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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask ex teachers why they give up teaching?

179 replies

malificent7 · 15/08/2017 14:53

Im hoping to leave education in order go retrain.

For me it's the workload... i dont want to work from 8am to 11pm every day.
I also hate being blamed for student's bad behaviour and being told that if my lessons were x, y ansmd z there would be perfect behaviour.
Also lack of power and toold to dicipline students with.
The realisation that working g in a pricate school was far more difficult tgan working in the state sectir ( parents expect blood/ kids over entitled )
contracts are now mostly fixed term.

I could go on!

Please share!

OP posts:
Fuckit2017 · 17/08/2017 00:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
malificent7 · 17/08/2017 05:55

I dont know why parents excuse their children. If dd gets told off i normally sat " well you shouldnt have been talking then. "
If i feel teacher has been unfair i will be calm and dind out what happened.

Support the teachers people!

OP posts:
Susiethetortoiseshellcat · 17/08/2017 06:57

I think what has also contributed towards poor behaviour is pupils being given a lot of power through initiatives which maybe had good intentions such as 'pupil voice' etc. So many times I used to be told by pupils things such as 'I'm not good at Maths because miss X is rubbish at teaching it' or 'his teaching doesn't suit my learning style.' In one school I had an awful lesson with a pupil who refused to put his phone away, was filming me and other pupils and generally being disruptive. I sent him out as was school policy and he returned at the end of the lesson with the deputy head who asked me, in front of the rest of the class, what the boy's target grade was, what grade the work I was giving them was and for evidence of this in the resources I had prepared. The boy had told the deputy that his behaviour was because he was bored as the work I was giving was too hard so the deputy was testing me. I felt so undermined in front of the whole class and they knew. I actually read recently about a school which has implemented a 'secret customer' style scheme where certain pupils score teachers and feedback to smt. I think that typifies what's going on in a lot of schools.

chips4teaplease · 17/08/2017 08:14

I really think camera should be allowed in class rooms
Some classrooms have cameras.
I think if they are or were, the purpose would not be to support classroom management, but to identify every single (real or imaginary) failing in the teacher. Another stick to beat the classroom teacher with.
And imagine the television shows - put together all the clips of children behaving abominably and the teachers being made to suffer for it - and the whole nation can have a good laugh.

pupils score teachers and feedback to smt. I think that typifies what's going on in a lot of schools
Yes.

Headofthehive55 · 17/08/2017 08:18

I was asked to 'reconsider' whether I actually had been kicked by a 15 year old.

You only have to look at the thread re a 14 year old with granny in holiday and she's not liked his behaviour to see why it's all going wrong.
Parents are all too keen on standing up for the child, misbehaviour is ok as long as there is a reason - and that reason might be finding the lesson boring. Some things in life are boring.

I used to fantasise about driving off a bridge.

It isn't us.

Iris65 · 17/08/2017 08:23

I had a massive breakdown and had a year off work to recover. Couldn't function for months. It's a shame because I was a good teacher and loved my job. I'll never go back.
Me too. Except I made the mistake of going back part time, realised what hell it was and was lucky enough to be made redundant.
I really miss my colleagues but am revelling in never having to put with the crap from SMT or the workload again.

chips4teaplease · 17/08/2017 08:26

It isn't us
But they would say that it was. Everyone who has told the truth on this thread would be described as a 'failing teacher', someone who can't cut it. I freely accept that about myself. After twenty-one years in inner-city secondaries, I was a dead woman walking. Because they can't/won't support us, all that training and experience is going to waste.

You are right, it isn't us.

Anecdote. Chips on corridor duty, walking along, minding my own business, doing corridor stuff. Year 10 girl runs up behind and jumps onto my back, arms around my neck, legs around my hips. Chips, amazingly, does not fall, but does stagger. Chips reports to leadership. Deputy head interviews pupil and returns to Chips saying the girl was 'showing affection'. She wasn't. She was trying to get me to the floor. And even if she had been showing affection, jumping on my back would not have been the appropriate way!

AlternativeTentacle · 17/08/2017 09:02

Happy to be a failed teacher , if it means me and my business partner still being alive.

Graceflorrick · 17/08/2017 09:04

Workload.

Headofthehive55 · 17/08/2017 09:05

Blaming the teacher is a bit like blaming a woman because she gets attacked.

Like the abusuve partner who says 'you are making me be angry with you - if only you'd be nicer to me I wouldn't be this way...'

It isn't us. Its wanted to be seen that way because then the blame is placed on individual teachers.

Like individual women are blamed for wearing provocative clothes - and so raped.

chickenowner · 17/08/2017 09:19

Reading this thread is so moving, I have tears in my eyes.

We may be 'failed teachers' but we are not failures!

We should be proud that we were strong enough to get out while we still could.

