to feel quite shocked that DH has PTSD from teaching?

I don't know a single teacher who is remotely worried about an 'influx of kids from private schools.' It just isn't even on the radar.

Schools have a maximum number of students. They won’t exceed it, as @cantkeepawayforever has said in her post. Extra pupils (if there are any/many which I still doubt) will be placed in schools which are undersubscribed, thus not causing stress, in fact bringing in much needed extra money.

It’s not to do with the calibre of pupil… it’s to do with additional volumes of pupils and not enough resources to deal with it. Even if the nicest class of children, extra numbers mean additional stress and demand on that teacher.

I don't think you get it. A teacher can love his/her job and be excellent at it but poor management and lack of funding can make the task impossible. The most implicated teachers get burnt out because it's impossible to make a good job for anyone. So those who stay will be the ones who are not invested and don't really care about the pupils or their education. Because all the invested, excellent teachers ought to be flipping burgers instead of creating decent working conditions in our schools?

Not surprised at all. Still teaching but trying to get out. Sending all my best wishes to your Dh, hope he heals from this.

But it's like that in any job. Not every job is suited to every person and if your not coping to the point your mh is severely effected you need to get out. Nobody is saying you have to be a cleaner or work in mcdonalds for life but it's a job why you retrain/ go back to uni for something else.

Not surprised at all. Things are getting far worse in schools.

Last year I was sworn at, threatened with weapons, spat at, hit, kicked and punched almost everyday. This is in a primary school in a reasonably nice area. There’s just not the funding for the provision children with ALN need and we can only do so much in a mainstream before it all comes crumbling down.

It’s going to happen to more and more teachers unfortunately!

"Schools have NOTHING left in the tank."

As always, Noble nails it.

I could be wrong but my personal opinion is; it happened when certain professions started to be exposed for corruption and abuse etc. People started speaking out about their experiences then investigations made. Think positions of authority that people had blind respect for like the church, teaching, policing. Safeguarding happened but also the internet, where people can get their stories and accounts out there on a wider scale. A lot of people now go by the mantra that ‘you can’t trust anyone anymore’ respect is definitely earned etc.

I don't know why your saying really? I'm replying to someone who said they've been made to feel like they can't do anything else when they absolutely can. your husband is suffering with ptsd do you not realise how serious that is. Multiple people kill themselves everyday due to mental illness so yes I'd rather be poor and healthy then stay in a job that caused that level of illness. Mental illness is serious and ruins every part of your life and your families life. Most people have no control over their mental health as its either a chemical imbalance or caused by an issue outside of their control if a person is suffering due to something they can change then absolutely they should.

I taught in a secondary school for only a year and this doesn’t surprise me at all. There’s a reason I never went back to teaching after having my son.

It’s not a state v private issue.
I was burned out by excessive workload and bullying management in an independent school. I’m sure it’s much nicer for the children to be in smaller groups with other children of similar backgrounds, but it isn’t nicer for the teachers - demands from both parents and management are much more strident (and often unrealistic) and bad behaviour still happens. Don’t try to make it about private schools and VAT.

We get slated if we leave (remember the thread slating the teacher who dared to leave when she had an exam class?)

We get slated if we stay (how could you not sell your house and all your possessions so you can get by working in McDonalds?)

We get slated when we try to tell people about what's going on in schools and to teachers (teachers are ALWAYS moaning, think they have the HARDEST job in the world)

We get slated when people don't know what is going on in schools (why haven't teachers spoken up about this??)

We get slated when we go on strike (GREEDY)

We get slated when we don't go on strike (teachers just let the government get away with what they are doing to schools, why aren't they doing more/speaking up/taking action).

We are constantly moaned at because schools are too strict, enforce rules and exclude kids. Then when people watch those same kids who kick off at school rioting in the streets they look to schools to solve the problem.

With what?? Schools have NOTHING left in the tank. We can't even perform our supposedly primary purpose of teaching kids the basics because we don't have the teachers left to do it. And whatever we do, it will be wrong and ripped to shreds, both in the media on here.

Every word 💯, well said. Unfortunately from Y7 onwards the behaviour only gets worse, far worse.

