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.

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.

Actually, I think the pressure in my DC's Requires Improvement school is far greater than in the Outstanding school I teach in.

At my school, we are lucky enough to have (for the most part) very supportive and involved parents and nice kids. The same cannot be said for the DC's school. On top of that, many years of crap leadership and crap teaching have created a terrible downward spiral of low results, low morale and increasing Ofsted scrutiny.

As a parent governor I feel under more pressure as a governor at their school than I do as a teacher at my own. At least I actually have some control over what goes on in my classroom (and am paid for the job).

Being a parent governor is a truly and utterly thankless task and I'm so glad my term is nearly over.

I recently visited a former colleague who had given up language teaching to become a tour/holiday guide. She left the room and came back saying that she wanted to show me the difference between her job and mine. She presented me with a wedge of A4 sheets more than an inch thick. All of them were thank you letters which her boss had taken the trouble to photocopy and present to her. I think only teachers will really understand how painful I found this.

so very loud and fast to keep up with 30 kids all the time.
Yes! I love supply - yesterday had 6 separate lesson with very demanding different sets of kids in different subjects (so- 180 children in various classroom) + 2 tutor time only 10 mins each, but again another set of 30 kids - total 210 children.
I enjoyed the day, and the children responded well to the lessons - learned stuff and made progress, but I was so tired when I got home, was in bed by 8pm. Luckily, as a supply teacher I have no marking or prep, or data, or meetings or clubs - a FT teacher would have most of those.
Also, my own DC are now teenagers, so not needing bedtime stories, ferrying around, and one is abroad on a school trip.
For a FT teacher with DC - not sustainable.

Come and teach in Scotland.
Teachers have no personal responsibility for anything.
There are no Governors.
Just the LEA, who have almost total power to do what they want education wise.
And kids just need to vaguely fall into 3 year achievement 'bands', and if they don't, that's okay too. The Curriculum is so woolly you can argue anything.
My school is supposed to teach French from Y1 to Y7. Only they didn't.
So my Y6 kid is 'catching up on all the missed years' this year so it doesn't show at High School. You wonder what lessons are being shifted for this. Only you don't know, you cant be told and no one is accountable.

Look at the recent press for Primary Education in Scotland.
High Schools are not much better.
Recent Higher Maths pass mark readjusted to 34% to avert a disaster.
SQA recently blamed the students for the debacle.

Honestly, you want to arrive at 9 and leave at 3 and have no stress at all?
Come to Bonnie Scotland.

High school teachers are heroes. The good ones anyway. I truly do not know how you all cope and I'm grateful every day to you. I'm a university lecturer with a fair bit of responsibility. There is some bureaucratic nonsense and tick-boxing to meet targets, but the key differences are

• way more autonomy than high school teachers in, in everything from lecture design to assesment methods

• my students (usually) want to be here
• I don't deal with parents (well, you did get the odd one emailing/phoning to complain about their PFB's grade, but we can just say lol gtfo that we aren't at liberty to discuss a fellow adult's grade due to data protection
• they don't submit, they fail. We're not hauled over the coals for it.
• better and more flexible hours.

My friend worked in a high school (TA) and eventually resigned with stress due to management not supporting her when she was repeatedly intimidated by some year 11 boys, often in a physical and frightening way. I'm sure there's some kind of legal case she could make against the school but she's not in a place to do it.

Chaz, the stress of the city is offset by the vast wealth you can accrue.

You can't as a teacher and never will. You start at eight, prepping class, you finish at nine at night, marking. But you can't afford to have cleaners, gardeners, launderers, ready meals, weekend mini breaks, food out in restaurants when you're too knackered to cook.

If the stress of the City is too much you can walk away with great savings and a massive house with no mortgage. If the stress of teaching is too much, you still have massive bills. They are not comparable.

I've been teaching since the 1980's and I thought it would be a job I would always do. I absolutely love teaching and being with the children. orange is right when she talks about " delicate, little, unique lives". And that's what the powers that be have lost sight of. Numbers, numbers, numbers. I've been looking for my way out for about three years now - but I'm expensive and my local authority has almost no early years nurseries (it's all privately run and they don't pay anywhere near what I earn). I'm the breadwinner and now feel totally trapped in a system that has crumbled around my ears, where I have no respect, a massive workload, ever increasing pressure to be perfect every minute of everyday, appalling behaviour across the school (primary, violent swearing children who constantly run around the school) with crap support from SLT - I could go on, but other posters have said it all really.
I want out - I want to enjoy children again, I want to enjoy my life again - but at 53 it's going to be too late to do another job and earn the same. I try not to think about it too much........

the % of edu personnel who are not teaching vv the % who are, shows how many people are making their living on the backs of teachers. They have never taught a class in their lives, but they feel entitled and are paid, to not only judge teachers but to add sequentially to the burden of non teaching tasks that they require teachers do - over and above the actual job of teaching. Teaching is part art, part science, and part human relations. When artificial goals HAVE to be met and you are judged not up to par if they are not, it is hard to continue to be the teacher you can be and want to be. And who suffers the most? The cc who need the acceptance, kindness, keen/blind eye, humour,warmth, intervention, generous spirit, energy, calmness,skilled individual help, encouragement, guidance, etc i'll stop and let other pps add what they know makes the difference .

