What do you think is the main cause of the teaching recruitment crisis in the UK?
The recent government white paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, aims to tackle the recruitment crisis by identifying and fast-tracking talented teachers to newly created leadership roles. However, many people worry that this will only serve to take talent away from the classroom and into the boardroom.
Which of these factors do you think is the main cause of the recruitment crisis?
- 6% said Lack of career-progression opportunities
- 2% said Low pay
- 72% said Large workload
- 17% said Lack of respect for the profession
- 4% said Challenging pupil behaviour
Comments
said on 30 April 2016
Extreme workload and lack of work life balance are causing people to leave the profession and stopping people from applying.
said on 30 April 2016
Low pay and large workload go hand in hand.
said on 30 April 2016
Experienced teachers near the end of their careers are taking early retirement where possible and new teachers cannot be recruited quickly enough. A significant number of NQTs are also leaving the profession within the first five years of their careers further exacerbating the crisis. The Academisation of the education system is not helping any either. Add to this the constant 'teacher bashing', chopping and changing by the government, low/frozen pay, lack of respect for the profession and there is little wonder that there is a recruitment crisis!
said on 30 April 2016
Shift in curriculum to just 'knowing stuff'. Too much pressure on ks1 children to achieve a complete 'tick list' in order to meet so called age related expectations forcing teachers to teach to tests. Children not allowed apparatus in ks1 maths tests. Creativity not valued.
said on 29 April 2016
After 40 years as a teacher-some in Senior Management - my workload as a Y6 part time teacher in a small village school has resulted in ill health, snatched time with my familly at weekends and early retirement at the end of term.I now need to protect myself. I love teaching, work with challenging but sparky pupils and committed colleagues but we have been without overall leadership for over a term (the Head is off sick and we don't have a deputy) There is little trust for our profession despite rigoruous book trawls, learning walks, lesson observations, OFSTED etc... I feel our unions are taking our money but not supporting us at a time of desperate need.I feel very low about Education in England - there is too much meddling and changes are brought in without rigourous, prior research. Our children are suffering as a result and teachers are the ones who are blamed! Ministers who introduce these changes can just slide into new roles and pursue other agendas. Where has the idea of consulting with and listening to professionals who know what they are talking about and have a deep regard for the welfare of our children, gone?
said on 29 April 2016
As an expat currently working in the UAE, I would relish the chance to return home to the UK and work as a teacher. However, I am married to a Russian national and the UK Government needs to recognise the fact that there are a LOT of us out there who may be wanting to return but would need to get visas for spouses. Could the Government acknowledge this and make this process easier?
said on 29 April 2016
I have always had high expectations for my pupils. I have taught from Y1 to Y6 and currently in Y1. The new curriculum was welcomed by teachers as they were promised more freedom and coming away from levels. What has replaced it is a nightmare! I am currently teaching what I used to teach in Y4 but to 5 and 6 year olds. To ensure curriculum coverage my pupils have no time to absorb concepts and reall master them! In a week they are expected by government to learn to read, write, at least 5 new phonemes or their representation, develop reading fluency and comprehension skills, handwriting, sentence construction, grammar xhoices, a variety of maths concepts , problem solving and then there is foundation subjects! I try a cross curricular approach so much of the foundation is covered in with Literacy and Numeracy, but then the children are taking on these concepts as well. Way too much we should be embedding and securing and nurturing younger children so that they embrace learning, Look at the finnish model 20 hours no homework and the excellent results. Uk is just stoking up not just an education crisis but huge mental health issues as children are not allowed to explore and be creative, just tested!
John Miller said on 15 May 2016
Well there is a conspicuous absence of black and asian teachers at least in primary education. I think the profession is shooting itsrlf in the foot by not encouraging these people into the profession, by not admitting them onto PGCE courses, by not offering them jobs and by not promoting them into SLT positions. That's a large portion of the workforce we are deliberately excluding, and then we complain there aren't enough teachers! I think the profession can learn from other more forward thinking professions in this respect. Secondly, the last option in your list: teachers are deterred by challenging pupil behaviour. Would these be more often boys, and sometimes black boys in white staffed schools? I wonder what the cause might be...