to think there is something seriously wrong with our education system..

[TwinkleToes101]

when teachers are leaving in droves?

Just recently reading about record numbers of newly trained teachers giving up within 5 years (that was me 14 years ago), then on MN today partners having depression/breakdowns and all the posters who teach knew the person in question was a teacher...what the F is going so badly wrong with teaching??

I thought my reasons for leaving were personal: too little me time, too much low-level classroom disruption. Other postgrads I know left as I did because of work load. But don't other professions have high workloads/stresses?

Re: Behaviour. It is much worse than when I started over a decade ago and I started in a school which a much worse catchment. Children are very entitled and demanding, and if they don't get their own way they react instantly. They also need so much more stimulation as their attention spans are so short. Language is awful because swearing is apparently accepted at home, and often used against me when I communicate home.

Parents back up their child because they are a customer, so we are the ones that have to work to get it right, not their child. They and their children expect to get so much for so little investment of time or hard work. The best examples I have from the last exam season include the fact that we are ridiculous to expect kids to revise at home without a teacher holding their hand, absolute fury that is raised my voice as a chair was launched at me and my favourite "if he fails I'll be suing you personally". That last one was because I wasn't running revision session in the holidays on the days they wanted.

The 3 full days I did in the Easter holiday (without being paid I might add) where when they were abroad....

Pupils aren’t accountable at all. Not for results, not for behaviour. That’s another.

Yes behaviour is worse- more children have SEN in mainstream which can affect behaviour. There is a massive issue with poor white British boys- massively disaffected and with parents who either don’t work and can’t see the point or are working all hours to scrape a living - either way, no time for parenting.
Children of parents who didn’t experience parenting. Combine with rubbish diet, hours of gaming.
So many children with attachment issues causing anger, frustration and anxiety.
Parents who feel we are their employees and so won’t back us up or who nitpick over every tiny issue. We are people and we aren’t perfect.
Sorry, bad day today.
The kids though, I love them.

Teaching is now a horrible job. My last day tomorrow and I can't wait - I will never go back.
I saw the GP about stress and he said 'I expect you are a teacher?'

If you look back 20 years, there were jobs that paid more. 10 years ago, there were jobs that paid more for less hours. Now things have caught up so much that there are jobs where you are better paid, work less, and still have a really good sense that you are putting something right with the world. There's not much to attract people into the job, when there are other things that are equally challenging, rewarding and better paid.

I'm a teacher. I've just gone back part time after maternity leave. I hate it and I cry every day. I've become a mediocre teacher as I physically can't do it all in my new hours and even worse, I'm mediocre at home. I miss moments with my LB for other people's children, which would be fine, if I wasn't told how shit I am each day by SLT. I would love to leave, I just don't know what else to do. I'm 31 and stuck.

My stepdaughter, home for Christmas, informs me that she earns 80k a year and is expecting a pay rise with her latest promotion. I earn less than half that for teaching 30 people English, maths, science, ict, geography, music, RE, pshe, french ... showing them how to treat others, how to share, how to have a conversation, encouraging them to be independent ... etc
I love my job. I love sue ding time with the children I teach but FFS somebody is taking the piss. I work from 8 until 5.30 in school, come home, have a cup of tea then start again. Our ‘customers’ the parents think we are lazy arse holes. The press kebabs is at every turn. I have been on antidepressants for 10 years. I will never come off them. I am 50, top of scale, with a retirement age of 67. You bet I’m pissed off.

I didn't even make it through my SCITT year. I got through 3/4 of it and had a nervous breakdown that resulted in serious incidences of self harm, being prescribed anti depressants and anti psychotics (for severe anxiety), a year of therapy and several periods of being monitored by a mental health team.

I just couldn't balance the workload of teaching full time, course work, and having two small children despite a very supportive partner. I am still unable to work. I am often suicidal and I've run out of care options from the NHS. Trying to become a.teacher has ruined my.life.

I taught for 38 years, in inner city secondary schools.
Over that time the profession changed dramatically. Not all the changes were bad, but one aspect resulted in where we are today.
After the 1944 Education Act, education in a school became free. It was valued by parents and Government as a way to better people’s lives and benefit the country.
Valuing education seems to have been forgotten and teachers are now criticised on all fronts, hence the comments by previous posters, especially those who are or were teachers.
I loved teaching, but given my time again it is the one profession I would avoid.

The current education system is failing children, it is stamping on their creativity and personality, and moulding them into government drones who are able to pass tests. We should really take a big leaf out of the Finnish system, where learning is taken out of the classroom, and creativity is encouraged and learning to inspire. Different modes of teaching are used not just chalk and talk, or smart board and talk, and very young children are expected to sit in neat rows on a carpet and listen for an hour.

I know all to well what my kids’ teachers are going through, and they must be stronger than me for carrying on in the current climate. This month especially, I have been making sure I thank them personally for all the carol concerts, nativities, after school football club etc they’ve stayed late for (unpaid). I know full well that they are missing time with their own family to give my children a richer experience, and I also know how heart breaking it is to believe your own child is the only one whose parent has to miss every assembly, every sports day, every nativity. I’m so grateful to my kids teachers. And I think expressing that does make a big difference. It did to me. I could come home from a parents evening bursting with pride in myself because a parent had thanked me for being kind to their child, or helping them during break, or that they’d told their mum a joke I’d told them in class. When you spend so much of your life feeling inadequate, a little thank you meant so much to me.

@mummabear2212 I know exactly how you feel. I felt I was failing in everything that was important to me; my work and my family.

There is a life outside of teaching though. It’s very scary to take that step, but it’s very realistic to make decent money without all that awfulness.

