to think there is something seriously wrong with our education system..

[TwinkleToes101]

when teachers are leaving in droves?

Just recently reading about record numbers of newly trained teachers giving up within 5 years (that was me 14 years ago), then on MN today partners having depression/breakdowns and all the posters who teach knew the person in question was a teacher...what the F is going so badly wrong with teaching??

I thought my reasons for leaving were personal: too little me time, too much low-level classroom disruption. Other postgrads I know left as I did because of work load. But don't other professions have high workloads/stresses?

[BoswellandForshort]

I was very ill for a long time before I finally quit. I struggled on for the sake of the children but the reason why I finally left was when I realised all the useless crap I was being made to do every day was actually detrimental to the children. I wasn’t able to spend my time working directly with/ for them because so much of it was spent doing tasks “for OFSTED”.

[Watsername]

I work in a school as a TA. I am very highly qualified and have thought several times about training as a SCITT. But I just don't want to because I can see the pressures the teachers are under. I love working with the children, but the responsibility carried by the teachers is too much for me.

I think that there is a decreasing respect for teachers over time - amongst children as well as parents - which makes the job harder. Children don't just do as they're told any more.

[AnxiousAspie]

I'm on my 11th year now and after being called a lazy cunt by a parent at parents' evening, for not giving up more than 2 evenings a week for intervention, I wrote my resignation. I haven't handed it in yet, but the attitude of students and their parents, combined with a complete lack of funding and support from management, will be what drives me out.

I absolutely love my job and most of the kids but waking up sweating and panicking about work so often now if getting too much.

[stopitandtidyupp]

Teachers are blamed for things well beyond their control.

[WhyDontYouComeOnOver]

There's been something drastically wrong with the education system for decades. It seems that people are only just catching on.

[StealthPolarBear]

Yanbu op. I don't understand why there's no one whose job it is to establish what the problem is and what needs to be done.
Well there is someone I suppose...

[Liverbird77]

It is thankless and exhausting. The salary is too low for the amount of time, effort and qualifications required. We are expected to put up with abusive behaviour from students and parents. We are expected to give up our time for free. The scrutiny is constant. You are always one poor observation away from capability procedures. We are held accountable for results, yet those actually sitting the exams are not. The Government keeps changing the goal posts...new courses, exams and expectations. I am leaving tomorrow. May never go back!

[Intohellbutstayingstrong]

Ive been a teacher for 20 years. It's grim. I hate it and am trapped in it. I have terrible sleep problems because of it. Rarely sleep a wink in August in the run up to results day. Asked what I am going to do to make sure all kids get their target grade with zero consideration for those kids who do fuck all. Rude, entitled, demanding parents who think they can say what they want, when they want to you. I could go on.

[loubluee]

I went after I qualified. Seeing too many teachers around me leaving, on long term sick or suffering with their mental health, just told me I didn’t want to be one of those. However I used my experience and worked in learning and development, on more money than teaching and way less hours. I actually had a work/life balance.

[areyoubeingserviced]

I have a friend who is a GP
She has told me that teachers are the most depressed profession
I know so many wonderful teachers who have left the profession , which means that we are left with unqualified , inexperienced substitute teachers.
My nieces’s ‘maths’ teacher is actually a Drama teacher and my niece is at a grammar school

[Posthistoricmonsters]

Pressed send too soon.

But I've said enough anyway

[Posthistoricmonsters]

Omigod where's my post. It was so long.

[OneOfTheGrundys]

Behaviour.
For me it’s not the stereotypically ‘naughty’ children. It’s the total lack of awareness of so many of the sheer amount of slog it takes to get the best grades. I’ve been told I’m ‘rude’ twice in the last week by ks4 pupils after setting them detentions for incomplete homework. For requiring them to hand in phones that they’d had out during my lesson.
I’ve taught for 15 years. I’ve taught successfully in mainstream and PRU. I’ve never met such a group of children who think they can achieve with so little effort. Sadly some of their parents seems to back them too in not doing homework, arriving late to lessons, not handing over phones as they feel they are under too much pressure. I understand the stress but the grade 9 won’t happen without the hard work.
And the fact that slt seem to back the pupils over us. I could go on.
It scares me how many experienced, good staff are leaving. I’m worried about who will be there to teach my own children when they reach secondary.

