Ekki skortur á grunnskólakennurum hjá Bretum

Hún væri nú flokkuð sem lúxusvandamál staðan ef hún væri eins hjá okkur og hjá Bretum.   Við vonum það besta um framtíðina en á meðan að 0,9% atvinnuleysi ríkir þá vantar hreinlega líkama til starfa á Íslandi.   Vandamálið er margbrotið en ég held að stjórnvöld, ríkisvaldið og sveitarfélögin þurfi að staldra aðeins við og skoða hvort fleiri stórverkefni séu tímabær þegar þenslan hefur svona mikil áhrif á grunnþjónustu við börn, foreldra og eldri borgara.

Grein af BBC vef:

Secondary schools in England are experiencing a "golden" period for staff recruitment, research suggests.

The quality and quantity of candidates applying for vacant posts means schools can select from a talented field.  It is a reversal of the trend less than a decade ago when there were teacher shortages, says Education Data Surveys.

The downside is that newly qualified teachers and experienced returners face stiff competition for jobs.  This is especially true in the North, where the workforce is shrinking fastest alongside pupil numbers.

It is a golden age and possibly the best it has been for a generation John Howson, Education Data Surveys

Many now face the prospect of having to move south to find a job.  But schools are reaping the benefits and finding most vacancies attracting a pool of strong candidates.

"It is a golden age and possibly the best it has been for a generation," said John Howson, director of Education Data Surveys. "In 2001, you had shortages of trainees because there weren't training enough teachers. "But now schools have never been as well off for selecting teachers who are keen to work in their establishments," he added.

Science gaps
One such school is Rooks Heath High in Harrow, north west London. This year the comprehensive had four vacant posts to fill, one of them in science - a subject which has faced recruitment challenges in recent years. The post was filled by the only candidate to apply, who then pulled out. A second round of adverts produced two strong candidates, one of whom was appointed.

Head teacher John Reavley is encouraged by recent trends in recruitment, but not complacent.  He said: "I've found the situation has got better, but not across the board.  "I know of one or two schools around here who have had trouble recruiting in the science area." 

Stepney Green School - a comprehensive in East London - had three posts to fill this year.  Head teacher Paramjit Bhutta said: "I would agree that there has been a turnaround.  "Every time we place adverts we get a good pool of candidates - a very strong field."

Balancing act

The new golden era of teacher recruitment may be good news for schools, who can pick and choose the cream of the crop, but in some cases newly qualified teachers, especially from the north, are having to compete with more than 100 others for the same post.

Some are considering moving south to find a post, where the higher cost of living swallows up most of their modest starting salaries.  Education Data Surveys' concern with the recruitment pendulum swinging in favour of schools, is that it may not be sustainable. 

John Howson said: "As much as possible needs to be done to get the market as close to balance as possible because extremes either way mean someone is going to be disappointed.  "The risk is that it swings back the other way. We don't want people to be put off training to become teachers because they won't get a job."  Evidence suggests this is already happening, however, with graduate teacher training applications down this year.  Mr Howson says if this accelerates, the supply position could deteriorate rapidly, but it might take years for the government to notice.

Education Data Surveys' conclusions are based on tracking 32,000 secondary school vacancies across the country in the 2006-07 academic year.

Athugasemdir

[Salvör Kristjana Gissurardóttir, 20.8.2007 kl. 07:24]

Í Iowa City í Bandaríkjunum þar sem ég var við nám var ástandið þannig að um hverja stöðu grunnskólakennara og framhaldsskólakennara voru mörg hundruð umsóknir. Það er því miður ekki góðs viti fyrir samfélagið ef enginn skortur er eftir kennurum, það er merki um að samfélagið er í hrörnun, fólkinu var að fækka og flest ungt fólk fluttist í burtu. 

Ég held að það sé skortur á kennurum og fólki í ýmis konar umönnun á svæðum í Bretlandi sem eru í vexti, sérstaklega ef það er hár húsnæðiskostnaður á svæðinu líka. Ég las að þessu væri sums staðar mætt með sérstöku húsnæði á sérstökum lánum, annars væri hreinlega allt of dýrt fyrir fólk í opinberri þjónustu að búa í sumum hverfum. Það er merkilegt að það gerist á sama tíma að það er verið að hverfa frá byggingum félagslegs húsnæðis og verkamannabústaða.

[Gísli Baldvinsson (IP-tala skráð) 20.8.2007 kl. 13:25]

Kennaraskortur er staðbundið vandamál á höfuðborgarsvæðinu. Eins og formaður Kennarasambandsins sagði þá þarf þjóðfélagið að taka afstöðu til þess hvort vöntun á kennurum eigi að fara eftir þenslu í hagkerfinu. Sýnt hefur verið fram á það að kennarar fara annað ef vel árar. Það er ósýnilegur kostnaður jafnvel skaði. Ég hef bloggað um þetta ástand og skrifað greinar en sagan endurtekur sig. Blikur eru á lofti og grunnt á stríðsöxinni, á öllum skólastigum.