Teacher turnover rates

[louisea]

I am concerned about the rate of teachers leaving at our school. This term, one Y9 class has had 6 English teachers and therefore no consistency. One of my sons came home today and told me that his class is now getting a new English teacher next term, his science and maths teachers are leaving and as far as he knows, one of the drama teachers is leaving. Is this par for the course in a secondary school or something to be concerned about? Should we make contact with the school to see what their expectations are for the new term?

[Wellthen]

Hard to say on just those examples. Secondary schools have 100s of teachers so 4 leaving in one go is not unlikely, but obviously unfortunate that they all teach your son!

6 teachers for 1 class is bad management. After the first 2 the HOD should have made sure to place a settled member of staff with that class who isnt going anywhere.

Has anything happened recently - a change to academy, change of head, bad/good oftsed? Events like these can lead to lots of staff leaving but equally can lead to lots of good staff being employed. If your son is half way through his time there, he will see the benefit of this.

Im not sure what contacting the school will do - they are unlikely to say 'yeah we've got loads fo staff buggering off cos we're shit!' and will feed you meaningless phrases. If he was in the class that has had 6 teachers that would be different but he isnt so you cant really complain about that.

[TheNebulousBoojum]

You give no information on what the school is like, challenging or not? Or its size and number of staff.
Teaching is becoming a very mobile occupation, a lot of staff stay for 2-5 years in primary and then leave, and I presume it's even more so in secondary. Especially if the school has a difficult SLT or HODs.
It is a worry for parents, but there's not much you can do about it.

[ohfunnyFRANKENface]

I would put in a written complaint about the number of English teachers your child has so it is on record.

That is not acceptable. Was the class already split between teachers? Or has it been six different solo teachers? Has there been a series of substitutes and now you're getting a permanent teacher?

[TheNebulousBoojum]

'6 teachers for 1 class is bad management. After the first 2 the HOD should have made sure to place a settled member of staff with that class who isnt going anywhere.'

Ideally yes, if they have one. But Y9 isn't a GCSE year, so perhaps that is where the settled staff have been placed, in Yrs 10 and 11.

[TheNebulousBoojum]

You can complain of course, and ask questions about the reasons behind the decisions, but if that's the situation the school might be stuffed.
Did the teachers leave the school, or were they reassigned within the school?
One is out of the SLT's control, the other might not be.

[Feenie]

Y9? So why is this in Primary Education?

50% of all teachers leave the profession altogether within 5 years, btw.

[noblegiraffe]

I would say it's unusual for so many teachers to be leaving at Christmas, unless there are major problems with the school.

[louisea]

Y9? So why is this in Primary Education? confused


Posted late last night in error. On the spot asked to move to Secondary but HQ haven't done so yet.

Headteacher is retiring at the end of the school year. New head already appointed. On previous ocassions when we've queried things or asked for help the staff have become very defensive. Short of getting private tutors to help our kids I'm not sure if there is much else we can do. I'll make contact with the school but I'm not holding very high hopes for a satisfactory answer.

[Tutoringmummy]

If your son has had teachers who stay for half a term only- which would account for 6 in the school year- then something is up. Are they supply teachers filling another teacher's place?

Staff turnover like that is not a good sign, but it's usually obvious why it is happening. Maybe the H of D is hopeless, or moral is low in the school- or maybe the children are challenging! Most parents would have some inkling which. Do you?

[louisea]

I'm actually quite worried now. I don't know many parents with children at the school so it is hard to find anyone to talk to. One of my boys came home the other day almost in tears because his friend is leaving to move to another school. I'm hoping to find out why. There are other issues not teacher related that won't necessarily improve at another school but I do need to look in to the teaching problems in more depth.

[admission]

Whether any school likes it or not, a change in head teacher invariably brings change in staffing.
As a new head has been appointed I assume that this is a situation where the head is retiring and therefore has been known about for a while in the school. If this is the case then it could well be that some staff have taken a decision to also leave at the same time, either to retire or to move to other schools. Sometimes the jolt of the head going is the impetus for other staff in the school to realise that it is the time to move on.
As such this may not be a bad thing, though unsettling in the immediate future. I would be tempted to see how things go in the next two terms and whether you notice any changes in the school.

[countrykitten]

6 teachers for one set is very bad news indeed. In my experience a high staff turnover tends to = very unhappy staff or challenging school environment. You are well within your rights to speak to someone about this and find out what on earth is going on. Schools (state schools in particular) are very good at putting on a very good show outwardly when inwardly all hell is breaking loose and things are breaking down.

[Glup]

Agree with the above posters, I'm afraid. Definitely equates to something very suspicious going on behind the scenes. Staff tend to be unhappy for a reason and it doesn't tend to go with good exam results.

[Petrasmumma]

We had this problem and it was an issue with the school. I was told a turnover of 5-10% is healthy but we had significantly more than that and yes, it did affect achievement.