New grants are being offered to student teachers by the Welsh Government, who hope to attract a greater number of teachers to further educatiol colleges.

A £1,000 grant will be made available for the 2012/2013 academic year to all eligible students undertaking postgraduate further education courses, so that they themselves can teach in further education the, BBC News reported.

An alternative grant of £3,000 for the same period will be made available to those who wish to teach science, technology, engineering, maths and their relatable subjects; as well as Welsh, numeracy and literacy in further educational colleges. Neither grant apply to those who wish to teach in maintained schools.

“These incentives will help attract good quality students to train as FE teachers in Wales, and support ITT providers in Wales which run these courses to compete effectively for the most talented applicants,” Leighton Andrews, Education Minister for Wales commented. “To target our highest recruitment priorities, including support for the teaching of literacy and numeracy, whilst recognising the importance placed on recruiting quality teachers across all subjects in the FE and skills sector.”

The news of additional grants was welcomed by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) who acknowledged the tough economic climate that the Government is operating in. David Hytch, North Wales Branch Secretary of the union said “To be fair to the Minister, he has tried to match his rhetoric with targeted funding”.

The announcement of more grants follows results from a 2011 National Union of Teachers (NUT) survey of teachers, which found that 72 per cent of respondents aged between 30 and 50 said they were likely to quit teaching, if required to pay higher pension contributions or work longer before retiring. Similarly, a recent survey by the NASUWT, found that of its 230,000 members, almost half had considered quitting in the last year and over a third felt they were not respected as professionals.

Commenting on the facts and figures behind teacher attraction and retention, Julian Stanley, Group Chief Executive of Teacher Support Network said “How many people would it take to make sense of the numbers being released in the press of the amount of teachers entering and leaving the profession? Having looked at the figures, something for me doesn’t quite add up. I suspect that a proper analysis of the figures will show that the numbers of teachers entering and leaving the profession has fluctuated ever since there have been schools, but in the end there have generally been enough teachers to teach students”.

“Yet, with more teachers likely to retire early before the changes to pensions, or quitting because of indiscipline and behaviour, we need to take these misleading figures out of the equation. A career in teaching very often equals a lifelong vocation.”

For more information on grants and money advice you can call our Support Line on 0808 802 03 04.

By Dewi George

The majority of professionals in colleges want FE loans to be delayed or scrapped, a survey has revealed. Nearly 70 per cent of respondents to a survey of Lsect members believe the government should prolong or abandon the loan scheme over fears of the impact on learners and providers.

“The government has got itself in enough trouble by not listening to the experts in recent months,” said Sally Hunt, General Secretary of the University and College Union (UCU). “It now needs to listen to the collective voices from across further education that make it clear that the sector is simply not prepared for, and does not want, FE loans.”

The survey, which was designed with the Association of Colleges (AoC), National Union of Students (NUS), UCU and Unison, also asked respondents to scale how they thought people were aware of the scheme. 55 per cent felt that the sector was not prepared, while 89 of those surveyed believed the public was not aware of the scheme, FE Week reports.

“The survey shows that college staff have significant concerns about public awareness of the policy and how it will be communicated,” explained Julian Gravatt, Assistant Chief Executive of AoC. “It is clear that more information is needed about the finer detail of how this policy will operate to allow colleges to effectively prepare.”

The Government says it is “working closely with the sector” to make sure they are prepared for the introduction of the loans in the 2013/14 academic year.

“Introducing loans will mean that thousands of people can access learning at a time when grant funding is being prioritised on those who need it most,” explained a spokesperson for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

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The President of the National Union of Students (NUS) says lecturers should have a teaching qualification to “try and improve the quality of teaching that students receive” now that tuition fees have risen.

“I think it is undeniable, with the increase of perceived payment of fees, that people have much higher expectations. Not just students but parents, who will probably be much more active in criticising what they perceive to be the deal,” explained Liam Burns ahead of the NUS annual conference. “From our point of view, fees or no fees, we should always expect lecturers should try and improve the quality of teaching that students receive. I don’t think we make arguments on value for money. It is false – we are not working in a real market here.”

The comments follow the 2010/11 NUS/HSBC Student Experience Full Report, where 69 per cent of students who responded to the survey agreed that higher education teaching staff should hold a teaching qualification. The same report also found that, if given a fantasy pot of money, students would invest the most money into teaching (18 per cent).

