Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why so many teachers want to quit

1000 replies

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 23/10/2015 16:06

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Devilishpyjamas · 29/10/2015 07:45

That's very sad gentleness Sad

MrsUltra · 29/10/2015 07:46

There is complete lack of awareness by people even very close to the situation - eg parents and governors who are shielded from the reality because schools are desperate to keep a lid on it.
Parents have no idea of how many of their DC classes are covered by n on-specialists, because their DC don't report back them every day!
I supplied for a week to cover a German teacher at a local school. She had ben on long term sick, but for a week at a time, so the school could not get in a long term supply as they had no idea when she wild be back. Even if they could have got a German specialist - they are in short supply. So the kids were frustrated, having just been given endless worksheets and 'posters' to make and DVDs. As it happens a friend has DC in that school, and who were in my lessons. She rang me surprised, and was horrified to hear form them , they had not thought to mention until they saw me whom they knew. She had no idea of the level of staffing problems in the school, that like many she had been desperate to get her kids into because it has a desirable image and glossy PR.
But what could the school do? I have now seen this elsewhere - a teacher is off long term but only being 'signed off' on a weekly basis, so the school has no effective way of managing that properly.
Governors are also in the dark. I know a governor at a local school who told me there are behaviour problems there - it is a dire comp with appalling behaviour which supply teachers decline after one booking.
Another friend who is a school governor heard I was thinking of applying for a teaching job in the town where he works. He said 'Great, we can meet up for lunch!' Lunch break? Long enough to 'meet up'Hmm not a concept teachers recognise.
(Like a previous poster, in France we used to get lovely long lunches, with wine, and sometime popped over to the café afterwards for a digestif...Grin but that was the 90s - that café has now closed down..)

leccybill · 29/10/2015 07:56

Gentleness I completely agree with your post. I left teaching recently because, in the words of the popular joke, not only did I feel like I was letting the school and it's pupils down, I was letting myself down by going against all that I believed in, just to please the Govt.

My DD in Year 1 is unhappy and struggling. I'm considering home schooling too.

Mehitabel6 · 29/10/2015 07:57

Lunch break made me laugh!
I read on Twitter that staff rooms were not being used and were being phased out in some schools. I think that staff would use the staff rooms if they had time. One of my reasons for thinking it better to be a TA is they actually have time to use it.

Mehitabel6 · 29/10/2015 08:00

I have always been against homeschooling but am beginning to change- especially for the under 7 yr olds. I don't think that I would be willing to send a 4 yr old. When my August birthday child was starting school they didn't take them until rising 5.

ilovesooty · 29/10/2015 08:09

If schools don't have staff rooms it's one more mechanism removed which enabled teachers to interact and support one another.

Leavingsosoon · 29/10/2015 08:11

One of the things I think I'll like about my job is that it has a much used, very shabby staff room :)

Mehitabel6 · 29/10/2015 08:17

It was the staff room that I really missed when I retired.

echt · 29/10/2015 08:18

The staff room is the soul of the school, where teachers can realise that it's not just them. Or, actually, it is just them.:o

When working in FE in the UK, the general staffroom, as opposed to grouped workrooms, was eliminated. It was quite deliberate, to take out the place for general talk, that area that says, yes, we're having the same issues, in addition to the invaluable discussion that can improve a student's attainment.

It was also the place to have union meetings.

Utter, utter fuckers.

Mehitabel6 · 29/10/2015 08:18

A real sign of the times that some people think a staff room is unnecessary.

MrsUltra · 29/10/2015 08:23

Mehitabel6
One of my governor friends said they had discussed removing the staff room. She works in an entirely different field, cannot see the point of staff-rooms as she does not have a staff-room at her work, and yes, sees them as a place people get together to collectively moan and diminish morale, and so a Bad Thing.
I do mostly see TAs and other supply teachers when I am in staff-rooms - and the TAs are often moaning Grin

HesterThrale · 29/10/2015 08:48

Yes, talk of French teachers having civilised lunch breaks is eye-opening. I never even get to the staff room at lunch. More often I have to do a duty sorting out pupils who can't behave during their break. I get a free school dinner - yes - but there's nothing more likely to give you indigestion than having to sort out kids who are angry/ shouting after a fight. If there's a quiet moment, it's a rare chance to actually talk to my colleague there, share our days, and even talk about life outside school. Which reminds me of how staff rooms used to be used.

BoboChic · 29/10/2015 08:55

French schools often have a two hour lunch break, leaving more room for lunch in the local bistro (three courses and wine) of the type that the teachers at my DD's French primary used to enjoy on Fridays (not every day).

noblegiraffe · 29/10/2015 09:00

Our staffroom is packed at break time, but empty at lunch. Ten minutes to talk to colleagues and have a drink is all that can be spared in a day.

I often get home with most of my lunch uneaten. Lunchtime is a slot where I book detentions, go through work with kids, or grab a colleague to go through schemes of work or marking or planning. The thought of actually spending that precious time eating and not getting things done seems to me to be a bit wasteful.

BoboChic · 29/10/2015 09:03

The more I read this thread, the more I think there needs to be a sea change in the way school is conceived. So much is expected of teachers, yet it is the children who require educating... Which means expecting more of them.

IguanaTail · 29/10/2015 09:05

Can you imagine that here? We would have threads on MN "AIBU - DS's teacher is eating a sandwich in the local cafe during school hours!!!!!!!!!!! Should I complain to ofsted first or the chairman of governors???!!!!!!"

catfordbetty · 29/10/2015 09:13

Iguana I really enjoyed your list of the excuses deployed by parents ... so true. However, what used to annoy me most was how often they were accepted by my more senior colleagues as genuine mitigation.

MrsUltra · 29/10/2015 09:18

Should I complain to ofsted first or the chairman of governors???!!!!!!" Grin

ohthegoats · 29/10/2015 09:30

I don't enjoy my job anymore, but I have no idea how to leave, or where to leave to. Obviously I know how to leave, but not productively. At the moment I just feel trapped in a job I love, but also hate. Nice.

tadjennyp · 29/10/2015 09:48

Can I just say that I have just got back into teaching after an eight year break and a long stint of living abroad and being at home with the children. So far I love it, but I am working really hard. The new head of department is really keen for us all to have lunch and break together in our work room and even bakes us bread every week! More importantly, there are two reasons why I am still enjoying it: I am under allocated by 4 lessons a week so I have the time to plan properly and find resources since I have been out of he game so long. The HoD has my back and makes sure SLT know how hard I work and they do come and thank us. That makes a real difference, I think. However, if we manage to make MFL popular again (Fenland town, no mean feat!) and I teach my full quotient, I might feel differently this time next year!

HesterThrale · 29/10/2015 10:06

Ha thanks Echt! Grin Made me laugh, especially no. 37. So true!

leccybill · 29/10/2015 10:49

IguanaTail I think I've experienced every single excuse on your list.

At my last school, it really did feel like in the 3-way process between me, the parent and the student, it was literally me doing ALL of the work. That was because my actual job and pay depended on it.

The students were not one bit bothered whether they got a C in French, having mentally switched off from it early on in Year 10 (too hard/too much writing/have to speak French/have to remember stuff/easier to put efforts into getting an A in PE/Textiles...I've heard it all), and neither were their parents.

timelytess · 29/10/2015 10:58

The memes are great! 41, 50 and 52 had me shrieking with laughter!

tad - glad you like it and hope it can one day be the same for everyone!

tadjennyp · 29/10/2015 11:03

timelytess if we all taught, say 18/19 out of 25, we would all be a lot better off, wouldn't we?

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.