TTR0003

Written evidence submitted by Mr Alex Watson

 

I am a recently qualified science teacher at a school serving an area of high deprivation, in Rochdale. I am highly qualified for the post – I hold degrees in English literature, physics, and law, as well as a PGCE in my subject. I am due to complete my second year of the ECT programme, the ECF, this academic year.
For my whole life, I have only ever wanted to teach, and I had always assumed that meant teaching in England. However, my experiences are leading me to believe that assumption was wrong.

 

Main factors leading to poor retention of staff

 

  1. Pay: If I moved a hundred miles north to Scotland next academic year, my pay would increase by almost 50%. I’m currently on ~£29k p/a, but M3 in Scotland is projected to be over £43k p/a by Jan. ’24. My take-home pay would rise by approx. £1,000 per month. There are no significant differences between the type of work required in England vs. Scotland, just minor administrative differences (e.g., “Standards” vs “GCSEs”). The kids are broadly the same, the working hours are identical. Why am I paid so much less?
     
  2. Workload: The asymmetry of the workload in teaching is immense. During term-time, I have hardly any free time at all. Outside of term-time, I don’t have the money to enjoy myself, and spend a significant part of the 13 weeks holiday per year scraping by, doing nothing. Factors which increase workload are: marking (particularly mock exams), written school reports (especially frustrating when parents evenings are a time-efficient alternative), and lesson planning.

 


Cost-effective ways of addressing this could include:

- Outsourcing the marking of mock exams
- Lowering expectations around school reports (e.g., rather than “Billy is a charming young man whose behaviour at times is sometimes variable” blah blah blah, instead have a checklist of “Billy: behaviour 7/10, attention in class 5/10, current attainment, 8/10. For further conversation please arrange to discuss by phone.”
- Give individual teachers vouchers to spend on TES/Twinkl resources as they see fit. Giving it to departments or whole-school will not effectively reduce the specific, individual workload needs of teachers (e.g., if I need a homework worksheet on TES, but my dept. has spent the resources budget on videos, my workload is not reduced).

 

Of course, the obvious solution is to simply increase teacher pay to close the gap with Scotland, but we haven’t had an education secretary that actually likes teachers for well over a decade.

 

 

 

 

Comments on the ECF

 

Year 2 of the ECF has largely been a waste of time for me. The slight timetable relief is the only good part about it. It fails to actually improve the quality of my teaching or adequately reduce my workload. Year 2 should be about sharing high-quality resources among ECTs rather than listening to people re-hashing the same pedagogical principles that were expounded in Year 1 and the PGCE.

 

Teacher training could be improved by providing every trainee (and teacher nationally) with a starter-pack of lesson PPTs for every topic in the national curriculum. The PGCE/ECF could then focus on how to adapt these resources to meet the needs of individual students.

 

Comparisons with the economy elsewhere

 

If I dropped out of teaching and went into the NHS as a Trainee Clinical Scientist, I would immediately get a pay rise (despite having three years’ experience as a teacher and entering the NHS at the most junior grade), and then after qualifying as a clinical scientist (after 1-2 years) my pay would increase to the equivalent of the Upper Pay Scale in teaching. To reiterate, I could fast-forward over the next 5-10 years of pay progression in teaching, just by going to work for the NHS for a couple of years instead.

 

A typical Clinical Scientist job in the NHS (£41,659-£47,672): https://uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=fa95e15c444aa004&tk=1gs26t0gk2cpo000&from=serp&vjs=3

 

Similar entry requirements, similar duration of training, 50% higher pay than I’m currently on as a teacher. Ridiculous.

 

I also hold a law degree. I won’t waste your time by making comparisons to pay in the private legal sector, but suffice to say many of my peers are now earning significantly more than me.

 

Demographic challenges in recruitment

 

I work in an exceptionally deprived borough, and I am also from a very deprived background. As a child, I remember being made homeless in primary school and living in a tent with my mum and two brothers. I got into teaching for two reasons: I didn’t want to see that happen to anyone else, and I didn’t want it to happen to us again either. I saw teaching as a reliable, steady, middle-class income that would guarantee I would never experience poverty again. I can no longer afford to make that mistake. I am planning to leave England and work elsewhere, as the pay in England is too poor to feel secure. I need to build up savings to help support others in my family, but that is not possible while I’m struggling myself. So I’ll go work in Scotland, or Saudi, or Portugal, or The Netherlands – anywhere that pays what I’m worth.

 

The only people who can afford to stay in teaching are those whose partners are high-earners. Everyone else will become a charity case eventually.

 

March 2023