. It's for experienced teachers who need to get QTS. Over the course of a few months they are expected to collect evidence that they meet the standards, submit a portfolio and are then awarded QTS. It is not a training route.

Your website says 'As an experienced teacher it is possible to gain QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) or EYTS (Early Years Teacher Status) without additional training through the Assessment Only route.'

The DfE say you should have at least two years' teaching experience in two different schools to be able to be assessed for QTS this way.

Any school that hires someone as an unqualified teacher expecting them to work for a couple of years with the carrot that they might put them through assessment after a couple of years has no obligation to train them, because it's not a training route. If those unqualified teachers are dropped in at the deep end with no support and can't do the job, they have no cause to complain, they are employees not trainees. These schools are diddling those people out of proper training, they could do Schools Direct, be paid, and get QTS in a year, while taking a recognised training route.

I appreciate that having a degree in a subject doesn't necessarily make you a good teacher. I have also seen good teachers with frankly quite poor A level results (I used to be a governor).

There are also some teachers who have a pgce or other form of teacher training and they are still frankly not good teachers.

However, many people may teach their subject to fill some time or for other reasons. Therefore I would not have an issue per se in someone who has a Cambridge degree in Physics teaching physics to my son (which is what is happening).

His school has a 94% A*/A rate at GCSE (across all gcses) so I guess it works for them.

I would guess also that as an independent school they are not restricted to payscales.

How many Cambridge graduates with Physics degrees do you think are currently working on the unqualified teacher scale?

Part of the problem is that 'In ye olde days' there were other options.

We have several non qual teachers and there are very good but they can't afford to train and the school can't (or won't) put them through any of the options available (non of which are for those without a degree).

Allthebestnames there's actually a lot of maths and chemistry in a geography degree, dependent on the institution, not that I'm defending using non-specialists, just pointing that out.

Get your point noble. I have had some amazing people through this route who are wonderful teachers. Agreed they've had no formal training but it hasn't stopped them being great at the job.

How much better could they have been with proper training? And how many potentially great teachers are lost through lack of proper support?

It's not like we can afford to burn through potential teachers and see who survives.

At least they are prepared to do it !!! We are really struggling from Sept and have a music teacher teaching maths. He might be qualified but he hasn't studied any maths since he was 16. He's now 49.

My DS Is at a super selective which employs a number of unqualified teachers who have Oxbridge degrees in their subjects
My DS goes to a school where every class has a teacher qualified to teach that subject and maybe also a TA.

Your DS's school can't be that great if people who have never learnt how to teach are trying to teach.

I googled to see if I could identify the school in Bromley offering the assessment only route to QTS from the advert and up came this outstanding Ofsted report for teacher training through Bromley Schools' Collegiate (I think the school in the advert must be Hayes or Darrick Wood);

reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/70007

It's a glowing report and, "The assessment only route is addressed with equal rigour. The applicant's needs are assessed and bespoke training programmes put in place...to demonstrate they exceed the requirements of the teachers' standards."

I would have no problem with a teacher via this route especially as the advert asks for a graduate with a 2.1 or above from a Russell Group or Oxbridge University as well.

Oh I'm sure that's always the case, aren't you, Clavinova?

None of that surprises me to be honest. It was heading that way when academies could employ whoever they wanted. Supply recruitment was bordering on Shave A Tramp. Learning cover supervisors and learning mentors could be anyone school thought suitable for the role.
In fairness, although totally unfair on them unless they want to do it, I have seen some very good teaching from TAs/ HLTAs. Better than a supply because kids couldn't play up as successfully.
Have also seen TAs/technicians developed and become damned good teachers. I know the PGCE has changed since I trained but at that time, it was more a case of a couple of sessions on child development/Piaget, followed by role playing certain situations, three written assessments and three TPs...a baptism of fire where you swam or sank really.