Add in SMT's idea of 'fun' things to do. Let's all create a display for World Book day (3 days notice given), or have mixed age whole school workshops last thing on a Friday afternoon, or bl**dy dress up days or learning walks to look at the beautiful displays in the classrooms of teachers who have used their TA to make them instead of to work with struggling pupils.

This is a time in teaching which I would define as 'style over substance'. Over - valuing of group work/active learning/peer and self-assessment/pretty displays/buzz words whilst dismissing traditional methods which actually work. Am fed up seeing classrooms with lots of funky activities, decorated to the hilt, with pupils not actually learning or retaining because they're so busy being 'rotated/active'.

MrsMolesworth
That's a fair comment. Quite a few in the City live up to their salary but that is a choice. They have plenty of scope to build a financial safety net if they want to.

I trained as a teacher last year. Left two weeks before the end because I was completely worn down (crying in and before lessons, blankly staring at walls before I was due to teach). This obviously was reflected in my teaching performance. When those responsible for me realised it had gotten that bad, they gave me a certain number of hours to leave or be failed. Wasn't allowed to come back for a repeat placement because they knew I couldn't cope. Haven't heard from them since that meeting.

I'm now a TA and very happy. I go home at 3:30 and enjoy time with my OH, who works an even more stressful job than teaching. I suddenly have hobbies and a social life. It's really nice.

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

Because it is a political football.

Because gove's unresearched changes haven't been fully implemented (and won't be till 2019) and we are already seeing another round of unresearched changes.

Because ofsted changes the rules as often as they go to the toilet.

Because politicians who couldn't find their arse with an atlas are in charge of a system that they know sweet FA about.

For me it's that so much of my time is wasted on pointless nonsense that doesn't help the children in any way. Like most teachers I love the actual time with the children.

Ridiculously detailed planning, marking I.e. having to write what I said to a child to help them on their work even if they can't read and yes, the different colours, having to write down every conversation I have with a parent, not to mention all the other box-ticking.

I think I wouldn't be as hacked off with the hours if most of it wasn't all so pointless (& yes I do question it as much as possible and my SLT agree with me and say this is what OFSTED are asking of us, which is why I feel like banging my head against a wall.)

I said that I wouldn't want mine at an outstanding school because the ones that I know have very unhappy staff who are stretched to the limit.
I agree that the pressures will be great if they are in special measures and need to improve.

When I trained it was hard work, but we were not all in floods of tears. I have not met a trainee teacher in recent years who hasn't had tears at some point. It is also quite shocking how many teachers choose to work as TAs.

Keeptrudging - 'style over substance' - yes, yes, yes!!!!

So many great posts here. Oddly enough, after nearly 20 years in the job I've decided to try and get out soon. I love the kids and work in an amazing school but the targets are just ridiculous and unattainable and make no sense. You go on a training course one week and are told to teach in one way, you then receive some missive telling you that's absolutely NOT the way you ought to be doing it.

Just today I was on a maths course where the presenter said in an aggressive tone "absolutely every student in your class WILL meet these expectations, no excuses, this is non negotiable". I sat there thinking "no, a few of them might not because that is real life, they're not bloody machines". I'm sick of it. My school is fantastic and rated outstanding (which actually means fuck all really) and yet we still all feel constantly depressed and demoralised.

On the other hand I sometimes wonder what they are actually going to do if they kids don't meet the targets. They can't sack us all. There's few enough teachers as it is.

queenoftheworld What happened? The training can't have been up to much if it didn't equip you for the job. Or did you find that the pupils were too hard to reach, so that you had to expend too much energy trying to win them over before you could even deliver the lesson?

I think there needs to be a MASSIVE rebalance of power in the classroom away from the pupils. Too many pupils don't see free education as the colossal privilege it is.

I could tell you but going through it again might kill me.

If you want to arrive at 9 and leave at 3 and have no stress at all?
Come to Bonnie Scotland

I have no idea where about in Scotland you teach, however this is certainly not the case in schools I have led, nor the dedicated teachers I know.

Again that assumption that a dedicated teacher would never do something as crass as leave on time at the end of the day!

It would take a very long time to explain (and probably make me feel like crap to think about it again). But basically the insane workload combined with an extremely limited number of weeks to meet and evidence the required standards. At the time of leaving, I was rated good in most standards and acceptable in the others. I was still improving. But the training provider told me I was letting the children down and that I couldn't be allowed to pass. After that, I had an awful week which pushed me to the point of leaving. At that stage, I was working 8-7 at school and 7-1 at home. All of this was treated as normal. I accept that I am a rare person in terms of training experience though. Most people do not leave! (40% on average do, though, before qualifying)

My brother is a teacher and he lives for the holidays. Dreads Ofsted coming, scared the school will be placed under ‘special measures’ and everyone will have to re-apply for their jobs. Has to deal with various psychological/social issues that are really beyond his means.

The pay is crappy and there isn’t much respect given, either from students, staff or parents. More and more paperwork and legislation each year. Kids are disaffected and staff morale is low.

My friend in Scotland is under just the same stress in primary. She now does 3 days a week and job shares.

New initiative after new initiative, trendy buzzwords, triple marking, a collection of colour pens, planning for myself in far greater depth than I need, planning for TAs to teach groups when they are paid a pittance, accountability, capability, data, average no longer meaning average, good not being good enough, the list (like the workload) is absolutely endless.

And yet I am still hanging on in there, hoping for change before I burn out, because I still love working with children and I still love teaching.