School (parent) Governor

pinkshoes

There are MANY schools that do not have a full set of staff for September.

Recruiting from abroad is not an easy process, and you are often employing someone that you have interviewed via Skype and never seen teach.

I work at an unusual school where we are fully staffed, but it has not been easy. Some jobs are particularly hard to fill, e.g. Maths and physics, and often language teachers who can teach more than one language. this is why there are bursaries available for these subjects for teacher training.

Other subjects, like PE, will often see 40+ applicants for one job.

The problem? The demands on teachers are ridiculous, term time hours are very long, work load is huge and often daunting, pressure of Ofsted, parents who wont take responsibility for their child's poor behaviour (!), and the pay isn't great.

I have just finished my 2nd year, and love it, but of the 6 newly qualified teachers that started with me, only 2 of us are continuing into our 3rd year. 2 left due to stress, one decided it was too expensive down south, and the 4th hated the pressure and lack of thanks!

As a governor there will be a lot to get your head round!

Reggie_Rebel

Volunteer for nothing, keep your head down, don't offer any solutions. If you do then you will be Chair of Governers in a year

pleasedelete

Do you understand the role of a governor? Make sure that you do before you start campaigning on issues.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governors-handbook--3

http://www.nga.org.uk/Guidance/Workings-Of-The-Governing-Body/Governance-Tools/Framework-for-Governance.aspx

GobbledyGook

There is a shortage of teachers in the UK and bringing in teachers from abroad can have a variety of issues such as where are you located? Is housing particularly expensive in your part of the country?

What is the situation like in other schools in your area? In Moray for example they are having a terrible time filling teaching posts because people simply don't want to more that far north. So is it your school that's struggling or is it your area in general?

Also what subjects are the school struggling to get staff? Do those positions that they can't fill correlate with national shortages or is it another issue?

I know a lot of teachers who have left full time teaching to become supply teachers. There is less paperwork, less responsibility and therefore less stress. One friend of mine said that going onto supply meant her 'evenings, weekends and days off became mine again' and that far outweighed the worry of not getting work for the odd day.

GobbledyGook

specialboy wrote: »

Why in recent years has the need for teaching assistants increased so much? Years ago there was 1 teacher with 30/35 kids in a class and they got the job done without any fuss.

They had a forest less of paperwork to do, children with SEN went to specialist schools, children with behavioural problems were excluded (or just kicked out the class to sit outside) and it was socially acceptable to teach to the class average without any particular thought or focus toward the most or least able in the class.

Gloomendoom

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

Volunteer for nothing, keep your head down, don't offer any solutions. If you do then you will be Chair of Governers in a year

This is so true. It happened to Mrs G.

She now has two full time jobs... one unpaid, and virtually no spare time at all. Every waking hour seems to be spent doing her day job and/or her Chair of Governors job.

maman

hello007007 wrote: »

Personally, I dont think someone is doing their job properly. Many other schools are well staffed, why cant our school be.

I know the school will try to talk me down at the meetings like they have done before - any tips?

Hopefully your perception will change when you start to understand what it actually entails to run a school effectively. I agree that governors are there to provide challenge but destructive criticism won't help anyone. If you've already decided that someone's not doing their job properly that concerns me.

specialboy wrote: »

Why in recent years has the need for teaching assistants increased so much? Years ago there was 1 teacher with 30/35 kids in a class and they got the job done without any fuss.

Others have explained what they're used for but part of the reason for the proliferation is that they're even cheaper than supply teachers and they're used for covering classes in many schools.


Teaching has become an extremely unpopular job. About 40% are leaving after one year and 50% after five years. That's an incredible waste of training. IMO even more will leave when the employment market picks up. That's the main problem with recruitment. Then it depends on the school. If it's in a good area with bright children and supportive parents it may be easier to recruit than in a tough neighbourhood where many children don't really want to learn and parents just look on school as a form of childcare. Then there's the cost of housing. Teachers don't want to carry on living in shared houses or bedsits like students once they're heading toward thirty but teachers' salaries don't allow for living close to many schools.


The best advice I can give would be to keep an open mind.

bunty109

Bennifred wrote: »

I would ask the clerk to the governors to organise for you to go on a course for newly-elected governors so that you know what you can and cannot do in that position. Sooner rather than later.

I couldn't agree with this more. Being a Parent Governor is not about promoting any agenda or - necessarily - discussing any "burning" issues other parents may bring to you. It's about providing a level of challenge and being a critical friend to the school, and that's something I'd advise getting some training on before you attend meetings and raise issues. Chances are, the school may already be aware of the challenges they face with recruitment and what they need is assistance seeking solutions to the problem. That's where the Governors can come in and they present a different perspective on problems.

mumps

There are definitely shortages of teachers in some subjects. My DD is a teacher in a shortage subject and when she was applying for a job she got a phone call within minutes of submitting her application asking if she would like to come in and meet the Head, the other job she applied for applied for her references about 15 minutes after she submitted her application.

She has negotiated a jump up the payscale for the job she has taken.

harrys_dad

Governors are there to provide "challenge with support". Your initial post OP fills me with horror, as it seems that you have only become a governor to sort out the issues that worry you. Yes of course it is important to find out about those, and what is being done about them, but it is also important to be able to take a wider view about the whole school. You are a governor in your own right, and although elected by parents you do not represent them as such.