Catch 22 is alive and well.

The UK is suffering from a teacher shortage. It's reaching crisis point. Young teachers are leaving the profession burned out after just a few years in the job. In fact, in the case of some newly qualified people my daughter knows, they are leaving after only months or even just weeks in post. 

Quite a large number of my former students have become teachers. My friend and former modern languages teaching colleague Heidy and I recently worked out that between us we have helped boost the numbers quite well. Some of these former students appear to be enjoying the job. However, there is a shortage and not just in those specialist areas like Maths and Physics which have had a hard time recruiting for ages now. 

And so schools have taken to recruiting teachers from abroad. Not just from the EU but from the USA and other such far flung places. But there is a problem. Under immigration rules that come into force next month, skilled workers – including teachers – from non-EU countries will need to earn at least £35,000 to remain in the UK permanently. While it is possible for teachers to earn £35,000, the average teacher’s salary in the UK after 10 years is £29,500 according to a 2013 OECD. This is a bit short of the required £35,000. 

So schools can solve the staffing crisis by recruiting from elsewhere but the teachers can't stay because they don't earn enough! Just a small snag! 

Of course, if teachers were paid a decent salary to begin with then it might be possible to recruit more within the UK to begin with. Oops! Isn't that part of the idea of sending back non-EU workers who earn less than £35,000? Hmm! 

But then, the myth of how easy the job of teaching is still persists. With short hours and long holidays, how can they possibly deserve to earn a decent salary? I recently found myself in an online argument about the demands of the teaching profession and had to withdraw before I went apoplectic! 

Here's another example of double-think, Catch-22 or whatever you choose to call it. 

An academy chain has been stripped of at least some of its school because of financial mismanagement. This is being used as evidence of how good the system is: “This shows the academy system is working, with the EFA identifying issues and regional schools commissioners intervening and rebrokering effectively, as part of a robust system of oversight.” Here's a link to an article about it.  

Of course, the schools concerned are not going back into local authority control. Oh, no! They are being given to another "trust" so that someone can make a going business concern of them. 

We have a theory: the plan is to mess up the education system to such an extent that those who can afford to do so, and some who really can't but will make sacrifices, will send their children to private schools. This will prove that what really works is private education and all schools can become private. As can the hospitals for that matter. And all the prisons! And social services! And anything else that deals with people!