Teacher Shortage Crisis
I've held off posting about this for a while, not least because teachers don't always receive a warm welcome.But there's a crisis building with the shortage of teachers which is coming to a head, and which may just have been pushed over the edge.Having read this I suspect even the most rabid teacher-hating forum member will be left scratching their head.
If you've followed the news closely you'll have seen stories about this over the last year or two, increasing in frequency.The top and bottom is that teachers are leaving the profession in droves through (a) retirement, (b) going to teach abroad, and (c) simply leaving teaching and doing something else.A lot of this is due to increase in workload, stress levels and changes to pay and conditions making the job less attractive.
Two news stories today.Firstly, anyone in a salary-linked pension (which includes almost every teacher in the UK) is getting a tax rise next month of 1.4%.
Public sector workers to face pay cut - BBC News
This is due to the way government are calculating collections for the state pension, which in itself is fair enough.But it comes on the back of several years of pay restraint, with more to come.
It goes like this.During the last government (2010-2015) teachers' pay was frozen.For the lifetime of this government (2015-2020) it's being pegged to 1% a year.That's a 5% rise over 10 years.Meanwhile pensions contributions have risen by around 4%, whilst this NI change increases payments out by 1.4%.
Do the sums.That's 10 years (2010-2020) with a total of 5% pay rise and a 5.4% contributions rise.That's a pay cut of 0.4% over 10 years.How many jobs in the UK will have seen anything like that?How many jobs will see take home pay drop by 0.4% between 2010 and 2020?
Part 2 of the bad news.Last year more teachers left posts in the UK to work abroad than qualified through getting a PGCE.Where are the new teachers going to come from?Well, one option might but to look abroad.But no!
Read this and laugh at the ineptitude:
Teachers sent packing in midst of recruitment crisis – because they earn too little
This is beyond a joke.We have a teaching shortage crisis, we have more teachers moving abroad than qualifying through PGCE, not to mention those retiring or leaving the profession altogether, and we can't even recruit from abroad because the pay is so low it's illegal.
Steve W This BBC article makes interesting reading:
Teacher shortages in England, spending watchdog confirms - BBC News
"Teacher shortages in England are growing and the government has missed recruitment targets for four years, the official spending watchdog has said.
The government said overall teacher numbers had risen and blamed unions for "talking down" the profession.
While the overall number of teachers has kept pace with rising pupil numbers, teacher shortages are growing, particularly in poorer areas and at secondary level, according to the authors." It's more like Gove's reforms have driven teacher numbers down.
You can bet the Tories solution to the teaching recruitment crisis will be to pay unqualified people the minimum wage to teach. I'm worried about how my nephew's education will fare, he's due to start primary school from September (full time in January). But teacher numbers are not down. From the same report...
A Department for Education spokeswoman said the report made clear "that despite rising pupil numbers and the challenge of a competitive jobs market, more people are entering the teaching profession than leaving it, there are more teachers overall and the number of teachers per pupil hasn't suffered".
Not to say there aren't problems but the report makes clear these are in certain areas only. Nationally teacher numbers are up. Recruitment numbers might be up, but are they enough to fill job vacancies in schools ? Or replace teachers either leaving the profession or going overseas to work as teachers ? Often times problems start in specific areas and then tend to engulf an entire system. Which the Academy plan may well do. The Education system is too vital to the Economy to go and mess up over what appears to be yet more ill thought out reforms based on very little evidence.
One of my friends taught overseas for a couple of years due to the never ending Gove reforms, form filling and multiple surprise ofsted visits. It distracts from the actual teaching, which should be the most important part of the job. But it's not, as there is a need from the Westminster village to create nonsensical league tables that show what the exam scores are. Exam factory schools are not good for any of us. Interesting Guardian piece and it is a real shame that good teachers from outside the EU are falling foul with this new threshold.
I know it will look like I am trying to score cheap points here, but the problem with the EU is that we allow anyone to come - far too many with no particular qualifications. The numbers go up uncontrolled and both labour and Tory government were helpless to do anything. So what do they do. Make it difficult for those outside the EU- even if we need them- as those numbers can be controlled.
It would be so much better if we vetted anyone coming and working here. If they are a qualified teacher, give them a work visa. It's so simple, but not possible within the EU. You are trying to score cheap points and it hasn't worked. Indeed, all you have done is highlight in the ineptitude of the visa system that Brexiters want to roll-out to all. You are kidding right?
A proper visa system for all will reduce the pressure to reduce non-EU immigration and allow us to focus on admitting those we really want. If we need teachers and the EU cannot supply, a proper visa system would let them in regardless of the political pressure to "reduce immigration" because a few NIMBY types are getting upset. Such individuals would get upset in the influx was 1 or 1million. And if the system can't cope now, it certainly couldn't cope if it was the only way in for all. Who says the visa system could not cope?