Would the panic about RAAC and the abrupt closure of schools just before term starts have been handled better in the days when local authorities managed education, and the Ministry in London had a thriving Architects and Building Branch?
Who know? What is certain is that this isn’t the first issue with school buildings. I recall in the 1970s leaving school at 4pm one afternoon with colleagues to go for an early meal before returning to attend a parents’ evening. When we returned, the school was cordoned off because the head had noticed a panel on the CLASP built building that was little more than a decade old had started to become detached from its fastening.
The parents’ evening was cancelled, and the staff spent the next two days in the sixth form block while students stayed at home while the repairs we made, and the rest of the building was checked.
The present crisis seems to have been flagged up well in advance, and one is left wondering why the decision to take action has been delayed for so long? The same could be said of the issue of asbestos in schools. Regular readers of this blog may also recall the debate some years ago about not installing sprinkler systems in schools to deal with fires.
School Buildings are all too often it seems only of interest to Ministers when they can go and open new ones. I suspect that oversight of this type of activity, a routine and mundane task, hasn’t been on the agenda of how to deal with issues under a mixed academy/free-school and local authority economy? Another casualty of the failure to create a working middle tier for all education activities.
I also wonder whether there are any private schools facing issues with RAAC? Perhaps their insurers require regular inspections of property and the issue has already been identified and dealt with?
Governing is about doing the daily tasks well as well as about creating new policy. If a government cannot do the former well, it doesn’t deserve to be in office. Should the Secretary of State take the blame for the handling of the issue if it becomes clear that something should have been done sooner to prevent chaos for the start of term?
This post originally appeared on this blog a decade ago on the I am delighted to be able to republish it to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the submission of the Report. Much of what the Report commented upon is as important today as it was then.
Half our future
I couldn’t let August pass without recognising the 50th anniversary of one of the least remembered, but arguably key reports of the post-war period of education consensus. On August 7th 1963, John Newsom, Chairman of the then Central Advisory Committee on Education, submitted his Report entitled ‘Half Our Future’ to the Minister, Edward Boyle. Half a century later this group of young people are still too often overlooked in the debate about our school system.
However, they did benefit from the raising of the school leaving age to 16 in 1972, and should be beneficiaries of the current raising of the age of participation to 18; although I doubt whether all of them will immediately recognise the benefit.
As an aside, I participated in a local radio phone-in recently about the raising of the participation age. A caller phoned in to explain that because he had left school at sixteen he knew how to do practical things, such as change a fuse, whereas his more educated friends hadn’t a clue. Reflecting on this point later, I wondered whether the circuit breaker that has made our lives so much easier when there are electrical short-circuits or power overloads was invented by someone who left school at sixteen or with slightly more education than that. I know the original concept is credited to Thomas Edison, but I suspect the increasingly varied and sophisticated versions of recent times have emanated from research facilities.
Anyway, back to Newsom, and his important Report. Part of it featured the need for teachers. At that time it wasn’t necessary to have a qualification in order to teach if you were a graduate or were going to become a trained teacher. The latter route allowed untrained staff to work as teachers in secondary modern schools when these schools couldn’t find anyone else. In Tottenham where I grew up, in the 1960s some of the scholarship ‘Sixth’ used to become teachers in January after the Oxbridge entry process was over. Newsom said in his Report that his Committee echoed the statement of the Eighth Report of the National Advisory Council on the Supply & Training of Teachers that:
“In the primary and secondary modern schools teaching methods and techniques, with all the specialized knowledge that lies behind them, are as essential as mastery of subject matter. The prospect of these schools staffed to an increasing extent by untrained graduates is, in our view, intolerable.”
Sadly, such a suggestion is no more intolerable to some politicians today than it was half a century ago.
Newsom also recognised that as one unspecified contributor to the Report had stated, “Fatigue is already a serious and continuing difficulty to many of the best teachers.” Half a century later, there would be many in education that would still echo such a view, despite smaller classes and more non-contact time.
