Teachers often are on the frontline of change. Shifts in government, economics and society can affect the way teachers work and the daily challenges they come across. We take a look at three challenges facing teachers in the UK today.
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1. New Apprenticeship Route
Recently, the education secretary Justine Greening announced new plans to offer “degree apprenticeship” teacher training courses. There are currently 16 separate routes into teaching, but the National Audit Office berated the government for the complex pathways, citing it was off putting for potential new teachers. In essence, the new routes may add to this issue, further discouraging new entrants.
The new scheme intends to enable graduates to become employed as unqualified teachers whilst training and will be launched in September 2018. Schools who are not eligible for the apprenticeship levy will receive government funding to cover 90% of the training costs.
Applications will be accepted through UCAS from Thursday 26th October 2017.
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2. Social Media
Issues relating to Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms continue to affect schools and make headlines. Cyber and text bullying, as we all know, affect children and young adults deeply. Problems that arise on smartphones at pupil’s homes can crawl into the classroom and disrupt both lessons and spirits. Nominet’s recent research found that teachers lose 17 minutes a day due to social media disruption, with this equating to over 11 days a year.
One of the latest challenges in social media facing teachers is their own presence and conduct on Facebook, Twitter et al. Open Facebook ‘friending’ of teachers with pupils or their parents can open doors to disaster. It’s been suggested that as a sensible precaution, schools should advise staff to set the most restrictive privacy settings and a sensible staff social media code of conduct should be commonplace on the induction of new team members.
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3. Unauthorised absences
Long a bone of contention for educators and parents alike, unauthorised family holidays have increased across primary and secondary schools since 2016. Official figures from the government show rates have risen from 0.9% in the autumn-spring term of 2015-2016 to 1.1% in autumn-spring 2016-2017.
The percentage of pupils who missed at least one session because of any family holiday – authorised or not – rose from 7.6% in the autumn-spring term of 2015-2016 to 9.4% in autumn-spring 2016-2017.
Despite these alarming figures, the document states “…interpretation of any trends should be treated with caution due to the volatility of autumn and spring term absence figures.”
Illness remains the most common reason for absence, accounting for 60.1% of all absences.
The teaching profession continues to be as rewarding as it is demanding. If you’re looking for your next challenge as an educator, get in touch with Urban Learning today.
