Flexible working sounds lovely, but it would make the teacher shortage worse

Teacher shortages

Flexible working sounds lovely, but it would make the teacher shortage worse

Laura McInerney

If 40% of teachers go down to four days a week, we』ll need another 40,000 extra people to replace them

Tue 20 Feb 2018 06.50 GMT

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share via Email

View more sharing options

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Pinterest

Share on Google+

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Messenger

Close

Britain has a severe teacher shortage. New recruits have been below target for five years in a row and applications for training courses are down a third again this year. Combine this with a quarter of new teachers leaving the job within three years, plus high drop-out rates among women in their thirties who make up much of the profession, and you can see the problem.

The government has a grand plan. Since last October the Department for Education has been pushing flexible working as a solution to overcome the shortage, urging heads to offer part-time work, and serious thinkers meeting at 「flexible working summits」 to pledge their support.

So far, so family and life friendly. But what the flexi-worker advocates don』t seem to have realised is that more part-time working could actually increase the teacher shortage.

Teacher Tapp, an experimental app I』m involved with, surveys around 1,800 teachers each day. When asked about part-time working, 40% said they would choose to reduce their hours. At that rate, even if they reduced their week by just one day, the country would need an additional 40,000 teachers just to cover the shortfall. That’s more teachers than are trained in one year, and far more than would stay because of flexible working.

School's out for ever: a tale of two teachers

Read more

If this sounds alarmist, look at what happened with GPs in the early 2000s. Back then, the government made working conditions more 「family friendly」 to encourage people into the roles. It worked. At first. Now the average GP works four days a week, with the hours they choose to work still declining, and so the shortage continues. Flexibility may be family friendly, but it doesn』t solve recruitment shortages.

The real problem of teaching is not its inflexibility. It’s the never-ending demands of the job. Not only do teachers typically spend more than 20 hours a week in front of classes (a figure that is one of the highest in the world) but there are no limits to the other work they are expected to do. It is assumed they will do whatever is required to get the outcomes demanded.

It’s no wonder that one teacher recently told me: 「I』d love to work a four-day week. That way, I could spend Friday doing all the work things I normally do on a Sunday, and then spend the weekend with my kids.」 The workload is so bad that teachers would be willing to work for free one day a week in return for seeing their children. You can see why the government thinks flexible working is brilliant.

But, what’s the alternative? Becky Allen, an academic at the Institute of Education, recently suggested an experiment. Each day schools would open for teachers at, say, 8am and close at 4.30pm. No work would be allowed either side. What could be done in the allotted time would show what it is possible for teachers to do, and school leaders, the government and inspectorate could recalibrate expectations accordingly.

Politically, this is difficult. No education secretary wants to preside over a reduction in service levels. But school improvement over the years has been built on the backs of teachers sacrificing their personal lives. Their numbers are diminishing, and flexible working is unlikely to boost them. In fact, it could well make the situation worse.

Topics

Teacher shortages

Schools

Teaching

Work & careers

Work-life balance

Education policy

comment

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share via Email

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Pinterest

Share on Google+

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Messenger

Reuse this content

本文來源:https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/feb/20/flexible-working-teacher-shortage-laura-mcinerney

James
89
  • James2018-02-20 15:00:00

    模擬試題 (圖)
    模擬試題 (圖)

    模擬試題

  • James2018-02-20 15:00:00

    北京市朝陽區實驗小學校長陳立華談中小學競賽亂象:腳步慢下來,更加尊重孩子的興趣與個性
    北京市朝陽區實驗小學校長陳立華談中小學競賽亂象:腳步慢下來,更加尊重孩子的興趣與個性

    編者按:當前,各類機構組織的中小學競賽和培訓異常火爆。缺乏規範的中小學競賽市場,增加了參賽學生家長的經濟負擔,衝擊了中小學正常的教育秩序,對減輕學生過重負擔、促進健康成長十分不利。針對這一問題,人民論...

  • James2018-02-20 15:00:00

    上海高校構建中國特色大國外交話語雙語術語庫
    上海高校構建中國特色大國外交話語雙語術語庫

      上海交通大學1月16日發布消息稱,該校外國語學院院長胡開寶教授領銜的2017年度國家社會科學基金重大項目“中國特色大國外交的話語構建、翻譯與傳播研究”正式開題。   “中國夢”、“一帶一路”、“命...

  • James2018-02-20 15:00:00

    全國首本教育戲劇教程書出爐
    全國首本教育戲劇教程書出爐

      日前,杭州市上城區在全市首開中小學生(幼兒)戲劇節活動。本屆戲劇節從10月一直持續到12月,圍繞學生戲劇教育的探索與實踐,舉辦各種戲劇表演展評、名劇進校園、劇本創作征集、戲劇節海報評選和戲劇教育論...

日曆
<< March 2020 >>
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31        
Facebook