The misfortune of Newsom was to appear at just the point where the drive for non-selective secondary education was sweeping the country. This created the comprehensive school all too often dominated by the selective school curriculum. Half a century later we are still trying to remedy that mistake. Even more important than providing the teachers is creating the most appropriate curriculum for all, and not just for the 50% destined for higher education. Those politicians that forget that they have a duty to do the best for all, and not just the Russell Group of universities, ought surely to add the Newsom Report to their list of requisite reading.
(This is part 3 of the review of the labour market for teachers during the first seven months of 2023 – previous parts have already appeared on this blog. The next part will discuss promoted posts)
Secondary Sector
For many years secondary schools have controlled the location of their vacancy advertising. With the rise of the multi-academy trusts there have been some recent changes in the marketplace. Some trusts have consolidated all their vacancies into a single job board similar to that in use local authorities in the primary sector. Some Trusts have gone further and arranged with one of the emerging players in the recruitment market for them to handle the vacancies across the Trust’s schools.
To date the changes in the marketplace have not significantly dented the position of the ‘tes’ as a key website for vacancies, but there is no doubt that the market is undergoing its largest shake-up since the move from print advertising to on-line advertising.
Then there is the DfE site. Despite several years of operation and cajoling by Ministers and civil servants, schools do not always routinely post their vacancies on this free site. TeachVac and others have demonstrated how an efficient free service and covering all schools can operate at a lower cost to the taxpayer than the DfE site, and provide the government with a better real-time understanding of the working of the labour market.
As the Education Select Committee is currently conducting an enquiry into the supply of teachers, it will be interesting to see whether or not they address this issue when they come to write their report, presumably sometime in the autumn.
Classroom teacher vacancies
The outcome for the first seven months of 2023 was an overall increase of seven per cent in recorded vacancies for classroom teachers.
2022 Classroom teachers only
SUBJECT GROUPING
Independent
State
Grand Total
ART
150
992
1142
SCIENCE
936
5848
6784
ENGLISH
585
4185
4770
MATHEMATICS
674
4724
5398
LANGUAGES
499
2668
3167
HUMANITIES
50
464
514
COMPUTING
239
1805
2044
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
225
2987
3212
BUSINESS STUDIES
362
1474
1836
VOCATIONAL
23
494
517
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
122
1245
1367
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
287
1774
2061
TEACHING & LEARNING
30
121
151
PSHE
22
104
126
DANCE
109
576
685
SEND
96
279
375
MUSIC
120
1005
1125
SOCIAL SCIENCES
180
976
1156
PEFORMING ARTS
4
127
131
GEOGRAPHY
184
1874
2058
HISTORY
159
1179
1338
Grand Total
5056
34901
39957
2023 Classroom teachers only
SUBJECT GROUPING
Independent
State
Grand Total
ART
123
1125
1248
SCIENCE
837
6476
7313
ENGLISH
541
5076
5617
MATHEMATICS
568
5234
5802
LANGUAGES
414
3014
3428
HUMANITIES
43
645
688
COMPUTING
223
1964
2187
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
218
3026
3244
BUSINESS STUDIES
324
1316
1640
VOCATIONAL
13
419
432
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
92
1338
1430
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
253
1875
2128
TEACHING & LEARNING
21
129
150
PSHE
10
128
138
DANCE
106
649
755
SEND
82
283
365
MUSIC
85
1171
1256
SOCIAL SCIENCES
152
963
1115
PEFORMING ARTS
3
144
147
GEOGRAPHY
160
2191
2351
HISTORY
142
1266
1408
Grand Total
4410
38432
42842
Difference 2023 on 2022
SUBJECT GROUPING
Independent
State
Grand Total
% change
ART
-27
133
106
9%
SCIENCE
-99
628
529
8%
ENGLISH
-44
891
847
18%
MATHEMATICS
-106
510
404
7%
LANGUAGES
-85
346
261
8%
HUMANITIES
-7
181
174
34%
COMPUTING
-16
159
143
7%
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
-7
39
32
1%
BUSINESS STUDIES
-38
-158
-196
-11%
VOCATIONAL
-10
-75
-85
-16%
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
-30
93
63
5%
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
-34
101
67
3%
TEACHING & LEARNING
-9
8
-1
-1%
PSHE
-12
24
12
10%
DANCE
-3
73
70
10%
SEND
-14
4
-10
-3%
MUSIC
-35
166
131
12%
SOCIAL SCIENCES
-28
-13
-41
-4%
PEFORMING ARTS
-1
17
16
12%
GEOGRAPHY
-24
317
293
14%
HISTORY
-17
87
70
5%
Grand Total
-646
3531
2885
7%
However, the increase was neither consistent across all subjects nor uniform in those subject groupings where there was an increase. Five subject groupings recorded decreases in vacancies during the first seven months of 2023, when compared with the same period in 2022: Business studies; vocational subject not classified elsewhere; teaching and learning; Special Needs without a TLR and the social science subjects not classified elsewhere.
