It turns out that there’s a massive teacher recruitment crisis in FE as well as in schools. Who knew? The findings of a survey by the Association of Colleges and TES (see story opposite) - particularly the fact that 86 per cent of colleges are finding it difficult to recruit maths teachers, with 70 per cent having the same difficulties for English - are as striking as they are unsurprising.

The requirement that students who fail to achieve that all-important C-grade in GCSE English and maths must keep on striving towards it, even after they move on to college, has placed a huge strain on the FE sector.

The unprecedented numbers have created huge logistical issues for colleges, with some suspending their entire curriculum while they use classrooms and offices as makeshift exam rooms. Others have had to book external venues to meet demand, from town halls to places of worship. City College Norwich has been particularly effective at communicating the impact, with pictures of its cavernous impromptu exam hall at the Norfolk Showground succinctly conveying the difficulties of organising the exams (not to mention the fleet of double-decker buses needed to transport more than 1,000 students to the venue).

But while the FE sector has long proved adept at coming up with ingenious quick fixes to keep its head above water, the longer-term challenge posed by the shortage of English and maths teachers is altogether more awkward.

When it comes to recruitment problems in schools, the word “crisis” has long been bandied about by commentators and supply experts, while the Department for Education has continued to stubbornly insist that there is no such thing. As education secretary Nicky Morgan explained at the Easter conference of the NASUWT teaching union, there was a sense that uttering the C-word would make things worse. “If I read about a profession ‘standing on the precipice of a crisis’, would I consider a life in teaching?” she asked. “No, I would not.”

It’s an interesting point. There are particular reasons, of course, that FE may be struggling to find sufficient teachers. With area reviews in progress, job security is perceived by many as poor. Salaries are lower than those available in schools (the current pay freeze certainly hasn’t helped), and colleges are more reliant on part-time and temporary contracts than their counterparts in pre-16 education. And the prospect of taking classes of students who have not enjoyed their experience of education thus far is not an enticing prospect for schoolteachers.

But it all depends on how you look at things. There are benefits to working with older learners. As Natalie Nezhati writes (see pages 48-49), the sector has a lot to recommend it: “No more detention, phone calls home or breaking up fights. So long soggy playground duty, after-school clubs and monotonous parents’ evenings.”

For teachers with young children, the flexibility of fractional appointments can be a draw. The appeal of working with more mature learners is significant. And then there’s the different kind of relationship with students that comes from being a lecturer rather than a teacher.

Let’s not pretend that everything is rosy in the FE garden. As Nezhati puts it: “Colleges are usually underfunded, the holidays are often shorter and full-time positions can be hard to find.” But there’s a lot to be said for teaching in the FE sector - and these positives are rarely spoken about.

Back in September, in his first interview after being appointed chief executive of the 157 Group, Ian Pretty told me: “You can see everything as a challenge or everything as an opportunity. I see this as a time of opportunity.” Perhaps it’s time that we saw teaching in FE in the same way.

@stephenexley

This is an article from the 27 May edition of TES. This week’s TES magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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