To wonder why so many teachers want to quit

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

Inspired by other threads but I didn't want to derail.

What is going on in education that is making teaching so stressful?

I work in the City and you don't see too many people quitting with stress even though the work can be stressful. Certainly, not the numbers you see in teaching.

Someone mentioned the 85% barrier ( in primary 85% of children have to be above L4 etc.) In the small school I teach in, each child is "worth" around 8%. Last year I had 2 statemented children, neither of whom would ever achieve level 4 and both of whom went on to secondary special schools. So I failed my performance management, the school dropped down the league tables, OFSTED looms!

I left teaching and now for a job where I earn much less but am truly valued and appreciated.

You could offer me 5 times the salary and I wouldn't be tempted to go back.

Chaz,

The City is completely different. It is worth enduring a bullying boss for a City salary. For 10% of one, less so....

I have done both jobs. Having said that, I like teaching far more and don't want to leave, but the stress can be severe.

All the comments are so true.
I am from Scotland and the pressure is definetly less that what i have read but i'm sure it will eventually come here.
We don't get rated thank goodness but workload and expectations are still high despite the increase in class sizes and the amount of children with special educational needs. The school are struggling to support these children so they are left in your class and the door is closed on the problem. There is no money for resources so it comes out of teachers pockets or its even harder work in the class.
It is a thankless job. My dd said she wanted to be a teacher and i said noooooo......!

Why has the UK Educational System, into which such effort has been put, managed to get it so wrong?
I think this is partly the answer too - lots of politicians, who have never had a proper job in their lives let alone been a teacher, tinkering with education.

My mother quit because:
Low level disruption so kids weren't listening - mobiles were banned but generally tolerated.
If she raised an issue, eg use of phones, with a child she would frequently get a barrage of foul mouthed abuse - and this was considered to be a good school.
Lack of respect from children backed up by the parents.
Considered the job to have become crowd control rather than teaching.

Teaching is breaking me, for all the reasons PPs have listed. However, I am the main breadwinner in the family and there is nothing else I could do that would give me a similar income. I think I'm just going to have to keep going until I do actually break.

I finished when I cried all night, woke up crying and was still crying when I got to work.
Unsupportive management, constant scrutiny, shitty kids, shitty parents, unrealistic targets, systems systems systems, none of which were to do with individuals, targets targets targets.
Every week since I finished I have seen or read an article suggesting that schools/teachers should do more of... Or less of... - never any mention of parental responsibility.
Just read this site for a week and see how keen people are to teacher bash.
I am a tough cookie and one day I just couldn't do it any more.
I loved the kids and worked so hard to do my best for them.

Oh, and I love being in the classroom with students. It's all of the other stuff that's breaking me.

catfordbetty That cartoon nails it totally. I am bloody FURIOUS that I am somehow responsible for the absolute lack of engagement or interest from some pupils. That the chaotic home lives created by their feckless parents might result in my salary being capped. I am busting a gut trying to motivate some kids who aren't engaged in the process at all. I'm not here to entertain - but put some bloody effort in, fgs. My current class has a large group that are only interested in gazing out of the window, picking the elastic out of their socks and ripping the velcro on their shoes. Or poking the person next to them to annoy them.

You're right Messy I've just looked and its Nicky Morgan, but I bet Gove left an interesting legacy!

Not RTFT yet but, in the interest of balance, I have several friends who are primary school teachers, they love their jobs, are not stressed out and manage to have a good work life balance. I assume they have very good senior management teams.

Why has the UK Educational System, into which such effort has been put, managed to get it so wrong?

Probably because its managers/politicians etc making decisions and not real teachers! They have no experience!

Just read this site for a week and see how keen people are to teacher bash

How true.

Leavingsoon, Jenny bias described that model of teacher professionalism as 'commitment as exhaustion', and yes, it is pointless and dangerous. In other words you aren't a proper teacher unless you are practically prostrate with the effort of it all and absolutely have no room for anything else in your life. Problem is, some of these idiots run schools and expect everyone to be like that, including parents.

Jenny Nias

Spellcheck!

She is not biased!

I finished when I cried all night, woke up crying and was still crying when I got to work.
Unsupportive management, constant scrutiny, shitty kids, shitty parents, unrealistic targets, systems systems systems, none of which were to do with individuals, targets targets targets.
Every week since I finished I have seen or read an article suggesting that schools/teachers should do more of... Or less of... - never any mention of parental responsibility.
Just read this site for a week and see how keen people are to teacher bash.
I am a tough cookie and one day I just couldn't do it any more.
I loved the kids and worked so hard to do my best for them.
I have been there.
Was off with stress. Got another job, different school. Its better but for how long? So depressing.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that it is also so very loud and fast to keep up with 30 kids all the time. Teachers do it every day and don't realize what an unusual skill it is, but I cringe when I see some people trying to work with kids who don't go flat out. I know that it doesn't have to be like that ALL the time, but every day has several lesson, every lesson has several parts, every class has several kids with questions. You're up against a deadline ALL the time, so always feel hurried. That's exhausting, but can be rewarding when it goes well.

However, add in the lack of respect, feeling alone as you're the only adult in the room, pressure to conform to some govt led standard, it just gets to the point where switching off becomes impossible.

If I ever have a day when I do paperwork for a day instead of teaching, I can't believe how easy and peaceful it is.

I think that everyone has already said it.

It is so bad that I wouldn't want my child at an Ofsted 'outstanding' school- the stresses will be too severe to stay there that they even perculate down to the children.

I am retired and do workshops with schools for free. Generally I work with other ex teachers and not one of us would want to go back to the job, and yet we loved the classroom part.

Lack of appreciation for the level of work. The pay is shocking if you work it out per hour. The ability to have a work life balance is practically none-existent. There is always more to do, the LA/ head/ government is always pushing for more. No child is every allowed to be average (I think the person who came up with that needs to go back to school).

I read somewhere about the relationship between stress, remuneration and control. So - CEO - high stress but high remuneration and high control. Teacher - low control (if not actually no control), low remuneration = high stress. (My job - low remuneration, high control = low stress. Bazinga.)

My DH job-changed to a primary -school teacher in his early 30's. He loved the job, kids loved him. They mummified a fish and built it a sarcophagus and a pyramid for it. He taught the ABC of maths - Accuracy, Beauty and Clarity. He was innovative and worked for hours to lesson-plan. I felt we had 31 kids in our family, he constantly talked and thought about his class.

10 years later, he broke down. He was in a small school, a couple of kids struggled one year, the end of year results looked bad as a result, Ofsted declared them no longer Good but Requires Improvement. The pressure was extreme. He broke down one day and the SLT saw an opportunity to "move him on".

He stepped down to a TA role in another school before they could commence comptenancy. It was 9 months before the man I married returned to us. I was horrified by how bad his mental health had become.

Teaching is unforgiving and brutal. I fear for my daughters.

I'm a TA, and I know I could not bear the stress of teaching, even though I love working with children and I love being in the school environment.

This thread has been an eye opener for me. I was genuinely puzzled why teaching seemed to be so stressful. I am beginning to understand that it is not so much the teaching but the structures and expectations imposed on teachers that are causing problems.

A lot of it is a complete waste of time! Writing out lesson plans in detail and printing in triplicate when no one reads them and you don't need them, or just a few jottings would do. Having to use particular coloured pens to mark with. Having to get the children to write out the learning objective, when it takes some of them ages. Lots more that is unnecessary.
Interestingly with our workshops some one said to the group 'do you all use the lesson plan?' and we all said that we didn't. We use it as a rough guide and do it our own way. We make it our own- all different but same information. We are trusted.