Business Studies and design and technology (a 1% increase) are both subjects that schools have struggled to recruit teachers for many years. Perhaps the reduction in recorded vacancies means that schools have now accepted the difficulty in recruitment and stopped advertising. No doubt that will have affected the curriculum being offered as well.
The 34% increase in vacancies classified as for humanities that may have partly been the result of concerns from pervious years about the shortage of teachers of geography; not actually an issue in 2023. However, there was also an above average increase in recorded vacancies for teachers of geography and the vacancy rate is very different for the rate for history teachers, where demand is much lower. However, for 2024, the reduction in ‘offers’ may make finding even teachers of history more of a challenge next year.
The other key subject with a significant increase in demand, as measured by vacancies advertised was English. The recorded increase in vacancies was some 18%, and was entirely as a result of more recorded vacancies from schools in the state sector.
For most of the other EBacc subject groupings, the increase was in the range of 5-10% in 2023 when compared with the same time period in 2022.
However, independent sector schools as a group recorded a lower demand, as measure by vacancies advertised, during 2023. Down from 5,056 to 4,410, a reduction of 646 vacancies advertised. As will the state sector, there was not a uniform decline and some subject that were in the list of subjects in the state sector that experienced year-on-year declines in vacancy advertising did not do so in the private sector: business studies is one such subject.
The is undoubtedly an unmet demand for secondary school teachers in a range of subjects that will not be met until either recruitment into training increases or more teachers are persuaded to return to teaching in state schools. School and trust leaders would be well advised to focus their attention on retaining staff wherever possible and by whatever means as this is often a cheap option that trying to recruit a replacement member of staff.
The primary sector during 2023 has been noticeable for a decline in advertised vacancies across England in both the private and state school sectors.
January to July each year
Primary Classroom & promoted posts
2022
Count of URN
Column Labels
Row Labels
Independent
State
Grand Total
East Midlands
53
2183
2236
East of England
214
3052
3266
London
529
3019
3548
North East
7
257
264
North West
63
2198
2261
South East
392
4663
5055
South West
106
2724
2830
West Midlands
53
2078
2131
Yorkshire & the Humber
62
2075
2137
Grand Total
1479
22249
23728
Primary Classroom & promoted posts
2023
Row Labels
Independent
State
Grand Total
East Midlands
25
1642
1667
East of England
116
2254
2370
London
316
2336
2652
North East
7
608
615
North West
39
1607
1646
South East
240
3240
3480
South West
92
2089
2181
West Midlands
50
1674
1724
Yorkshire & the Humber
34
1316
1350
Grand Total
919
16766
17685
Difference between 2022 and 2023
Row Labels
East Midlands
-28
-541
-569
East of England
-98
-798
-896
London
-213
-683
-896
North East
0
351
351
North West
-24
-591
-615
South East
-152
-1423
-1575
South West
-14
-635
-649
West Midlands
-3
-404
-407
Yorkshire & the Humber
-28
-759
-787
Grand Total
-560
-5483
-6043
Percentage difference
East Midlands
-53%
-25%
-25%
East of England
-46%
-26%
-27%
London
-40%
-23%
-25%
North East
0%
137%
133%
North West
-38%
-27%
-27%
South East
-39%
-31%
-31%
South West
-13%
-23%
-23%
West Midlands
-6%
-19%
-19%
Yorkshire & the Humber
-45%
-37%
-37%
Grand Total
-38%
-25%
-25%
Source: TeachVac
The one region where the data shows a different pattern is the North East and reasons for that difference will be explored in more detail later.
