What is the most valuable resource in the classroom? It’s easy to look outward when thinking about this - perhaps the swanky touch-screen monitors or interactive whiteboards. Or the array of textbooks, chairs and tables that fill each classroom.
But of course, the reality is that it is us, the teachers, who are the most valuable resource in the room - and especially experienced teachers.
We can adapt, model, reflect, check for understanding, rephrase, rework and actively teach. We can spot a behaviour issue a mile off or notice a subtle change in a pupil that may require a quiet word or a mention to a 51 colleague.
PowerPoint teaching?
Yet increasingly, it feels as though this experience is not seen as a positive, but as a costly expense that is deliberately being devalued in a world governed by prescriptive lessons and tightening of belts.
Indeed, only recently I heard a deputy head say: “Anyone can teach anything with the right PowerPoint.” They weren’t joking either.
This cultural shift means that long-serving staff are left trapped in their current jobs, unable to move schools - and, worse, fearing that if cuts come, our experience and expertise will not be seen as an asset but as a millstone.
After all, with an unfunded pay rise looming, for any teacher perched on the upper pay scale 3 bracket - often those who paused their careers to focus on families and chose not to progress beyond middle management - the future looks bleak.
Recently, a very skilled colleague applied for a classroom job. He is a senior examiner and has 25 years’ experience at the top of his game - but he wasn’t even shortlisted.
When he asked for feedback, he was fed a line about his application needing more focus on his school subjects. How foolish of him not to write about his GCSE coursework from 1994!
He was, quite understandably, insulted by what was clearly a smokescreen for rooting out experienced teachers and thus cost-saving. Unsurprisingly, an early career teacher (ECT) was duly appointed.
With such pressure on budgets, it’s a predictable response from schools and trusts to cut staffing costs, but it is one that is shortsighted.
It leaves many experienced teachers feeling undervalued at best and trapped at worst. Who would hire an experienced teacher when budgets are tight and an ECT or main payscale (MPS) teacher can fill the role?
Indeed, look at many jobs advertised and you will see predominantly MPS teachers or ECTs being invited to apply.
Why we need experienced staff
Where will this end? Leadership teams are having to helicopter around young teachers because of a lack of more senior practitioners to offer guidance. These inexperienced staff will inevitably become overwhelmed and leave in their droves.
This will do nothing to tackle systemic issues, from attendance to disadvantage gaps, because you need the experience of long-standing teachers to help deliver the strategies that can overcome these challenges.
It was refreshing to hear the education secretary say she is harnessing AI to free up the expertise of teachers, but with all those prescriptive PowerPoints churning out uniformity, what expertise will there be in the classroom to fall back on?
So, what’s the way forward? The fact that 80 per cent of our school running costs is made up of teachers’ wages is often cited by leaders as a burden that needs to be reduced. But paying skilled staff to do a skilled job is surely a point to celebrate, underlining the value in what we do.
Yes, financial savings may be needed, but the education landscape would be a much poorer place without experienced staff.
The author is a secondary school teacher who has been working for 22 years
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