Tag: education retention

Several states are removing or relaxing barriers to entry in an effort to reduce the USA’s ‘teacher shortage’, will the uk be next?

It’s no surprise to anyone in the education space right now that there is a teacher recruitment and retention crisis in the UK. Experienced teachers are leaving the profession at the fastest rate for over a decade and 25,000 fewer trainees in 2022 than the previous year to replace them.

There have been calls for various policies aiming to incentivise remaining in the profession to ease the crisis, such as an ‘inflation plus’ pay deal (1). Across the pond, some states are taking a more radical approach to solving their own teacher recruitment crisis. Individual states are removing barriers to entry by lowering the requirements to teach in the public sector. Arizona, for example, no longer requires public school teachers to hold a degree as long as they are currently enrolled in college (2). California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri and Alabama are just a handful of other states where similar measures have taken effect.

Why is lowering the barrier to entry such an ‘effective’ measure in solving the recruitment and retention crisis?

1. In short, it’s very cheap! The state, instead of funding new teacher training routes or measures can simply remove administrative check boxes, saving money for them, while still providing bodies in the classroom. It requires less effort and is easier for the establishment to remove existing measures and leave nothing to replace them. It requires no additional administrative work.
2. It appeals to the wide group of people that believe teaching is easy. Disrespect of teachers is broadly perceived by those in the profession (3) and has been cited as a major reason for teachers changing career. Lowering barriers to entry is extremely palatable to those that believe teaching is an easy profession and perpetuates a trend of undervaluing teachers in their work, experience, and education.
3. It shifts the accountability for the retention crisis. Instead of focusing on the systemic failings that are causing droves of teachers to leave the profession, lowering barriers to entry gets bodies in the room. The effectiveness of these teachers can then be blamed on the individual and the school, shifting the blame from central policymakers. Short-term statistics will look excellent, but student outcomes and the well-being and longevity of these teachers will be harder to measure over the long term, making it a simple sticking plaster, rather than a long-term solution.

What are the drawbacks of these policies?

• For the current teachers – these policies do an excellent job of sweeping current concerns under the carpet. It adds to a feeling of being ‘replaceable’. The responsibility of training and supporting these new teachers will likely fall on existing staff, increasing their workload and likelihood of burnout. This will lead to more experienced staff being lured away from teaching.
• For the untrained teachers – their experience will likely be extremely stressful. Generally speaking, areas that are tough to teach in experience the most difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff. Therefore, it is likely that these inexperienced teachers will be sent to challenging settings where existing staff will not have the time or resources to effectively mentor and support new staff. These new teachers will be exposed to situations that they are not ready for and may lead to extreme stress and a sense of failure, despite having likely ‘taken up the call’ with the best of intentions. This would lead these new teachers to leave the profession due to a lack of support.
• For the pupils – there is a consensus that a well-trained, effective teacher is essential to raising pupil outcomes. While these new teachers are surely well-meaning, any teacher would admit to finding their first few years of teaching tough. As explained above, children in low-income areas would likely be disproportionately affected by having inadequately trained and supported teachers, stunting their progress further.

Surely this would never happen in the UK?

A practical, ethical and evidence-informed approach and debate of initial teacher training is an essential feature of good education policy. However, 36,000 teachers left the profession in 2021, and with that figure expected to rise, the UK is heading towards a crisis point. We have already seen alternative teacher training routes such as TeachFirst and School Centred Initial Teacher Training rise in popularity. There appears to be a demand for a departure from the university-centred PGCE.

In a similar move to some US States, the UK Department for Education scrapped the traditional numeracy and literacy professional skills tests. The reason was to end ‘arbitrary testing’ as a barrier to recruitment (4).

In summary, there is clearly a teacher recruitment and retention crisis in the UK. I believe that policymakers here will continue to watch the effects of the American policies unfold with keen interest and an eye on their bottom line.

Signed,

Sources

1. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/23/english-schools-warn-of-acute-teacher-shortages-without-inflation-plus-pay-deal
2. https://www.k12dive.com/news/arizona-law-removes-bachelors-degree-requirement-for-teachers/627128/
3. https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2018/11/18/teacher-index-2018/
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/changes-to-the-professional-skills-test-for-teacher

Cost-effective policy or American nightmare? Let us know what you think below.