[EmUntitled]

I left after 4 years. I actually really enjoyed the job and my school were one of the good ones (90% of parents supportive, most of the kids nice, head of department committed to reducing teacher workload, fairly supportive SLT, departmental resources)

However the workload is always going to be huge. When I was full time it was fine. After I had my daughter and went part time, I couldn't do it. Too much work taking me away from her; not enough time at work to do everything I had to. I felt like a rubbish teacher and a rubbish parent.

I would liketo go back to it but can't see it happening any time soon. I'm not the only one feeling the same - 2 of my other friends did the same after their kids were born.

[4point2fleet]

I think the crux of the problem is that children are only seen by the Government as data. x% MUST achieve y- because targets.

Also just offering a mass educational formula is cheap and therefore popular with the Department.

The stress in teaching comes from repeatedly pushing square pegs into round holes and the motional fallout from that.

If we focussed on each child achieving their best, including growing to be an emotionally healthy human, (and paid for that) it would all be fine.

[YoungLennyGodber]

Goodness. I knew it was tough, but not quite this tough.

for all you teachers - you’re doing a wonderful job and you are very much appreciated!

[EmUntitled]

I think the problem when compared to other professions is its so personal. You feel like you are letting kids down, and its your fault if they don't get their GCSEs.

[OneOfTheGrundys]

You are always one poor observation away from capability
^
Yes, this too. I’ve two children and a terminally ill husband. I cannot fit in a compulsory extra training session an hour’s drive away.
I’m a ‘good’ teacher with ‘outstanding’ features but if I were observed with one of my 5 classes I’d be on capability. Why? They’re a bottom set, 28 of them, no TA support and over half on the SN register. Most of those for SEMH needs. Behaviour? Ok. Expected progress? Patchy at best. Hence I would be considered inadequate.

[Jackshouse]

I left this July after 8 years.

Ofsted, league tables, competition between schools, ridiculous government intervention means SLT are happy to throw staff under a bus. Add in inappropriate curriculum for some students, poor behaviour, poor attitudes towards teachers, pointless paperwork, long hours, not family friendly and under funding I’m only suprised that more teachers are not leaving.

As a country we have more teachers leaving then joining the profession and a rising school aged population.

[Fatasfook]

With the future looking bleak for employment in general, why waste money on investing in the children and education system when that tax money could be used to further line the pockets of our politicians?

[chiplota]

I got out too, after 23 years. I miss what it was, not what it has become.
I think the final straw for me was parents. I could deal with bad behaviour, but it was parents (a minority - but a disruptive minority) excusing their children's behaviour - or worse saying it was the schools fault - that caused me to get out. As a society we do not respect the profession, this comes from the government and filters down.

[Foxyloxy1plus1]

Teachers will be able to tell you what is wrong and how to fix it. Unfortunately, no one with the capacity to change things has ver listened to peopleqctually doing the job. I’ve said for years, that there will be a tipping point and now I think it has been reached. The whole system is disintegrating and people now are just beginning to realise and starting to care.

For years, the popular misconception has been that teachers have it easy and on the occasions that teachers took industrial action, there was an outcry and it made not a jot of difference. Now that people in general are realising that it isn’t 9-3 and long holidays, it’s too late.

I don’t see how we can stop the rot, stop young teachers leaving and older more expensive ones being ousted; stop the behaviour that makes it impossible to teach; stop the relentless goal post moving and the belief that if any child doesn’t achieve, it’s the fault of the teachers and nothing to do with the effort or lack of it, put into their work by the child.

There was a thread earlier this week about bonuses at this time of year. I read it in astonishment. There’s never a bonus in teaching, most teachers dip into their own pockets to buy resources and I don’t recall a Christmas meal or end of term celebration that the staff didn’t have to pay for themselves.