Lord Browne’s review of university funding in 2010 proposed that lecturers with “teaching responsibilities” should gain formal qualifications, but this has not been enforced, the Guardian reports.

“The Browne review said that it should be compulsory for teachers to have a teaching qualification. Personally, as a student, I don’t think it is that controversial for my teachers to be qualified to teach. The institutions themselves absolutely balked at the idea. They said they cannot have one size fits all; it is about academic autonomy, not telling us how to teach. I just find that absolutely astonishing in the context of students perceiving themselves to be paying £27,000,” added Liam Burns.

Not everyone agrees with the NUS President. Comments on the Guardian article include:

“So a university Professor, who has spent his entire life studying his / her subject, acquiring BAs, Mas, MSCs, PhDs etc has to go and get qualified by getting a PGCE? That’s like an astronaut going back to get O Level maths.”

For all the latest FE and HE news, information and comment, follow us on Twitter @RecourseCharity.

The pressures of education are “damaging lecturer and teacher health”, a survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has revealed.

A quarter of staff questioned by the union said their current job had led them to taking time off sick from work, whilst 40 per cent reported that they had visited their doctor as a direct result of increased workload, long working hours or inspections. The proportion of staff taking sick leave is the highest amongst those working in further education at 33 per cent, ATL reports.

“The demands and pressures on those working in schools and colleges is escalating,” Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the ATL commented. “It is not surprising that so many teachers and lecturers are considering leaving the profession. They are having to cope with endless Government initiatives, Ofsted inspections, pressure from parents, schools and colleges to get pupils through tests. The 35 hour week simply does not exist for teachers.”

When asked specifically what it was in their job that was causing problems, the most common answer from education staff was workload, chosen by 84 per cent, followed by long hours (69 per cent), pressure of inspections (47 per cent) and meeting targets (43 per cent).

The survey, which questioned 1,300 ATL members also revealed that 60 per cent of teachers, tutors and lecturers had thought about changing jobs, whilst 58 per cent admitted they had considered leaving the profession altogether. 73 per cent of those surveyed said their job was having a negative effect on their health and wellbeing and 62 per cent said school life affects their relationships with family and friends.

A tutor at Doncaster College commented: “The policies across college are in place but there is no appreciation regarding stress from direct management”.

Recent data released by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) also revealed that lecturers are more likely to work overtime than staff in any other profession. 55.6 per cent of education professionals work unpaid overtime, putting in an average of 9.6 hours extra per week.

From the calls and emails we receive, we know that workload and long working hours are a major cause of concern for tutors and lecturers. In our 2011 forum on the subject, one lecturer told us: “a ‘healthy’ work-life balance is very difficult to achieve. When I should have time or energy for exercise, I have too many demands from the job to fit this in effectively. Taking time out for illness is problematic as the burden falls on colleagues. As such, there are times when I am in college, when I shouldn’t be. I only take a couple of days sick leave on average per year so constant tiredness results”.

If you are struggling to cope with workload, long working hours or meeting targets and would like to talk to someone in complete confidence, call our Support Line on 0808 802 03 04, or email an advisor here.

by Victoria Bamber

Students have been given the opportunity to report on the 2012 Paralympic Games, as part of a competition run by NASUWT.

Held jointly with the Paralympic Post, a newspaper distributed in the UK and Germany during the games, ten British students aged 16-19 will be given professional media training ready to interview athletes, politicians and celebrities during the 12 day event running from 29 August to 9 September, Politics.co.uk reports.

“The Paralympic Post offers talented students a great opportunity to visit the Paralympics, broaden their horizon and gain experience as a journalist,” Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary commented.

The students will be selected by a jury consisting of NASUWT Officers including the NASUWT President John Rimmer, Paula Roe, NASUWT Senior Vice President, Brian Cookson, NASUWT National Treasurer, Pete Henshaw, Editor of SecEd magazine and Doug Wills, Managing Editor of the London Evening Standard.

When interviewed by the Paralympic Post Vancouver 2010, Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) commented: “I am pleased that the international Paralympic Post created by secondary school students will also be produced at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.”

Ann Cutcliffe OBE, Vice-Chair and Board Member of the British Paralympic Association said: “We are hoping that all students participating in the competition will challenge their views on disabled sports.”

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by Victoria Bamber