Anyone else applying for teacher jobs at the mo?

[Ifawl]

How are you finding it?

I'm a good teacher with loads of experience but had about 3 years where I've had 2 babies and moved across the country. So now I'm jobless (by choice) but applying for Sept. Must have applied for 8 -10 jobs and not heard a peep! Totally soul destroying never mind worrying that I'll never work in education again. Had DH, DM and a Head friend read through my applications and they've all said they're very good and should warrant an interview.

Is it just me or are other people finding to hard? Is it something to do with the pandemic?

I'm job hunting too, been supply since kids and finding it hard to get back into a permanent role now. Hoping for a mat leave that turns permanent really. Everything else seems to be nqt oriented.

It's tough isn't it. I think the same about NQTs to be honest. I worry that on M6 I'm just too expensive for schools these days.

Good luck with the job hunt!

Have a look at private schools. I left state 5 years ago and will be never go back!

Honestly, I think this could be a pandemic thing. I've been on the job hunt this year and noticed there was a huge reduction in positions this year. I would imagine, all those that were leaving the profession might hold on for now, given our current job and income stability.

I know when I found a new job, my school wanted to replace me with an NQT because they could hire 1.5 NQTs on my wage and that would benefit them with the smaller class sizes next year.

Equally, keep in there because I am sure many schools will see the advantage of hiring someone who has more experience than a newly qualified with about 5/6 weeks classroom experience on a full pgce timetable.

Desperately looking but absolutely nothing there! Fortunately my partner has a job but I’ve two months maternity leave to go and I’m panicking. I would have thought that there would have been more help needed in schools?

There might be more help needed but not the funding available.

Yes I'm essentially on mat leave too (such a complicated few years but basically had a fixed term contract that ended in the summer term, by which point I was 3 months pregnant) so been off since sept.

It's so nerve wracking. I read on TES yesterday other very experienced teachers saying they took some time out to look after family and took months/years to get a job offer. Schools have no money and seem to be making savings by hiring less experienced and cheaper teachers. What effect will this have on children?

Also, I've just heard in good morning Britain, talking about repurposing the nightingale hospitals as schools for September to reduce class sizes.

I'm not sure if it is an NQT thing, necessarily- I think it is more of a pandemic thing. There are definitely less jobs being advertised in my area than this time last year, and I know a few people who would have been looking to move/leave teaching and have now held off moving. I also know my school aren't advertising certain vacancies until they know what things will be like in September.

A friend who's applying to jobs said she recently got feedback from a primary job that they had 49 applicants- which seems like a lot? At my school (secondary) they seem to think 10 applicants for a job is pretty good.

Even if your application is good, if they are getting a high volume of applicants, there may just be other people who's applications are better?

A recruitment agent I spoke to yesterday said there are noticeably less jobs with a lot more applicants per job. And schools are able to recruit without her help... which doesn't bode well for a September start!

However, she did think the jobs which might have been around the last few months with people retiring or changing jobs will probably come up early 2021. So I guess it's just a case of waiting? She also thought that time out for a career break wouldn't make any difference to the chance of being interviewed. Which is good news for those of us trying to get back into teaching.

I've personally noticed more maternity leave jobs out there - plus a couple of jobs re-advertising or extending their deadline. So it's not really clear what's going on - which is a reflection of life in general at the moment! Also, this is a really bad time to look for teaching jobs - pandemic or not! So let's not panic and cross fingers for next year!

We had two staff who handed in n notice in March and then retracted it when the pandemic hit, one was intending got start own business but had DH with job ( theatre manager) at risk due to CV and another was going travelling before starting family. So may be a case of less churn this year with people putting other plans on hold?

I'm not looking now but over the last 2 years or so I was and it was tough then. I found it really demoralising since each application requires a certain amount of emotional investment.

At the time, it seemed to me that the 'teacher shortage' was largely a myth. Certainly in my region there are loads of qualified teachers with years of experience even in my very niche subject.

Plenty of times I applied and that application just sank like a stone. Other times, through contacts and acquaintances I found out that the advertisement didn't really mention some key interest or requirement - like the job I interviewed for where it turned out they really wanted an RS/RE teacher who could take a few language lessons. In that instance, the person they hired did not even know the language for which they originally advertised! They hired her without testing her subject knowledge and she was unable to prepare their GCSE candidates!!!

Or another where I interviewed but one of the other candidates was a former headmaster and department head for the subject in question - so a 'super candidate', if you will.

About a year ago, I asked a recently hired colleague how she came to be hired and she said that although, obviously, she was as good a candidate as any, it had all been a string of coincidences. When she turned up to the interview, the other candidates had withdrawn so she was the only one. She taught a demo lesson, took a tour and was offered the job.

So my best advice is, even though it's tough, keep slogging away and the circumstances should turn in your favour.

Yup. My job is a 12 month contract. Redundancies which were going to take place are being put on hold for a year but being on a temp contract I am finishing. Hardly any jobs out there and I am worried for what Sept onwards will hold!

Good luck finding jobs. There are definitely fewer out there. Let’s hope government sees sense and provides funding for schools to recruit extra staff.