With another school year coming to an end all too soon, there is yet another set of challenges for schools all across the UK looking at 2024. Finding enough teachers has always been a huge task for schools, but it is really pushing them to their limits now.
In June-2023 The Guardian reported that “Record numbers of teachers in England quitting profession, figures show. Department for Education survey finds that 40,000 – almost 9% of workforce – left state schools in 2021-22 before retirement.”
The article goes on to say that: “Teachers in England are abandoning their profession in record numbers, according to official figures, with Labour claiming that “incompetent” government policies were to blame.
“The latest workforce survey* found that unfilled teaching vacancies were also at a record high, with more than 2,300 empty posts compared with 530 a decade earlier. A further 3,300 posts were filled by supply teachers, 1,000 more than the year before.
“Large numbers of teachers were missing because of illness, with more than 3m working days of sick leave taken last year, a rise of more than 50% compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2018-19.”
Source: * explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk-find-statistics-school-workforce-in-england-2022
This might not be big news to you – after all, schools have been struggling with this for years, and have yet to recover from the pandemic – but the sheer scale of the problem over the last year is truly shocking. We won’t know how many won’t make it through this year yet, but I think it’s safe to say these won’t be the last teachers to leave the profession early.
It might sound a bit cynical, but actually this crisis represents an opportunity for you if you are in the tutoring business, and might also be a way for you to do your bit to help.
It’s time for tutors to step up and fill the gap!
Schools obviously need a solution urgently, and there are surprisingly few avenues they can go down for the kind of rapid answers they need. The pipeline for new teachers is a long one, and it is several years before new trainees are up to spec (if they’re not part of the 12.8% who quit in the first year!). Who else can they look to but professional tutors from franchises like Choice Home Tutoring who they have already built such a strong relationship with in the last few years?
There are lots of great practical reasons for this, such as immediately tapping into an experienced pool of tutors, without the need for contracts and interviews, and also good financial reasons, too. As schools are not paying those departed staff, they have cash in their budgets to afford tutors. But that’s not all...
Since the pandemic, Choice Home Tutors have been working very closely with schools as trusted partners in the National Tutoring Programme. Thanks to the very high standards they have delivered over the last three years, they are now the first port of call for schools in desperate need of staff. Many tutors are now even being offered full-time contracts and receiving interest in permanent positions. This is a potential additional source of revenue for Choice Home Tutoring franchisees.
If you have been considering starting your own tutoring business, there really has never been a better time.
PLUS there’s never been a better way to do it than with a trusted brand like Choice Home Tutoring, so why not find out how they can help you tap into this booming market, it’s as simple as getting in touch. There’ll be no pressure or hard sell, just a chance for you to learn more about this growing opportunity and how you might fit into it.
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