It will take an age to turn things around, if it ever can be done. No one I know in teaching would recommend it to anyone. It’s a sad situation.

[peakSafeSpace]

I've been an educator for nearly 3 decades.

For me, the problems are social. Parents feeling entitled and passing it on to their children. Poor behaviour being excused by 'undiagnosed' issues and honestly, when diagnosed, the excuses seem more belligerent and oppositional.

I remember when a child with SEN attacked 2 children and a teacher and the parent of the attacker demanded to know why we hadn't kept the victims safe. That's when I moved.

I worked in UK independent schools for a few years after my inner-London trial by fire before becoming an ex-pat and still love education.

Teaching is a wonderful profession. 99.9999% of children are wonderful. Parents are (often) the hurdle.

[Walkingdeadfangirl]

More and more parents are not taking responsibility for raising their own children and the buck is being passed to schools.
Schools are not able to expel the badly behaved children as easily as they used to.
The modern world is developing a culture that if you aren't depressed then you dont get.

We need more specialised schools for different types of children, instead of shoehorning everyone into one size fits all. People only have themselves to blame for the system we have.

[Kolo]

I left 3 years ago after 17yrs as a teacher. There were a number of things that contributed to my decision, but mainly it was because I couldn’t achieve any kind of work life balance and the stress of the job was making me ill. At a gp appointment I was told I needed anti depressants, and most of my colleagues were popping pills just to get through life. But I knew all of my symptoms were due to work and would be gone if I left. So I did.

I sometimes have nightmares about it all. I sometimes still get the physical symptoms of stress that I lived with daily (palpitations, sickness, headaches, panic attacks) because i lived with that stress response for so long. I don’t know how to describe it to anyone who hasn’t been through it. It’s not just about long hours and working hard. It’s about constant scrutiny, someone always ready to leap on you (parents, kids, management, ofsted) if you’re not amazing and perfect. That feeling of being completely inadequate because you physically can’t finish all your exam marking, and knowing you’re letting your class down a bit by not having their hwk marked for the next lesson. Knowing that you’ve given everything you can, but it’s hardly made a dent in the problems of a class, and you’re simply not enough. Dragging yourself in to work when you’re sick/dumping the kids at nursery when they’re sick, because there’s an exam class you need to see, or a kid was on holiday the week before and you need to see them to get them caught up on coursework. Being on your knees trying to make sure your (school) kids are safe, happy, making progress, learning and then having a meeting where slt tell you you’ve been doing it all wrong and now you have to do this extra thing every lesson. Constantly giving everything and constantly being told it’s not good enough. Disrespect from (some kids), even really lovely kids being so draining sometimes because they don’t fit in the round hole of a classroom. Being the last mum to pick up from nursery because I’ve been with my a level class doing a revision session (which obviously someone will miss because they went to work/were on holiday/were ill, so you are going to have to repeat it when they’re back), getting my own kids home, feeding them and they desperate for bedtime, wishing my time with them away because I’ve got a stack of year 8 reports to write as well as 3 classes books to mark before the morning. Not to mention the 5 hours of lessons than need planning (if you’re not a teacher, have you ever done a presentation? Think of the planning that goes into that? That’s what it’s like every day, and that’s one of the good bits of the job). Knowing that half the stuff you’re doing/being made to do by management or ofsted is not improving the lives of the kids in your class. Knowing that some of what you’re made to do is seriously affecting the mental health and self confidence of the kids you feel so maternal about. Skipping lunch every day because you’re running detentions to try to get kids to finish hwk, parents complaining that their kid shouldn’t be doing the detention, spending more time of phone calls and emails to try to get parent to understand why you’re doing this.

There are some amazing perks of the job. Summer hols are pretty good and I got to feel almost like a normal person. The kids I worked with were amazing human beings, and it’s a privilege to get to know them and have them open up to you and let you into their head. They’re funny and loving and amazing in the main. I don’t think there are many jobs where you’d get the same high as I’d get in teaching. But the other 95% of stuff was too much for me to bear.