Leaving the outcome for the North East aside, the other regions all recorded declines of between 19% (West Midlands) and 37% (Yorkshire and The Humber), with the average for the England (including the North East) being a decline of 25% for all classroom teachers and promoted posts in the primary sector across England for the January to July months in 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022.
The data for the North East looks less out of line when compared over a longer period of time
North East
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
January
46
29
46
13
17
34
February
38
31
50
8
11
45
March
78
59
101
34
26
102
April
88
24
37
125
44
118
May
80
29
52
183
47
206
June
36
10
53
68
22
102
July
7
5
13
0
22
8
Total
373
187
352
431
189
615
Source: TeachVac
It may be that a change in data collection affected the 2022 data. Many of the local authorities in the North East post the vacancies in their primary schools on a regional job board. However, at this point in time the actual reason for the change must be speculation.
Leadership Vacancies
The leadership Scale comprises three grades: assistant head; deputy head and headteacher (some times written as head teacher). The first two grades are less common in the primary sector than in the secondary sector. However, with the larger number of schools in the primary sector, the number of headship vacancies each year is larger than in the secondary sector.
Primary Leadership
2022
Grade
Independent
State
Grand Total
Assistant Head
27
776
803
Deputy Head
48
891
939
Head teacher
15
1469
1484
Grand Total
90
3136
3226
2023
Grade
Independent
State
Grand Total
Assistant Head
13
586
599
Deputy Head
37
723
760
Head teacher
19
1259
1278
Grand Total
69
2568
2637
Difference
Grade
Independent
State
Grand Total
Assistant Head
-14
-190
-204
Deputy Head
-11
-168
-179
Head teacher
4
-210
-206
Grand Total
-21
-568
-589
Grade
Independent
State
Grand Total
Assistant Head
-52%
-24%
-25%
Deputy Head
-23%
-19%
-19%
Head teacher
27%
-14%
-14%
Grand Total
-23%
-18%
-18%
Source: TeachVac
As will classroom teacher vacancies, a reduction in leadership vacancies was recorded for the first seven months of 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022.
TeachVac’s data coverage of the primary sector in the private school market is not complete, so the changes here must be regarded with caution. The numbers are also small in some cells, further reducing the usefulness of the data.
Coverage of the state-funded primary school sector by TeachVac has been more comprehensive. The largest fall is in the assistant headship grade. This is not unexpected in a sector that is facing falling rolls. Although the use of the assistant head grade has increased in recent years in the primary sector, it is still less common to see such vacancies than for deputy head or headteacher posts.
London and the South East remain the two regions where assistant headteacher vacancies are most commonly to be found. This year, these two regions accounted for 220 or the 586 state-sector assistant headteacher vacancies recorded between January and July 2023 compared with 257 of the 776 vacancies at this grade recorded in the first seven months of 2022.
The decline in headteacher vacancies recorded in 2023 may be partly down to a reduction in re-advertisements of headteacher vacancies in 2023. As many re-advertisements for these posts only appear in September, the exact position is not certain at this point in the year. However, the decline in headteacher advertisements in the first seven months of 2023, when compared with the same period in 2022, was less than that recorded in the other two leadership grades for posts in the primary sector.
On the basis of this data, is primary school teaching a good choice of career at the present moment in time? For those required to pay full tuition fees to train as a teacher, there must be a question mark about the accumulation of an increased debt at the end of the training course and the risk of not finding a teaching post. There are vacancies, but probably not enough to provide a guarantee of a teaching post for every trainee and returner.
