photo by Green Chameleon
Are your teachers overworked and underpaid?
Gemma Gosden
23 February 2017
You might have heard something along these lines in the news this week. You might even looked into it in more detail, especially if it directly affects you.
What’s new?
The reason it’s in the news this week is because the Government have published a report by the Education Committee. They’re a group of MP’s brought together to examine the health of existing teacher recruitment and retention.
The report is basically saying that more teachers are leaving the profession early i.e before retirement age. 10% leave after a year after qualifying, most of them because their workload is too high.
Teachers in the UK work an average of 48.2 hours per week. The standard working week is 40 hours per week.
Why do I need to know?
Our teachers are at the forefront of not only helping you figure out what your future holds but also holding you accountable for getting yourself there.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg…
They’re also responsible for feeding back loads of data about you and your fellow students to the Government. They track school and pupil progress over the academic year to measure who is doing what and how well.
It looks like teachers are saying it’s this extra work that takes up valuable time they should be using to plan your lessons and mark your work.
Well it is all about your future. Right?
The Plan
The Government is suggesting more work goes into retaining school’s existing teachers and reducing their workload. They’re hoping this would improve teacher wellbeing and make the profession more attractive to new recruits.
This is a ten year plan and more details should be published in the summer.
What would you add to this plan?!?
From the Teachers…
A source close to Girl did Good has told us that:
These “statistics won’t be a surprise to any teacher on the ‘front line’.
Ever decreasing budgets, overwhelming paperwork and poor student behaviour
(I’ve just been told to f*** off by a 12 year old because I asked her to put her chewing gum in the bin – I even said please!)
are all starting to take their toll.
Teaching is a passion that, sadly, seems to be dying out.”
Girl did Good wants to hear for you.
Do you feel your teachers pain?
Do you feel they’re overworked?
Do you think it’s a huge fuss about nothing or have you been plagued by sub teachers all year?
Are you thinking about becoming a teacher?
Other posts you might be interested in:
GDG E-book, Life after Lessons available now!
