Is this a teaching crisis?



Image from: http://clip.c19.ir

School is that important place where teachers play a strategic role in determining the future of students and society altogether. Teaching is more than a job. In fact, it is a mission.

At least, this is the general understanding of what the relationship between teacher and student should be.  

However, media have been telling us for a while now that a worrying teaching crisis is threatening education in our country.

Early in 2015 around 1,200 teachers signed an open letter from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) union, asking for more Government support, as the constant Ofsted monitoring and fear of being judged to be failing, is putting the profession at risk.

Moreover, figures based on the Department for Education data show that nearly four in ten tutors leave in their first year, while the number of wannabe teachers who complete their training but never actually enter the classroom has tripled over the last six years.

Further data made public by a Department for Education official highlight a record 50,000 teachers have left the profession in a year.

There is no wonder that many schools in the UK are conducting a mass recruitment initiative abroad in order to tackle teacher shortages in their classrooms. More specifically, the Government is encouraging foreign tutors to consider moving to England by building relationships with target countries.

According to Mary Bousted, the ATL general secretary, teachers work more unpaid overtime than any other profession and their work life is filled with constant pressure and stress.

Children clearly bear the burden of this bureaucratic system, as they constantly sit tests since a young age.

Besides this, young learners will face further challenges in the years ahead.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has in fact announced plans to reintroduce externally marked exams to measure the progress of seven-year-old pupils and make sure their assessment is rigorous enough.

The proposal has not been welcomed by the teaching unions and according to them, a formal testing at KS1 could only increase the pressure on children and teaching staff.

Is there a risk that some schools will concentrate even more on results to boost their position in the league tables, rather than focusing on the curriculum and the specific requirements of the young students?

Chances are this is going to happen.