You have to decide this for yourself. As for me, those reforms are not in the minds of folks who desire to become teachers. Folks wanting to become teachers have a great need to help others, especially young children and teens.
What is more important in the long run is not attracting teachers, but retaining the good ones. I know of no reforms in the past thirty years that are aimed at that. In fact, most of the reforms are complicating that objective either directly or indirectly. Reform is not giving teachers more direction, more paperwork, and more standards.
Real reform to help retain teachers would be giving them more authority, more responsibility, and more assistance with learning deficit students.
Preventing burnout, the national scourge, means lessening workloads (including grading). I don't recall many reforms aimed in that direction. To retain a great teacher, they have to have time for their own family.
But attracting teachers, I don't see much in the reforms that really change the playing field. We need to focus on keeping good teachers in the profession. That means less work assigned, a living salary, and support for the students not excelling. Support includes a lot of things, the least of which is attaboys, wherein the reforms seem to center.
In your opinion, will teacher reforms (such as comprehensive testing of teachers or requiring ongoing professional development) attract or intimidate individuals from joining the teaching profession? How do the reforms affect your own desire to enter the profession? Explain your answers.
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This is a very good question and much in the front of the minds of teachers and their senior or line management in the UK. By line management I mean department heads, deputy heads, head teachers and governors. We often talk in terms of work/life balance with new teachers as this can become very focused on the work element to the detriment of the life element.
Frequent reasons given for leaving the teaching profession after a few years are the paper work and 'initiative fatigue' which they feel have detracted from their initial ambition to help others, to which Bob has eluded above.
CPD is certainly needed but this comes with difficulty in some schools as the cost for this has to come from the school's budget, the larger cost of which is often cover for the absent teacher. CPD is to be welcomed but in my view this needs to be more appropriately funded.
Frequent reasons given for leaving the teaching profession after a few years are the paper work and 'initiative fatigue' which they feel have detracted from their initial ambition to help others, to which Bob has eluded above.
CPD is certainly needed but this comes with difficulty in some schools as the cost for this has to come from the school's budget, the larger cost of which is often cover for the absent teacher. CPD is to be welcomed but in my view this needs to be more appropriately funded.
2 answers