I think a lot of it has to do with very unhealthy parenting. I teach pshe and when we discuss alcohol or dealing with anger, I reckon at least a third of my students (in a very average comprehensive serving a medium sized market town) say their patents (often father) drinks shit loads and hits things when they get cross. Lots of parents shout at their kids ALL THE FUCKING TIME and a lot of the bad behaviour in schools reflects the fact that these kids often only get attention when they are naughty. I have lots of students who are being forced into mixed step families, very quickly, and just expected to step into line with it. It makes me very sad and very angry that their parents have seemingly got pregnant and parent with no forethought or, indeed, continuing thought about how to parent well.

When you spend so much of your life feeling inadequate, a little thank you meant so much to me
This.

I have a terrible case of impostor syndrome. I never think I am good enough. I have seen amazing teachers crumble after getting a bad lesson obs and they are judged on that alone. The same teachers whose kids did brilliantly in summer exams. I am on AD's as are five of my colleagues. I am done with it but too old to get out and do something else.

I think a lot of it has to do with very unhealthy parenting. I teach pshe and when we discuss alcohol or dealing with anger, I reckon at least a third of my students (in a very average comprehensive serving a medium sized market town)

That's appalling. Is it quite a deprived area generally? I'd worry not only about those pupils but also their peers.

I had a very well paid job in finance, decided it wasn't making me happy so to take a big pay cut, do my secondary pgce and have a job that gave me personal fulfilment. I have several friends and family in teaching, I knew it'd be a ridiculous amount of work and stress. I did my pgce, got outstanding in my teaching practice observations, told I was going to make an excellent teacher... I am struggling to make myself do my nqt year. The hours are absolutely insane, I used to be working until 11pm most nights and a full day at the weekend, my 'holidays' were at least 50% working. I know it's supposed to get a bit less as the years go on and I could kind of put up with that but the thing that gets me is that everything seems to be a check box to please ofsted, that there is so, so much unnecessary admin and it feels like work for works sake.
Take a third of the teaching hours away for planning, double the pay and expect more of teachers in terms of creating amazing, informative, engaging lessons, rather than giving teachers so much grunt work that is only there to appease ofsted and give them no time to create better lessons.
It was crushing to not have the time to be able to be the teacher I wanted to be.

I left teaching in August this year and I strongly encourage every other teacher to do the same. There are much better jobs out there where you will be appreciated and there isn't a massive pay drop - I was SLT and I earn pretty much the same now.
Look at your skill set, think outside the box, try for jobs you don't completely fit - that's what training opportunities are there for! They don't expect you to tick every box at interview so long as you can suggest what training you may require to support you.
Teaching is not what it was. Look at the lack of respect from parents, the attitude from students, the stupidity if the government with regards to teaching.
Take my advice. Get out. There's a better working life out there, believe me.

Those of you that have left, what sort of jobs/industry are you in? I just can't see a way out and I'm lost

@MummaBear2212 I have a few friends and acquaintances who are ex-state school teachers. They now work in marketing, HR, as IT project managers, as IT trainers and work for TFL including a tube driver. The ones in IT have Maths/Science degrees and taught those subjects.

I don't think there is....i know there is.

State education is fucked. I'm thankful that my eldest two are out of it and that my youngest is in a school with a brilliant head teacher and staff but the lack of maths and science teachers worries me immensely; the school do what they can but they can't pull science and maths teachers out of a hat.

I feel like chucking it... but I'm trapped. Mortgage needs paid...and I need to be off for school holidays for my own kids. Live in a poor rural area so decent jobs are not readily available.
I want to get signed off with stress as I feel like crying at the moment. I'm struggling to remeber everything I need to do and the behaviour is killing.

I am looking for a way out. In my 20th year and exhausted. I'm not just a teacher now. I'm a data cruncher, a social worker, a carer, a punchbag. I deal with hungry, angry, depressed and mentally ill children every day who cannot access help. And it's still my fault if they don't pass their exams. I work stupid hours and i'll be expected to do extra boosters all the way to May, and in the holidays, for no extra cash. My wage hasn't risen in years and we still haven't had the pay rise because academies do 't have to bother. My peers work less for more money and they don't have people judging them all the time.

But I love the teaching and I love the children. Every day i'll see something wonderful. It's just that that isn't actually the job anymore.

It makes me sad and so worried for my own children.

I’m in the US and teachers here battle a lot of the same problems as the UK - lack of funding, too much paperwork, low pay - but there is a difference in how teachers are perceived. There is more respect here for teaching as a profession. You need to be well qualified to be a teacher and most parents respect that. There is more respect generally for authority here

Quite a few of my friends here are teachers and they say they love it because it is so rewarding and the kids are great. I think part of the issue is cultural where the US is all about self-improvement and education is part of that.

Call me crazy but I am applying to teaching programmes now and did some hours in a local high school to prepare. It was a pretty positive experience. It felt like the students were treated more like young adults and there was more mutual respect between teachers and pupils. This wasn’t a high-performing school either, just average and quite a few immigrant students and even some homeless families in the student body.

I think low social status of teachers in the UK is a big problem. They’re seen as lazy and entitled (no idea why!) and always whining to the union or going on strike. Maybe it’s bad blood from the 70s era or something. My DH told me his older brother’s education was badly affected by strikes in the 70s and he was brought up with a negative attitude to teachers. I’ve never heard anyone in the US (where I live or in the national media) talking like that about teachers. Quite the opposite - people always praise the hard work teachers do and wonder how they cope with the pressure.

My children are due to start school in September and we are thinking about what the best way forward is. I can see that teachers in state schools are on their knees and I have friends who have quit. I also teach but vocational subjects and only part time but can see how different things are.
Is this behaviour from children/parents more prevalent in state schools or is it across the board in private as well?