Older people becoming teachers..

[OnionBhajis]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/21/something-that-actually-matters-four-retirees-on-why-theyre-becoming-teachers

Hmm really?!

I certainly wouldn’t be taking on debt to train as a teacher at that age

I qualified last year at the age of 52. Trained at the FE college I previously LSAd in. Just starting year 2 and still loving it ❤️

@Dontfuckingsaycheese Really glad you’re enjoying it. I think it’s great to have people like you joining the profession.

The government are probably falling over themselves to recruit older teachers into the profession. They'll spend less time in it, so will need less pensions and many will have savings and financial security from money earned in their previous high-flying careers, so there won't be as much pressure on the government to make sure salaries are keeping up with cost of living etc.

I actually do think it's great that older people are becoming teachers and wish them all the best. But I do get worried about how the government seems to be actively trying to shift the teaching profession from a career that people stay in for the long-term to a profession made up of people who do it for a few years (e.g. big push for things like Teach First, where teaching is promoted as something to do for a few years before moving on to bigger and better things, and Now Teach, where teaching is what you do towards the end of your career). If they're successful with this, there isn't much incentive to make teaching a genuinely attractive profession that people will want to stay in for the long-term (or perhaps I"m just being too old and cynical today...)

I agree this is a real concern- it's not just about not needing teaching to be an attractive profession long term, it's also about the loss of expertise from the profession. In more and more schools we are seeing people become HoDs only a few years in, and SLT maybe less than 10 years in. I'm not saying this is always an issue, but I think it often is, and can lead to all sorts of problems in those departments and schools.

It's even worse when people are pressured to take on responsibility they don't want or don't feel ready for.

As an example, I have a friend who qualified as a physics teacher not that long ago. In his first year of teaching, he was teaching Y12, Y13, and multiple Y11 classes. In his second year of teaching, he was pushed into a "head of physics" role he didn't want. By his third year of teaching, he was burnt out, and he left the profession.

The biggest barriers to older trainees are IT and the speed of the job. I mentored a 53 year old who couldn't cope with teams/emails/class charts/sims/edulink/online etc. She quit after a year.
A retired ex head of dept has been supplying for us and he huffs and puffs using his laptop and getting frustrated when things don't work. Also the constant room changes. He's been teaching forever but it's not as simple as walking into a classroom these days.

The biggest barriers to older trainees are IT and the speed of the job

Plenty of people over 50 can cope perfectly well with the IT and the speed of the job. That’s a horribly ageist comment.

A retired ex head of dept has been supplying for us and he huffs and puffs using his laptop and getting frustrated when things don't work

maybe it’s a shit laptop? If you’d ever worked supply you’d know you need your equipment to work or you’re left trying to entertain an unknown class with very little up your sleeve.

Giving someone multiple room changes and crap IT is like asking them to go uphill on the down escalator, while someone chucks sponges at them.
Maybe we need to look at improving rooming and IT, rather than getting rid of the teacher?

Baconisdelicious, thanks for that.

The laptops our school uses are brand new and the student herself admitted she wasn't coping.

Multiple room changes aren't ideal but when you're teaching science to 13 classes at a time with 10 labs available, room changes are necessary.

I'm happy to support older students but the older experienced teachers are leaving because they've had enough.

The laptops our school uses are brand new and the student herself admitted she wasn't coping

All fine. But it isn't Ok to extrapolate that all old people can't do the job. Wait till you're 50 and someone's telling you you're past it!

I am 50.

Your view makes less sense then! Unless you think you are the exception

Honestly,🙄 I'm 50, have been teaching 24 years, have seen numerous trainees of all ages coming through and made an observation that older trainees struggle with the demands. I'm not ageist or an exception. Sorry I contributed to the question about older teachers.

so at 50, do you consider that you're not up to the speed of the job and that you're unable to use the IT?