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.

derxa - thing is, you cannot be compelled to do that. OFSTED don't expect any of that. Essentially you chose to do all of those things. Now I know it's more complex than that, but that's the bottom line.

I know EvilTwins and I know I was a mug.

Yeah but we don't work in teaching because we hate kids and want the worst for them, do we?

Chastising teachers for going the extra mile for the kids isn't going to help.

Even the union work-to-rule guidance says that teachers should be able to voluntarily run extra-curricular stuff if they want to.

Also, it's certainly the case at my school that those of us who go the extra mile do get noticed by SMT. My HT has always been very helpful on the odd occasion when I've needed time off for something and I know that she's appreciated those extras, like coming in for meetings on my day off or supervising music events at weekends and so forth. I'm pretty sure she'd be less accommodating if I regularly marched into her office to state things like a refusal to wipe builders' dust off the tables because "it's not in my job description."

clam - same. I do go the extra mile, and I know it's appreciated. The extra-curricular stuff is my fave part of the job.

Just to let you know that I have received a long reply from Lucy Powell 's secretary.

Sorry press post too soon. It was encouraging in that she obviously has read our stories but I would also on the basis of her suggestion urge all of you who are seriously concerned about teacher retention to send the link to your own MP.

But, when all's said and done, draw your teachers from an academic, properly qualified gene pool; pay them properly; acknowledge they cannot fix the horrors of many DCs' lives' sad; stop measuring every flipping thing they do and say; Measure their value adding with a weighting against non-attending DC.

That's is it exactly Draylon

Can anyone provide evidence that all the measuring we do in our primary schools in particular has made any improvement? It seems to me that this has served no purpose other than to take teachers away of the job that they are actually supposed to be doing. The countries that we are trying to chase up the league tables do not monitor, measure and test primary kids like we do.

More time teaching and less time measuring, targeting and justifiing please.

draw your teachers from an academic, properly qualified gene pool

IMO you should drop academic from the statement, then it would be fine.

I don't have too much faith in my MP but will send the link to her as Lucy Powell suggested. Who will do the same?

Draylon

There used to be a cert ed, where those from an industry could gain a teaching qualification.

But we also need to be wary of making non-core subjects second class subjects.

DT is one of the few areas where all of the core subjects are seen in action. It is also an area where the new engineers will be coming from.

Similar can be said for other non core subjects.

If I 'worked to rule' - i.e just my PPA time and my contracted hours 8.30-5 excluding lunch, I think capability proceedings would soon start sniffing!

Agree re: the testing. We don't keep measuring our kids' heights and expect it to make any difference to how fast they grow.

Yes agreed re testing. And targets: setting impossible individual grade targets can have a demotivating effect on teenagers.

Micro-management of teachers (for this is, ultimately, what has happened) is as ineffectual as micro-management of anybody.

My maths teacher was an engineer and my chemistry teacher was a researcher who didn't want to be in academia anymore and spent 5 years in pharma research before going into teaching. Both were excellent teachers who were extremely passionate about their subjects and about educating young people. One english teacher had been to Cambridge and was just awful at teaching. The ex actor who had studied at RADA was amazing. He had spent years at RSC and was able to teach us about Shakespeare in a way the 'academic' teacher couldn't.

We had a physics teacher who was a doctor and was phenomenally clever. Couldn't teach for toffee.

I love teaching, appreciate my school and students, and am passionate about my subjects.

I've been offended by many simplistic views on this thread, they illustrate part of the problems we face. However many posters have shown great empathy for our challenges.

I don't find that all qualified teachers and SLT are of a consistent calibre, but that's true in all walks of life. They are human, and most do their best.

Academisation is much more threatening to our children's social mobility than a few spelling errors in a line-manager's email.

Some of the problem lies in the fact that teachers have to judge and appraise all day long. They then struggle to respect anyone tasked with managing and leading them, be it their Line Manager or the Education Secretary, and get into a downward spiral. It's an easy job in which to become demoralised.

to all my teaching colleagues

We had a physics teacher who was a doctor and was phenomenally clever. Couldn't teach for toffee
In my pgce year at Homerton we had someone who had three degrees and failed the year. Teaching is a skill let us not forget that. It's a pity that people took my skills for granted.

I've just spent an hour reading this thread and nodding at lots of the posts. I'm glad to hear that so may teachers have the same experience as me, but depressed at the same time.

If so many of us are feeling the same-why the bloody hell doesn't anyone do something!? Why does no-one care? Where will it all end!?

I'm sending the link to my own MP tomorrow. I hope others will do the same.
I'd also like to see MNHQ respond to the concerns. Surely it's worth a campaign to get educational concerns explored for all teachers for the benefit of all children?

I will too.

Fuck me.

I read this entire thread as I harbour ambitions of being a mature teacher, but the current state of play scares the living hell out of me. I'd be 40-something entering a classroom and with my life experiences thought I'd be a good fit, it's additionally been the vocation I've always wanted to follow. Although I did quip half-jokingly to my partner that I'd qualify and then emigrate to the USA or Australia and teach there. Planning to teach anything here certainly does not appear to be a reasonable consideration unless there is a massive paradigm shift in the next 4-6 years.

Secondly, my DD is 16 and was recently abused by another student, and the school have been first class. I'm currently writing letters of thanks for the members of staff involved and intend to ask for a meeting with the HT to elucidate.

I'm so happy she is off to college in the summer. And thank you, emphatically, to all of you who have ever set foot in a classroom and enriched a child's life through your creative and respectful teaching practices.