Additionally, the implications of the two-year Early Career Framework may make it more likely that schools will either recruit returners over new entrants to the profession or use schemes such as the Graduate Apprenticeship Scheme to train their own teachers.
Further posts will explore the secondary sector data in more detail.
The Labour Market for Teachers in England – January to July 2023 (part one) overview
The months between January and July each year witness the majority of the advertisements for teachers each year. This is because the labour market is skewed towards appointments for the start of the school-year in September.
In a normal year, not affected by factors such as a pandemic, around three quarters to 80% of vacancies are advertised during the first seven months of the year, with the largest number of advertisements being placed during the three months between March and May; with the peak usually occurring some weeks after the Easter holidays.
TeachVac has been recording vacancies advertised by schools through their websites since 2014. The decade can be separated out into three phases; from 2014 to 2019; 2020 and 2021, the covid years, and 2022 and 2023. The last two years have seen a significant change in the volume of vacancies advertised. This trend will be discussed in more detail later.
The demand for teachers depends upon a number of different factors, and that demand can be satisfied in a number of different ways. The most important factor is the school population. Increasing pupil numbers require more teachers, unless teaching groups are to increase in size. Obviously, falling rolls mean less demand, and in extreme cases can even lead to teacher redundancies.
The level of funding of schools also plays a part. Increased resources for schools can result in an increased demand for teaching staff; restrictions on funding can reduce demand for replacements when staff leave. Within the funding envelope, the cost of the salary bill can have a significant bearing on staffing levels. For instance, an under-funded pay settlement can reduce demand for staff as more funds are spent on paying the existing staffing complement. For the private school sector, the demand for places and the payment of fees has the same effect. More demand for places means there is likely to be a demand for more teachers
The third key factor affecting the level of advertisements is the state of the market. A good supply of teachers means most vacancies will be filled at first advertisement or event these days without an advertisement at all. However, if there is a challenging labour market, perhaps because of a shortage of either new entrants or returners, or an increase in departures from teaching in schools in England, then these factors can result in an increase in advertisements, as vacancies not filled are re-advertised. This may be one the factors behind the increase in vacancies recorded in 2022, because in many secondary subjects the numbers entering the profession from training were less than required by the DfE’s Teacher Supply Model.
So, what of the first seven months of 2023? The tables below show the record of vacancies as measured by advertisements for schools in England
2022
Primary
Secondary
Overall
Indep
State
Total
Indep
State
Total
Total
Classroom
1191
17449
18640
5056
34901
39957
58597
Promoted post
198
1664
1862
1655
11921
13576
15438
Assistant Head
27
776
803
82
1368
1450
2253
Deputy head
48
891
939
123
762
885
1824
Head teacher
15
1469
1484
32
365
397
1881
Grand Total
1479
22249
23728
6948
49317
56265
79993
2023
Primary
Secondary
Overall
Indep
State
Total
Indep
State
Total
Total
Classroom
796
15409
16205
4410
38432
42842
59047
Promoted post
123
1357
1480
1266
13634
14900
16380
Assistant Head
13
586
599
67
1346
1413
2012
Deputy head
37
723
760
95
767
862
1622
Head teacher
19
1259
1278
29
358
387
1665
Grand Total
988
19334
20322
5867
54537
60404
80726
Primary
Secondary
Overall
Indep
State
Total
Indep
State
Total
Total
Change 2023 on 2022
-491
-2915
-3406
-1081
5220
4139
733
% change
-33%
-13%
-14%
-16%
11%
7%
1%
Source: TeachVac
Source: TeachVac
The key feature to note is that there was little change between 2022 and 2023. Overall, the number of vacancies, as measured by advertisements, increased by one per cent in 2023 when compared with 2022. This was an overall increase of 733 advertisements from 79,993 to 80726.
