Recruitment disaster

[Stargazing25]

What's the situation out there in different parts of the country? I'm in Greater London.

There just doesn't seem to be anyone out there applying for (Science) jobs.

If my really nice school can't find people, what hope do others have?

Politicians keep saying there isn't a crisis Are they on a different planet? The situation is dreadful.

I didn't negotiate. That was just the agency rate.

Ah OK. I had to negotiate up from a straight unqualified CS rate to what I get now!

I am sitting on the offer of a PGCE place (secondary science). I have pondered with teacher training for many years but I have always held back due to financial reasons. I have just gone back full time in my NHS profession (science based) after 12 years of part time hours. I have a very strong interest in education and, whatever I do, I still hope to move into some area of education (even at higher education level). I wanted to be a teacher(biology, or anything connected to health/medicine) or a scientist all the way through secondary school.

The PGCE I have been offered is a part time course, over 2 years. I had planned to do this and carry on working part time for the NHS. However, I have returned full time to pay my mortgage off, hopefully, by the end of 2017. THIS will make a huge difference to what I do.

The main reasons I am hesitant are:
(1) Teaching physics (I don't even have a GCSE in physics, didn't study it at all. I would do biology and chemistry though
(2) Money. With two children and a mortgage I worry we won't have enough and it's a big drop in salary (I am the bigger earner)
(3) Teaching staff have very low morale at the moment (as do NHS staff)
(4) Behaviour - not sure I could handle some of the tough cookies out there

I am 'up north' but I would imagine that the cost of living is making it very hard for anyone to live on a teacher salary (or NHS!) in London.

I am still pondering about doing an evening post-16 PGCE as this would allow me to teach supply. I could handle that once I am mortgage free. The course is in the evening at a local college but shifts, in the NHS, are now all over the place (early shifts, late shifts, nights plus weekends) so I am not sure how I could commit to this. There are distance learning courses I can look at.

I don't know. To be honest, whilst we are under a Tory Government, I think that all public sector jobs are unattractive right now.

We had a number of applicants for a non - teaching job recently and interviewed 8 good candidates.

If only that were the case with our teaching vacancies!

Countryloving, it sounds like in your circumstances the NHS is better!

I'm graduating from a chemistry degree this year - we've had three e-mails from schools looking to take on a new graduate as a teacher. One is an independent boarding and the other'd a selective state school that's always mentioned on MN.

I recently applied for the job and was the only applicant, they fell over themselves to hire me.

My old place couldn't replace me, nor the head of department, and there are more supply/unqualified teachers in the department than qualified.

No crisis here, nope nope nope.

I'm a supply in primary.
Several of the OFSTED Good, lovely schools I work in have NQTs representing over half the staff. Which often makes an dynamic, lively and enthusiastic staff but a huge lack of experience. They often don't stay beyond a year or two either.
So how that correlates to poor schools with unhappy staff in a tough catchment, I dread to think.

Last year we advertised four times for two science jobs. In the end we managed to get two agency staff-one great the other not so. Pickings were slim there too.

I am an engineer and in principle I would consider teaching but even in my relatively underpaid job I earn more than 50% more than a teacher of equivalent experience and I'm working a 37 he week.

That's only part of the problem.

GeekLove - along with many, many other reasons, that's why I'm getting out this summer after 12 years.
Happy to work hard but fed up of the how the job expands to fill your whole life. Want to clock off at 5pm and clock back on at 8am.

piclinegirl.com/2016/05/14/sorry-nicky-im-out/

The 'job getting worse each year' thing referred to in that letter is very true. Every year I find a reason why I will think it will be better next year, next term, next week. And it isn't. Something else comes along and fills up my time. This year I've found myself working on Saturdays as well as Sundays which I haven't done for ages. I used to put my kids to bed, then start work. Now my DH puts the kids to bed while I work.
But when I did my PGCE I remember thinking 'once I've done this job a few years it will be much easier, I'll know what I'm doing and won't need to spend so much time planning' etc. I certainly spend hardly any time planning any more, but I spend so much time doing other stuff that my workload is still crap.

The agencies are making a killing out of this. Would have been much better to have the LEA organise supply! But then again, the government are trying to get rid of leas so maybe this was always the plan!

I do feel bad about leaving teaching for the kids' sake. I wonder who will be left to teach mine when they reach secondary. That said there's a certain amount of 'I'm alright Jack', rightly or wrongly, as we live in catchment for what I know from ecperience to be the only remaining school I'd want to send them to.

It's the behaviour for me. I can handle the workload with the holidays as the payoff. I can accept that targets make us accountable (barely accept, given the reliability of those targets, but most sectors are target driven). The pay is certainly much better than anything else I can get locally. But I can't deal with the day-to-day rudeness and the disruptive behaviour that I've found in three schools now. I have high expectations and lots of experience, but lead by a head who suggests a Mars Bar as a behaviour strategy and another who thinks that teachers have to earn the respect of her students (rather than just expecting it as, you know, human beings) I give up.

led

Agencies are definitely the winners here. We currently have a m6 supply teacher and I signed off her first week's invoice this morning. I almost fell off my chair. We are paying the agency over a grand per week for her. She is fab teacher and is doing an excellent job, but I know she's getting no where near that. But she's off tomorrow and told agency I needed a replacement-sorry can't find you anyone. I'm pissed off, had a great relationship with them for years, but suddenly they CBA.

We advertised for an advanced lead teacher in a humanities subject and got one application from a non-specialist. They're advertising again for an NQT but I hold out precisely no hope.

Closing date tomorrow. We've got two applicants. Better than none!

If anyone wants supply work in a primary school, could I suggest you email your cv to local schools. At our school we have a handful of regular supply staff that we have used for ages, but if we are getting short of people we don't use agencies, but will go through the cv's we have been sent and try a few of them out, the good ones get added to our list and get fairly regular work.

MrsGuyOfGisbo don't you have to do an NQT after 5 years or has that changed?

Questionsmorequestions
No, there in no longer a time limit on doing the NQT (in England - make other UK countries are different) - I think the rule is that you cannot do agency daily supply for more than five years in LA maintained schools. None of the work I do is LA maintained schools - where I live there are mostly only academies,free schools and indies, and can't see that changing back anytime soon. I mostly have direct work now from a few nearby schools, so could dispense with the agencies, but I like their schools too, so keep them on for now.

Good oversubscribed school here in East Sussex. Also haven't managed to appoint teachers in science. Seem less applicants for jobs than when I worked up north

stargazing did they appoint?