Four out of ten trainees quit teaching early, report warns
High drop-out rate wastes £90m each year and raises questions over colleges
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Independent Minds
Four out of 10 trainee teachers fail to enter a classroom after finishing their course, according to a report published today.
A snapshot survey taken six months after they had completed their training – for which the bill is about £87m a year – revealed only 63 per cent were teaching in state schools.
That means around 8,700 trainees on PGCE courses failed to take up a state school job after the course finished at a cost of £10,000 a head. The majority left teaching all together.
With figures showing a further 16 quit within their first three years, it also means there are more qualified teachers in the country not involved in education than in the classroom.
The research showed that the biggest drop-out rates were in subjects like maths and modern foreign languages, where those entering had low qualifications to begin with and which have the biggest shortages of teachers. In maths only 43 per cent had good degrees and 68 per cent went into teaching. Science fared badly, too.
Professor Alan Smithers, from the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, which carried out the research, said: "We are training twice as many teachers as we need in order to reach a minimum level of staffing."
He added: "These figures must be a cause for concern. Teacher trainees in crucial subjects seem underqualified and the training process seems very wasteful. No-one would, I think suggest that having a good grasp of one's subject is not a very important part of teacher quality."
Professor Smithers' research highlights the low qualifications of students entering PGCE courses – with less than three-fifths of the recruits to undergraduate teacher training courses having two A-levels. The worst qualified were would-be science teachers on initial teacher training courses – where only 31.1 per cent had two A levels. Professor Smithers said the low qualifications meant that, in many cases, teachers would be taking a lesson in a subject they were not qualified themselves. Their pupils could even be just as qualified as they were.
The research revealed that teachers who learned on the job through school or work-based training were most likely to stay on in the profession, with 80 per cent who had trained within schools becoming teachers after they had finished their training.
It recommends that more weight should be given to school-based training schemes. One of the most successful of these has been Teach First, which takes high-flying graduates with top level degrees who have not trained to be teachers and places them in some of the country's most challenging inner city schools.
A breakdown shows that around 15 per cent of trainees drop out of their PGCE courses before they have finished, four per cent go into independent schools and 4.5 per cent follow other teaching routes. In addition, 13 per cent are still looking for their first job after six months. The rest have given up on teaching or cannot be traced.
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Comments
But please don't go to the other extreme, as in France. Those applicants with the 'best' grasp of their subjects get the jobs - for life - regardless of whether they have any talent for or dedication to teaching.
I went to private school and the teachers were exceptionally intelligent, caring and giving people. They were on top of you all the time and they had time to tutor you individually should you need it. They knew their subjects by passion and so could project that passion informatively and in an effective manor. Consequently you would stride through the work because YOU cared and were engaged. Clever pupils were celebrated and you tried your best to beat them by learning. They had absolute rule over all of us and life became difficult if you disobeyed, (extra 1000metres in cross country was the worst....loosing fishing, Tuck and other expendable privileges such as billiards was enough for me to comply being the rebellious oik I was). They knew my parents and what they thought and desired and they prepared me for LIFE. All the difficult subjects were taught by real academics and the vocational ones by exceptional crafts men and women. Men and women who knew how to treat boys like boys and girls like girls. We had children there from all races. We were fed well and everyday would be packed with action! Rugby, Football, tennis, swimming, cross country running, gig interschool competitions, concerts, choir, church to learn about morals, open fires in classrooms made you really appreciate energy consumption. We had to keep them going by collecting our own logs for the class. You would get moaned at if you didn?t do a proper job when it was your turn to keep the logs stocked up. Exercises in community values can be practical rather than by tick boxes. We would learn about nature because the school was surrounded by beautiful woodland and lakes, we kept chickens, farm animals, bees. The facilities were exceptional and state schools should and need to become that.
State schools need more funding and higher paid "top jobs" to lure teachers from privates into tackling these tough schools. It needs to be glamorous to be a teacher. Solid role models that are good at what they do by conviction not by a system. Putting power back into teacher?s hands will create a revolution. Judging children by individual merits will create a future society where everybody is happy. Then they need to be allowed to break free and implement every tool they have discipline wise. Discipline is paramount to a safe and respectful future society. Bring in ex service men and women to run the outdoor and sports education. These people know that to stay fit you need personal discipline, they have intimate experience with physical training and no child should be allowed to cop out. Children need to learn this first before they are taught that exercise is good and then ticking the yes box.
I just think education is too focused on socialist tick box values when it can be more profitable for HMRC in the next 30 years to have children that grow up to be content with themselves as individuals. Adults will be able to go for the big time up through the tax brackets, because they can if they go for it. In all they will be capable because they were prepared and learned to understand the importance of aspiration to the human races whole future.
You then comment on the 'socialist tick box values' in what I assume is an attack on the present government.
Stalinist, yes; socialist no. But the stalinism has a curious aim: to fit pupils for the world of neoliberal downsizing and outsourcing, or - in a word - life-long insecurity.
As a CEO said during an earlier debate about the purpose of education "I want biddable morons".
Well, New Labour certainly agrees with that!
I have however, worked with a number of colleagues who have taken 3 or 4 attempts to pass the TDA maths tests... so maybe surprise wasn't the right word!
As for teachers who learned on the job it is hardly surprising - in our experience these positions always go to a friend of the headmaster or headmistress who also will do their best to line up a role either in their school or using contacts.
An inelligent graduate is able to teach a number of subjects if they are willing to prepare thoroughly. What counts is preparation, enthusiasm and an ability to teach!