However, the overall total hides two very different picture for the different sectors. Advertisements for teachers and school leaders in the primary sector fell from 23,728 in the first seven months of 2022 to20,322 in the same period of 2023: a fall of 14%.
The fall in the primary sector affected vacancies at all levels except for headteachers in the independent sector, where a small increase in advertisements was recorded in 2023 when compared with 2022.
Advertised vacancies for classroom teachers declined from 18,640 in 2022 to 16,205 in 2023, with both the state and independent school sectors recording a fall in advertisements.
In the secondary sector, the position was very different. Overall, the recorded number of advertisements increased from 56,265 in 2022 to 60,404 in the first seven months of 2023. Within the secondary sector, the increase was not universal. The independent school sector recorded a fall in advertisements for most posts, whereas state sector secondary schools recorded an increase for classroom teachers and promoted posts, but little change in the number of vacancies for leadership posts.
Further posts will explore the different categories in more detail.
In this blog I look at some of the percentages around the National Professional Qualification for Teacher and Leader Development.
As might be expected, starts have increased from 5.5% of the workforce to 6.4% or close to 35,000 teachers.
Teacher Leader Development
NPQs
Characteristic
2022-23
Headteacher
8.54%
Deputy Head
10.27%
Assistant Head
10.39%
Classroom
5.61%
Secondary
6.04%
Primary
6.61%
Female
6.26%
Male
6.82%
Black
7.46%
Asian
5.48%
North East
7.46%
Hartlepool
10.16%
DfE csv file all data
In view of some of the recent comments that teachers are not interested in leadership positions, it is interesting to see that over one in ten assistant or deputy heads registered for an NPQ this year. The region with the highest overall percentage registering was the North East at 7.46%, with Hartlepool local authority area topping the list at 10.16% of the workforce. By comparison, Hampshire was recorded at just 3.81%. Hampshire is a part of the country that has had issues recruiting primary school head teachers for some of its schools in recent times.
The percentage from the ‘black’ ethnic group was, at 7.46%, above the national overall average, whereas the percentage for the Asian ethnic group, at 5.48%, was below the overall average.
Despite the greater numbers of deputy and assistant heads in the secondary sector, the primary sector at 6.61% recorded a percentage of the workforce enrolled that was above that for the secondary sector’s 6.04%.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the age grouping with the highest percentage, at 8.13%, was the 30-39 age grouping. This is the grouping where promotion through the grades is most likely for those seeking a career in leadership.
The percentage for Early Career Teachers shows that most started on provider-led courses with less than 5% on school-led provision. My anxiety with the ECT is not the numbers that started but the provision for those, most likely in the primary sector, that might not have started teaching until January 2023. Were they able to access the ECT framework from the start.
As I have pointed out in the past, if the market model of teacher supply works correctly, then the least successful trainees will take the longest to find teaching posts and may constitute a significant proportion of the January entrants into classroom teaching. This group would obviously benefit from access straightaway to the ECF. Indeed, for those searching for teaching post in the autumn, but not yet successful, should there be some means of support and continued development during this extended period of job hunting so that they do not lose the degree of skills developed during their training?
Ethnic minority Head teachers (including white minorities)
2015/2016
1,473
2016/2017
1,480
2017/2018
1,512
2018/2019
1,531
2019/2020
1,530
2020/2021
1,532
2021/2022
1,564
2022/2023
1,627
Source Annual School Workforce Census
Despite the increase of 63 in the total number of these head teachers between November 2021 and November 2022, and including all minority groups not classified as ‘White British’ in the total, there were apparently only 1,627 head teachers self-identified as from minority backgrounds in November 2022. This an increase of only around 10%, or just 154 additional head teachers from minority backgrounds, over the eight years represented in the table. There may be more, because the number that refused to answer the question increased from 117 to 192 during the same period.
During the same period, the total of ‘White’ head teachers only changed from 19,520 in November 2019 to 19,104 in November 2022.
