London Science Tutors

Shortage of staff means children will be taught by untrained teachers

This article featured in the public policy journal Information Daily on 23rd August 2013. Additional articles of interest can be found at Parent Resources.

More than 100,000 secondary school pupils will be taught maths and science by teachers untrained in their subjects due to a chronic shortage of new recruits into the profession.

I was interested to read research published this week by Oxford Brookes University and DataforEducation which claimed that up to 30 per cent of maths places on Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses remain unfilled, potentially leaving schools short of 700 maths teachers next year. This situation is mirrored  in other key subjects and has led to claims that more than 100,000 secondary school pupils will be taught maths and science by teachers untrained in the subjects because of a chronic shortage of new recruits.

Is this shocking? Yes. Is it a concern? Yes. Is it a surprise? Not at all. The teacher shortage is already here and it is only going to get worse.

This is not a sudden occurrence. It is the product of a decision to scale back on teacher recruitment in the belief that there would be plenty of applicants keen to enter the profession due to the recession. However, this strategy failed to factor in the successive downward pressure on public sector wages and other well-publicised stresses involved in teaching. The result is that many talented teachers have become disillusioned and have left the profession whilst other graduates with real potential – especially those in core subject areas – have sought better paid private sector jobs.

The way in which candidates are recruited has also changed, with fewer entering teacher-training colleges and more being recruited directly by schools. The government also withdrew funding last summer for the well respected and much used ‘Return to work’ courses. These short refresher courses provided former teachers who had taken career breaks, either to raise families or spend time in industry with access back into work. This was a key source scheme for teachers, who now have no route back into the classroom.

The government says they have ended because their priority is to support the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, by ensuring that secondary schools have enough specialist science teachers to meet their needs. However, the Oxford Brookes research casts doubt on their success in that endeavour. Elsewhere, the government maintains that subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses are still available for returning teachers but the situation remains at best, confused.

Traditionally we have always been tasked with finding suitable schools in which to place candidates; today we’re finding it much harder to source candidates of the quality required. Many teachers who have previously made big contributions to the UK education system were drawn from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, but restrictions surrounding UK visa requirements means they face far more difficulty when trying to obtain the relevant visas to work.

As a result, there has been a noticeable and significant decrease in their numbers. Teachers from the USA, who are now given teacher qualified status in the UK, are finding it difficult to gain a visa to work here. Unsurprisingly, many more are being deterred by unfavourable exchange rates and a high cost of living in the UK.

We have also seen steady growth in the numbers of teachers leaving the profession altogether. This is down to two main causes: the growing burden of red tape and bureaucracy that teachers experience in this country. They came into the profession to make a difference and impart knowledge to children but increasingly they are acting as managers and administrators, so are leaving disillusioned. The second reason we’re commonly given is the deteriorating behaviour of the student body. Teachers work extremely hard only to be repaid with aggressive and threatening behaviour at worst, but quite routinely with disrespectful and challenging attitudes, making classroom life far less rewarding.

The Government needs to restore funding to ‘Return to work’ courses as a matter of urgency, and make it a high priority to re-examine and relax the requirements for teachers coming from overseas to obtain visas to work as teachers. There isn’t the time to train a new generation of teachers, they are needed now.

Research we undertook a few months ago showed that more than two fifths of teachers surveyed said they wouldn’t recommend teaching as a career to a family member of friend.  A worrying 14 per cent of those who responded added that they were thinking of leaving the profession themselves.  It is a great measure of the commitment and professionalism of the nation’s teachers that despite all the problems faced, they are still more likely now to recommend teaching to others than they were a year ago. We need to find a way of supporting the profession and making it more attractive to talented young graduates.