Advice for "old and expensive" teachers

[Gagagardener]

A few years ago, a couple in my family moved to an expensive rural village with poor transport links for a well-paying private school job for the main earner..That post was made redundant last summer. The former 'main earner' has picked up some supply work in cities about 20 miles away, and quite a lot of seasonal online tutoring.

The partner's job is 3 days a week working for the local authority's 'medical education service". This is peripatetic work, using own car, preparing children who don't/won't school attend on medical grounds for GCSE exams; so 'inclusion'. That service is now being slashed. Choices are applying for the only subject-specific post to be retained, or redundancy.

Desperate times. They have a mortgage to pay and 3 children in primary school. They have to have two cars to be able to work. In teaching terms, they are "old and expensive". One has a PhD, the other an MA.

I find it hard to believe how harsh things are.

Tell me how to reframe "old and expensive" for them positively for job applications.

If they fancy a move/change of scene have a look here, their children could also attend.
https://www.phorms.de/en/career/jobs/

Things are even worse in primary. The declining birth rate means that rolls are falling and schools are reducing PAN. It’s even more acute in the independent sector. Primary ECTs are struggling to get jobs. It won’t be long before we have a surplus of primary trained teachers along with a shortage of secondary trained.

Because neither the public or government see any worth in teachers and treat them like glorified baby sitters?

Primary school budgets are even smaller - they don't even want to pay teachers with 20 years of experience over £40k. It's dire out there.

This is massively untrue. I’m not in a shortage subject and have moved school twice in the last few years, always being paid on the next point on UPS I would have been on had I stayed at my school.

Budgets are stretched. But some schools will pay for experience.

Are you taking secondary? As that’s not my experience in primary at all.

Yes secondary. I’m aware it’s different for everyone. Different parts of the country. Primary vs secondary etc. I don’t think it’s fair to say no hope, when there is. I’m on outskirts of London and friends have had similar experiences to myself.

I took me 2 days to get a jobs teaching Maths on UPS 3 in a state secondary school after having my independent school contract terminated. It can be done - probably easier if you teach maths though!