There is better news on the ITT front, where ITT undergraduate entrants from minority ethnic groups increased from 12% to 17% of the total intake between 2019/2020 and 2022/2023. For those on postgraduate courses, the increase in the percentage was from 19% to 22% during the same period. However, I suspect that the distribution was skewed towards certain parts of the country. Sadly, we don’t easily have access to that data.
The discussion at the Select Committee last Tuesday about discrimination and unconscious bias meaning that more ethnic minority applicants were not offered places mirrored the finding from the two studies that I conducted for the then National College. Progress is being made, but slowly. My research also found that ethnic minority applicants fared better when there were fewer applicants to select from, as there was in most subjects last year. What will happen if the economy slows and the number of applicants for ITT increases once again?
Given that boys from an African Caribbean background do relatively poorly in our schooling system, it would also be interesting to know whether there is more of a challenge recruiting men form minority backgrounds than there is recruiting women and whether certain subjects struggle more than others? How many physics ITT recruits came for ethnic minority backgrounds in each of the last five years, and were they recruited mainly from a small number of courses. If they aren’t in the pipeline of learning then they won’t be there to become teachers of future generations.
For over a quarter of a century we have been urging women into science, engineering and other STEM subjects. Should we now look to do the same with other under-represented groups. As a large employer of graduates, does teaching have a responsibility to not just recruit graduates but also to influence the pipeline. After all that pipeline starts in schools.
It is now more than nine years since a teacher died after being stabbed in her classroom by a pupil. The news today from Tewksbury reminds us that although rare, and nowhere near as common as such incidents in the USA, teaching is not an entirely risk-free activity, as I know from personal experience.
My thoughts and best wishes are with the stabbed teacher, their family and any pupils that witnessed the attack. I hope the teacher was no badly hurt. Below, is the post I wrote when the teacher was stabbed to death in her classroom in 2014.
The news of the stabbing to death of a teacher in Leeds is both truly shocking and saddening at the same time. Fortunately, such deaths in schools are rare in the United Kingdom, and it is no small irony that this fatality happened in a Roman Catholic school in a challenging area just as the death nearly 20 years ago of head teacher Philip Lawrence did in north Westminster. We may live in a post-Christian society, but the Churches still offer education in many of the more disadvantaged areas of our country.
My thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of the teacher, as well as the pupils and those that work at the school, and the wider local community. Nearly 40 years ago, I was the victim of a classroom stabbing by an intruder that could in different circumstances have ended in a fatality. As a result, I can understand something of the grief such an unexpected event give rise to. Fortunately, unlike in my day, there will no doubt be extensive counselling offered to all concerned. I don’t know the circumstances of this stabbing, except that the news bulletin says that it was a female teacher in her 60s who presumably had been at the school for some time. More will no doubt come out over the next few days and then at the subsequent trial.
The Court of Appeal has recently taken a tough stand on the carrying of knives, and rightly so if we are to reduce the incidence of violence still further in society. But, despite all the draconian laws it is impossible to entirely prevent attacks where there is a will to do violence to another.
Finally, perhaps the Secretary of State might consider a memorial in the new offices for the DfE after they move to Whitehall in 2017* that recognises the sacrifice of the small band of teachers that have given their lives to their profession. There may not be many of them, but they deserve not to be forgotten.
*Such a move never took place, but the idea of a memorial might still be worth considering.
Before 2015, the STRB (School Teachers’ Pay Review Body) used to report no later than March in most years, School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) reports – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) However, since the Conservative Party took over the sole management of the country in 2015, the publication of the STRB’s annual report, along with other pay body reports, has moved to July each year.
Such a date, so late in the annual government business cycle, at a point where departments should already be gearing up the next round of economic arguments within government, is unhelpful in many ways.