I remember talking to my Mum (a retired teacher) about feeling such a failure, and she said that she was proud of me for recognizing the problem, for leaving and finding a way to make my life work for me.

I do have a lovely Mum!

KeiraTwiceKnightley · 17/08/2017 09:28

Terribly sad thread. I'm still in the game after 20 years and mostly still enjoy it but I think I am lucky in my school and in my personal approach to the job (I love it but it is a job and I am v comfortable with saying "that's enough" and stopping work).

Today I'm in Mallorca but checking emails and had fantastic news about my a level kids who have done really well. I am so proud of them and pleased for them! That's what teaching should be. It's so sad that it isn't like this for so many these days.

FrLukeDuke · 17/08/2017 09:43

Some of the stories about SLT defending awful behaviour by children and blaming the teachers are dreadful. I really hope the SLT at dd's schools are more supportive of teachers.

chips4teaplease · 17/08/2017 09:45

Happy to be a failed teacher , if it means ... still being alive.
as above

SquashedInTight · 17/08/2017 10:13

Mental health, wanting time with my own children, wanting to actually help those who are struggling and make a difference (vs being told they can't meet the standard so trying to teach them is a waste of time), wanting a reasonable salary per hour worked, and wanting to get away from the tiny kingdoms where headteachers have absolute power to ruin the lives of children and teachers as they see fit...

SleepyHeadThisTime · 17/08/2017 10:36

It makes me so sad to read this. I was seriously considering going into teaching having gotten fed up with my local authority job - constantly feeling the pressure of having to do more with less and less resources and no proper support. However it sounds like teaching would be just the same 😢

kesstrel · 17/08/2017 11:08

Flowers to all the teachers on this thread. This is a horrific problem, and yet so many people want to pretend it doesn't exist.

The National Union of Teachers has a behaviour management advice document, and on the first page, the first item under the heading 'Taking control' is:

You are the class teacher and to show that
you are in control you should:
• <strong>ensure that lessons are engaging</strong> and cater
for different learning styles

I've seen plenty of teachers saying this is the main thing they were taught about behaviour management on their training courses, as well.

IMO, it's not just parents and the government who are to blame for this.

Headofthehive55 · 17/08/2017 11:32

It's the expectation that somehow it's the teachers job to make the children behave. And its the teachers fault if they don't.

I can't really understand why we put achieving people who try hard in teaching roles then undermine them and tell them they are failing, whilst NEVER telling children they are failing and at fault.

SquashedInTight · 17/08/2017 12:02

Kesstrel - contrary to that advice, I have always found that challenging classes need simple, clear lessons that focus just on the objective. Nothing too fancy, nothing to get excited about. Easy to 'police' too. When they have begun to succeed and enjoy learning again, you can add the 'fun' stuff back in.

Worked for me every time, and I got a reputation for being able to have the worst classes under (tight!) control. SLT didn't like it though - wasn't how they thought 'teaching' should look. Could they get the control and results I got? Nope. But what I was doing was wrong, apparently Hmm. Funnily enough, students would come back to visit, years later, to say thank you. Says it all really.

kesstrel · 17/08/2017 13:04

Squashed absolutely, and the evidence from cognitive psychology supports you. So teachers are expected to get good results while using the least effective methods. No wonder stress has gone through the roof.

kesstrel · 17/08/2017 13:23

I can't really understand why we put achieving people who try hard in teaching roles then undermine them and tell them they are failing, whilst NEVER telling children they are failing and at fault.

I think it comes from the idea that all children are always naturally curious about everything and eager to learn, which has been such a prominent part of educational thinking for the last 50 years or so. If you believe this, then it's likely you also believe that if children switch off, it must be the fault of the school and the teachers.

But IMO that's a complete misunderstanding of developmental psychology - children are often like that at age 5, yes, but natural developmental changes mean that by the time they're 10 let alone 15, their interests will have focused in on some areas and they'll have lost interest in others, reflecting their individual personalities. Plus they also start prioritising their place in the social hierarchy, which becomes just as, or more important, than learning.

BoneyBackJefferson · 17/08/2017 16:21

ensure that lessons are engaging

We had a long meeting about this just before the break. It still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Not everything can be shits and giggles, And its now getting to the stage where the schools won't fund classroom resources and I will be bollocks if I'm paying out of my own pocket for things have have a high chance of being destroyed.

Headofthehive55 · 17/08/2017 16:30

kesstral and boney I agree.
If part of education is learning to work, and preparing for employment - few jobs are fun all the time.

OneOfTheGrundys · 17/08/2017 16:37

I think that if I'm ever able to leave it will be because my role will have changed from 'teacher' to 'edutainment facilitator'. Engaging and behaving are not the same thing. If I thought my own dc only behaved because they're enjoying themselves I'd be fucking mortified.

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