But I'm sure you would be capable of working in mcdonalds or retail or any of them types of jobs yes it would be a paycut and obviously less holidays but surely your health is more important I just don't understand why adults are choosing to be miserable I'd rather live in a tiny house and buy clothes in charity shops and by non branded food then have a mental breakdown, ptsd, depression ect. Mental health has destroyed mine and my kids lives I prioritise health and happiness over everything

I thought it was a ridiculous rule as well. Fine for senior management sitting in their offices making the rules, but frontline staff suffered life changing injuries in that place.

"Why don't teachers speak out about this?" Because when we do we get accused of being workshy lazy gits who don't care about the children and wouldn't last two minutes in a real job. See also comments like: Of course, I am going to be flamed by the large amount of teachers on here who are insistent that they have the toughest job in the world though…… No teacher EVER said it's the toughest job in the world, yet people do like hurling that accusation around.

"Why don't they just resign if it's so bad?" Because we also have bills to pay, children to feed and mortgages / rent that demand payment. A teacher has to give a very large notice period so almost always resigns with no job to go to. The bills don't care and still want paying for the month/s it takes to get a different job. Also, society (and years of micromanagement, OFSTED, deep dives and all the rest of the school improvement activity which generally ignores what's going well and instead searches out anything less than perfect and presents us with a long list of criticisms) has done a bloody good job of gaslighting us into thinking we're no good at anything else. Self-worth is in the drain for many teachers.

Op, I'm a parent so on the other side I guess..

My dc has experienced awful bullying at school, the behavior is appalling. He's seen children behave disgracefully towards staff and he's in year 6.

Playing out, we've had so many issues with other children's behavior...swearing, fighting, threatening with guns (dad has firearms), called gay, chocked, bitten, kicked, pushed, hit ect, called names and left out and when you speak to the parents they kick off, minimise, deflect, deny their sensitive little angel would ever do a thing and always say my dc has done things (the why haven't you brought it up with me until I brought up your child's behavior?!)... You get no where with them, my dc can't play out because it's gotten so bad and these aren't rough families, but professionals in some cases...no adult supervision, no boundaries, no consequences, no accountability...and these children become teenagers/young people and then adults...and we wonder why we have the society that we do? I feel really sorry for NHS staff, police, paramedics, retail staff, teachers and school staff, neighbours, children in the same class.... because it is sheer hell being around these people.

They are unkind, rude, loud, obnoxious, disagreeable, can't emotionally regulate, swearing all the time, drop litter everywhere, lack manners or common decency with no thought or consideration for anyone but themselves.

And woe betide anyone who dares to point out their behaviour...

That’s a ridiculous rule!

I worked in a pupil referral unit where we were categorically told we had to physically prevent students leaving the room if they were climbing out of the window or leaving via the door and that disciplinary action would be taken against us if we didn’t do this. So when a 16 stone 6 foot teenager told me to move out of the doorway or he’d rip my head off, I just let him leave. You can see how injuries happen when people are in fear of their jobs.

Not particularly I’ve taught in two schools and there are issues between students but violence aimed at teachers is rare. I remember a teacher getting punched in the face when I was at school but they stood in a doorway to try and stop a teenager leaving the classroom. They didn’t deserve to get punched obviously but just letting them leave would have diffused the situation.

I am puzzled by this specific idea that teachers will be worried about an influx of pupils who would previously have been privately educated:

• State school PANs and admissions arrangements are not changing. If a school has historically had places, yes, those may now be filled, but if eg a school had a PAN of 240, and is full, the change to VAT will only mean a slight change in the exact children admitted into Y7 or exactly who is given a place from the top of the waiting list.
• The additional children needing places, who would previously have gone to private schools, will generally be ‘easy’ pupils - relatively able, involved parents, few indicators of deprivation, generally fluent English. For schools whose last big influx was of refugee children from war-affected areas of Ukraine, with no English and significant levels of trauma, additional previously-private pupils is not something they lose sleep about.

The greatest difficulty for schools is likely to be - in my experience of accepting children from private schools into a state school class - parental adjustment, both to the fact that their child is not necessarily ‘top of the class’ by virtue of their previous private schooling, and to a reduced level of contact / interaction with individual teachers.