“We don’t all want to be headteachers” – Why the education jobs market is failing school staff
Chris Curtis asks whether the current system of recruitment and promotion within schools is serving the profession as well as it could be…
- by Chris Curtis
The rising number of teachers leaving the profession is a growing concern to us all. Aside from reasons related to workload, student behaviour and stress, there’s another possible reason why holding on to teachers in a school is becoming increasingly difficult.
Before becoming a teacher I was employed in a number of different sectors, ranging from construction to insurance. I remember how surprised I was when I first discovered the extent to which education is different to other fields of employment. ‘Different’ being an understatement…
The rungs of promotion
‘Progress’ is an obsession in the education world. So much so that it’s spilled out into how we perceive the job itself. There seems to be an expectation that you must always have one eye on the next rung of the ladder, gazed fixed permanently upwards: “So, when are you thinking of promotion, Chris? Must be time now…”
I’ve worked with some excellent people who have moved up those rungs of promotion – some quickly, some leisurely. Yet promotion and progress aren’t for everyone, which is something the education system doesn’t seem to cater for.
It’s relatively rare for teachers to move sideways, be it in or across schools. At most companies, employees can expect to change teams, move into different departments, relocate to other sites, or indeed join a different company altogether. Where we have a ladder, other sectors have a climbing frame.
The routes on offer within education serve to limit teachers’ options. For those teachers wanting progression, the two principal routes are pastoral or leadership. Qualified teachers effectively end up either bossing people around, or passing students a tissue as they explain their problems. Neither option involves much branching out, and both will inevitably pull you further away from your specialist subject.
In other sectors, employees are able to specialise or diversify. You can develop your career by getting better at something. In education, we develop our careers by dedicating ourselves to something completely new. If I love my subject, then what will keep me in the job is the promise of opportunities to do more of what I enjoy.
The experience trap
As budgets shrink, the costs of employing experienced teachers quickly becomes an issue. Experience isn’t cheap, with the result that schools have to carefully consider whether they can afford to employ certain members of staff. Education is one of the few job sectors where experience can actively hinder you. I have friends who chose not to advance to the upper pay scale because it would make them too costly.
Sadly, there are some teachers stuck in schools because they’re too costly to move elsewhere. They want to move but can’t, trapped as they are by their own levels of experience.
Nor is that the only trap. Would you rather employ an assistant head with experience of the role or one without? I know of individuals who have missed out on senior jobs due to lack of experience – but how can they earn that experience without ever serving in the post? We have staff who want to move on, but are prevented from doing so through no fault of their own.
Security versus flexibility
The business world tends to operate around supply and demand, but not so the education profession. This lack of responsiveness is part of the problem – schools can quickly change exam boards, GCSEs and marking policies, but the speed at which teachers can change their context is glacial.
We may have a certain level of security with our jobs, but with that security comes comparatively little flexibility. If we want to retain teachers, we must empower and support them in finding the right job for them. This needn’t always involve promotion; rather, we should afford them the opportunities and support they’ll need to identify their ideal school and role.
Chris Curtis is an English teacher and author of the book How to Teach English (£16.99, Crown House Publishing); follow him at @Xris32 or visit learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com
