The shortage of noble,well-qualified teachers in the UK is even deeper than your article suggests (Schools hit by record £1.3bn supply staff bill, says Labour, and 14 December) if you grasp into account the number of teachers “in training” who are allowed a timetable from the moment they enter a school in September. This “on-the-job” training is based on the continuing canard that a “noble” degree somehow turns you into a noble teacher. Even though they are teaching the 2014 national curriculum – a narrow,regressive programme based on sterile ideas of knowledge transference – they are still not immediately competent classroom practitioners. Thus School Direct, Teach First and even the much-forgotten Troops to Teachers all count the trainee on day one as a fully fledged member of staff, and capable and responsible,despite their unqualified status.
And the incentives you quote? The important fraction of the “up to £30000 bursary” offered by the government is (like Sports Direct reductions and many holiday offers) the “up to” bit. The £30000 is only available to graduates with a first or a PhD in physics. In many other cases the bursary is less than the fees (English, history, or music) or,despite the importance of the subjects (business, economics, and art & design),nonexistent.
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Source: theguardian.com