So, there aren't enough teachers to fill the vacancies, not surprised.

There's a large increase in the shortage of applicants for teaching posts.
Well, my wife who's a maths teacher at a comp cannot wait to get out ASAP, she says it is ****, has been **** for a goodly while and can only get shitter in future.
The fault currently lies with the excessive crap they have to put up with above and beyond the actual role of teaching, which she says she likes doing, but then all teachers are totally submerged in unnecessary bureaucracy and utter tosh forced upon them by "those who claim to be in charge". It is that that is dragging their morale down to an all time level.
I say to her that I bet she wishes she was in a junior or infant school doing flower arranging or playing with plasticine but she claims that it is just as bad in there.
I feel that unless somebody with the nous to grab this whole education thing by the ******** and sort out the basic problems, i.e. let teachers teach and cut the crap, then our society will fail miserably within a couple of generations because today's kids will not be able to handle life in reality.
I'm afraid the comprehensive system brought in by Labour in the 70s has turned our education into bland equality which suits nobody. Good kids are not encouraged to flourish, they are brought down to the level of those who cannot, or will not, bother, for the sake of equality and bland middle of the road education.
She says the lack of knowledge in maths is frightening, you could even call it basic sums, so where this will end up is very worrying.
Trouble is, the students in teacher colleges are not aware of this and think of the twenty odd thousand per year plus endless holidays. They must be so eager to teach. They're in for one hell of a shock. But then again, they are replaceable... by the next lot of suckers in the system. That's if they now bother to apply.

 

I agree to some extent, but it cannot place the blame on the comprehensive system, I went to a comp (Kirk Balk), it was well run and had an excellent track record of getting kids into Uni or good jobs.

Schools should be brought back under 'LEA' control but given their head (no pun intended) to run the school, no political tinkering, no messing about with league tables and shut all the private fee paying schools.

Until you shut the private schools then other schools will not be properly funded or cared for because the ruling elite will only start to care when their kids are effected.

 

My daughter teaches in inner Birmingham. She is a strong minded Yorkshire lass, so she ids no pushover.
Couple of years ago she actually cried as the situation of interference from this government just got too much. She was to be assistant headmistress and told them she was leaving.
They could not believe her but she left.
She was inundated by agencies wanting her to work at schools on far more money than what normal salaries are. The schools cannot fill posts so have to pay top pay for agency supply teachers to come in. The government have chopped her pension and she would not be able to live on it.
The pupils, not all as there are some good ones, are in gangs and take some controlling. She befriended one ring leader who was 11yrs old and was controlling kids up to 14. By treating him properly she could control her class via him, who would tell them to shut up and listen. The number of kids suffering sexual abuse at home is rife. Not all are girls as boys can be affected. She reports it direct to the Headmaster but the response he gets hardly makes it worthwhile. Teaching is child minding and social care nowadays

 

It's shocking what's happening in the further education as well, just about every tertiary facility is now called a university dishing out "degrees" to one and all . This just devalues a piece of paper that used to mean something.

 

I'd better drag Laura home then. Forget about the 60 different drugs she has to take daily to avoid organ rejection & control her cystinosis, thus making drinking alcohol an absolute no-no. She's obviously not doing any work, nor suffering from stress brought on from volume of work & studies. If she's fortunate enough to get her degree, at least she can look forward to others (who weren't lumbered with the debt students are today) telling her she's a lazy student, partying all the time, her science degree is worthless and it was much more difficult to obtain a degree in previous years.

 

Top post mate, I'm just sick of every crap thing in society blamed on those who use services rather than the fecking govt. If education is being devalued it is being so by those who truly believe that only the priveledged and those who show promise at an early age will get the chance to be educated and fek the rest. I went to comp, and because I didn't 't achieve I got a job in Industry (remember that) I graduated later in life but that's another story. The youth of today have little or no industry to go to, The service industry, as call centres and such are known, can be volatile and offer little long term security. I fell so sorry for the youth of today.

 

Totally agree, mate.
I also graduated later in life, twice, but obviously my degrees count for nothing. I saw for myself just how hard my seriously ill daughter worked to get her 12 GCSE's & 4 A levels, despite having to miss so much school time through illness and operations. She's now studying for her degree in Forensic Science.
But what happens? Folk telling her at every stage how easy she has it, how much harder it was for THEM to gain their qualifications and hers are worthless in comparison!

 

That's truly inspiring, unfortunately, a story that wouldn't be allowed to happen if certain people had their way.

 

.

 

Well said mate.

Being of the younger generation I've had to go through my life saying everything I've ever done is easy. GCSEs, easy. A Levels, not what they used to be. Degree, everyone gets them. I went to uni, had a brilliant time and met some brilliant people, but I also worked hard and came out with a 2.1 in Economics all whilst learning a hell of a lot of life skills, applying for a placement year and then a graduate job., living 70 miles away from home at university and 150 miles away from home in my 2 jobs.

But oh no, it's all been a piece of piss and a massive party obviously.

 

I agree.

 

I'm not exactly the village idiot (though not far off!), but there's no way am I capable of understanding the work she does, nor what you did.

 

And I have no idea how you do what you do. We're all different and that makes university great, mixing with people of different abilities, interests and backgrounds.

 

That's one of the things I've always enjoyed about it, meeting people from all over the place, having totally different life experiences.

 

Absolutely.

 

Don't think it's the comprehensive system either as I think good kids will flourish in most environments - I went to a comp and have done reasonably well for myself. Too much interference in education is the problem - it has been used as a political football for far too long. I have been teaching for nearly 25 years and the amount of initiatives that have been brought in in that time has been phenomenal. It's gone full circle then back again - keep politics of of teaching and let teachers teach.

 

Weirdly, when I qualified teaching jobs were really hard to come by as so many people were applying! There were on average 100 applicants for each job with there being 121 for mine! I told my TA who is just applying to go on a teaching course to not do it and 100% meant it. I don't personally know a single teacher (either at my school, who I went to uni with or elsewhere) who is happy with their job and doesn't want to quit if they could find another job. That's saying someone when everyone I know wants to leave.

 

They didn't opt to pay, they HAVE to pay. Once they've completed their studies, they're lumbered with thousands of pounds worth of debts. All implemented by politicians who got their university education for free.
I see kids at various universities striving to better themselves, despite the debt, to make something of their lives and grow as people. I appreciate the stress and pressure they're under in order to achieve their goals.