Obviously, it leaves The Treasury unsure about government expenditure, assuming the suggestions of the STRB are both accepted and fully funded. If one or other of those assumptions isn’t correct, but pay scales are increased from the September, then it places a burden on schools to find the cash to pay any increases, as I discussed in an earlier post. Sunak’s blunt axe | John Howson (wordpress.com)
The lack of clarity around starting salaries also makes recruitment into the profession potentially more challenging. A significant proportion of those entering the profession are still required to make a financial sacrifice to train as a teacher. To do so not knowing what either the possible salary they will receive during training – if paid on the unqualified scale – or their potential starting salary, if on a fee-paying course, is not an incentive to enter teaching. This may be specially the case for the important group of career switchers that are needed during the present dip in the number of new home-based graduates in their early 20s.
Once the new generation of graduates from the last baby boomer generation exits university, in a few years’ time, this may be less of an issue, assuming higher education entry rates hold up, and those most likely to become teachers don’t opt for apprenticeships or direct entry into the labour market and a salary immediately after leaving school.
Governments have always faced economic crises, lucky the Chancellor with benign economic headwinds, and must take difficult decisions. 101 years ago, the Liberal Government faced with the massive increase in government expenditure sanctioned by a government to fight the first world war, and seeking to restrain sky-high rates of taxation, looked for areas where public expenditure could be reduced – or cut – an exercise known after the chairman of the committee, Lord Geddes.
Perhaps, The Labour Party’s Leader’s speech on the ‘class ceiling’ was no accident, because it is those trying to crash through the ceiling that experience the worse outcomes of any pay restraint that leaders to teacher shortages. As I pointed in an earlier post, out, identifying the issue is one thing; solving it needs policies, and they were in short-supply in the speech from Sir Kier Starmer last week.
Perhaps, as suggested in the 1920s, rather than just telling schools to save money, the government might be more draconian in enforcing savings to pay for increased pay. But then, this, sadly, isn’t an area where the present government has had a good track record in recent times.
In February, Sir Keir Starmer outlined his five missions for the Labour Party – one wonders, will they appear on a pledge card, as once before – and the fifth one was ‘raising education standards’ according to a BBC report at the time Keir Starmer unveils Labour’s five missions for the country – BBC News
In reality, education seemed to mean schooling, skills and early years, if the press reports are to be believed. Interestingly, the BBC has now substituted the word ‘pledge’ for the term ‘mission’. An example of ‘word creep’, perhaps? Actually, it seems more like sloppy journalism if the text of the speech is to be believed, as it starts by referring to ‘mission’ not pledge. Read: Full Keir Starmer mission speech on opportunity, education and childcare – LabourList
At the heart of the speech seems to be these two questions
‘So these are the two fundamental questions we must now ask of our education system: are we keeping pace with the future, preparing all our children to face it?
And – are we prepared to confront the toxic divides that maintain the class ceiling?’
The speech was about class and opportunity as a means of raising standards. Sir Keir has clearly moved on form the famous ‘rule of three’ and now favour a five-point approach, so we had
Apart from the already announced increase in teacher numbers and the retention bonus, there was little about either how the new education age would be delivered or how it would be paid for. No pledge to level up post 16 funding, so badly hit under the present government.
Plans for Early Years
Oracy to build confidence
A review of the National Curriculum for the new digital age
The importance of vocational and work-related studies
Tackling low expectations
There was little for any progressive politician to take issue with in the speech, but little to demonstrate the drive to accomplish the fine words. Re-opening Children’s Centres will come at a price, as will changing the curriculum.
There was nothing to show how resources will be channelled into areas of deprivation and under-performance. Will Labour continue the Conservative idea of Opportunity Areas that do nothing for pockets of underperformance in affluent areas or will it revive the Pupil Premium introduced by the Lib Dems, when part of the coalition, ascheme that identified individual need, wherever it was to be found.
I think I still prefer the 2015 approach from the Liberal Democrats to end illiteracy within 10 years: something that can be measured, rather than the more nebulous ‘raising of standards’ offered by Sir Kier.
Finally, from the Labour Party that introduced tuition fees, not a word on higher education and the consequence of raising standards on the demand for places. Perhaps Labour has still to reconcile the brave new world of skills and the place of universities in the new education landscape. With higher standards will come another class ceiling at eighteen?
John Howson 