Will you be taking a sabbatical?

[noblegiraffe]

Damian Hinds has just announced paid sabbaticals for teachers with 10+ years of experience of up to a year. It’s intended to improve retention.

The catch is you have to spend it doing something that will help you in the classroom on your return.

Not sure what I think. Wouldn’t a year away from the classroom just give people the nudge they need to leave teaching completely?

Any idea how schools are going to afford this? It could financially cripple small schools if costs are expected to come out of their budgets.

There is only funding available for 138 people to do this?? Did I read that right?

What utter bullshit.

Just recruit for a year like maternity cover
Unfortunately I have found it nigh on impossible to recruit maternity cover a few times. If the sabbatical is dependent on good quality cover being available, it's going to be restricted to a few subjects. If it's not, it's going to be a nightmare for Maths and science departments. Making teaching more attractive to actually do is the way to improve retention. This, while a lovely idea, should come after that, so it can be properly managed within schools.

£5 million has been allocated. This would pay 138 teachers £36k for a year off BUT that wouldn’t pay for any admin to administer the money so it would be fewer than 138 teachers. And that’s 1 year only, so better get your applications in quick before we get a new Ed Sec.

Let's face it, just about everything that comes out of Damian Hinds' mouth will be making Gove's blood boil, so we may get a new Ed Sec quite soon.

Next Hinds' will suggest that there ought to be qualifications that are accessible to all pupils and that allow even the weakest to use and demonstrate their strengths. Then he will be gone.

I’d do a masters. I have been itching to get back to study for the last five years. I’ve been teaching 12 years now so I would qualify. Would they actually allow it?!!

It depends on who gets the final say doesn’t it? The head of a school that doesn’t care about retention won’t be signing off sabbatical applications will they?