Is teaching really so stressful?

[summertime06]

Really trying to get my head around this without getting flamed. I have a good friend who is a teacher, part time since having kids, doing the same hours as me (I'm not a teacher), 3 days a week.

For the past year or two, all I ever heard when we met up was how stressful her job was, how difficult it was to be a teacher and a mum at the same time etc etc. I get that there's work to be done outside teaching hours, but I do the same in my completely different job and just get on with it, I think it's part of the job when you get up the pay scale/responsibility level a bit. Any time I did mention that things were similar in my job, I was put down, I couldn't possibly understand how stressful it was to be a teacher?!

And now she's made the decision to take a career break for a few years because there's just no way she can continue to be a teacher and a mum to 3 young kids. That's fine if that's what she wants to do but she's making out that she's been left with no choice but to make this decision because teaching is just so difficult. Is it just me or am I missing something? I get that it can be stressful as are lots of other jobs, but there are surely also lots of advantages? Not having to sort out summer camps and childcare during school holidays? Is it really so much more difficult and stressful compared to other jobs? I genuinely want to understand!

Mistigri but on the other hand the instances of suicide in the heavily female dominated primary profession is twice the national average even though statistically men are more likely to turn to suicide than women.

I’m a teacher and yes it’s stressful, yes it’s hard work, yes it’s draining BUT listening to anyone moan constantly about anything is boring (not to mention rude) I sometimes make the odd comment to friends about having marking to do at the weekend if they ask me what my plans are, or mention feeling a bit tired around GCSE time but I certainly don’t go on and on about it. I chose this profession and knew the downsides when I signed up to the PGCE. I know many of my other friends have their own tiring and stressful jobs to get on with so don’t want to hear about mine!

I don’t moan about my job to friends-I rarely mention it. They are really surprised when they’ve heard my own kids say they don’t want to teach, so I can’t mention the bad sides much!

On here, I say what it’s actually like, in response to two things

1. People considering going in to teaching and asking for opinions on what the job is ‘really’ like.
2. People saying stupid things about how easy teaching is.

Yes. It is.

I would say the stress that may be unusual to some professions is the 'battle'. From above (Ofsted and Dfe) so imagine you're dispensing drugs and the independent body that measures you observes you doimg it for 20 mins, looks at your paperwork, asks a few random clients for feedback and then they say you're Outstanding. Great. Job satisfaction. Its worth the hard work. Then 2 years later the same process happens but you're told you are now 'requires improvement', change all your systems around, dealspite you knowing it works!
Meanwhile, whilst you are trying to organise the drugs and adhere to the new system your clients need organising into a line, start arguing with each other, refuse to do as you ask them. Then refuse to take their prescribed drugs, despite knowing it will benefit them! That is the stressful part

Teachers have a lot to do. They have to plan what they are going to do in the long summer holidays, Very stressful. :)

Teachers have a lot to do. They have to plan what they are going to do in the long summer holidays, Very stressful. smile

Yeah.

I haven't read all of the posts so apologies if I duplicate.
Teaching is all consuming, it is as simple as that. It is also enjoyable, interesting and rewarding, but ultimately it is knackering.
I think it is important to distinguish between different roles as teachers. We tend to say 'teaching' but it can manifest in very different ways. Some teachers might indeed feel overwhelmed by their profession as opposed to a teacher who is coping more easily based on a number of factors. Every school is different: for example some provide planning and some don't, some teachers are expected to take on several areas of responsibility, others are not, some teachers are working in special measures/RI schools, some are not, some teachers experience high level behaviour every day (often resulting in restraint), some don't, some teachers are supported by teaching assistants, some are not, some work in schools with a high deprivation factor, others do not, some work in school with a high level of EAL, some do not, some work in academies, some do not, some work in schools with a frequent change of headship, some do not...the list is endless and all of the above can ultimately affect workload.
The actual teaching itself is often wonderful; it really is just everything else - marking, planning, seeing parents, writing reports, after school clubs, staff meetings, safeguarding meetings, PEP meetings, displays, homework preparation, topic planning, moderation, covering detentions, lunch time clubs, playground duties, residential visits, assemblies, writing behaviour management plans, updating SEN passports, NQT mentoring...again, the list is endless.
And on top of all of this is the wonderful British attitude that teachers are whinging, moaning, attention seeking individuals. These people should open their small minds and read the statistics around teacher recruitment and retention. Only a fool would then come to the conclusion that teaching is not hard.

Only a fool would then come to the conclusion that teaching is not hard.

But MN isn’t populated by fools. I wish that were the case. I think, instead, it must be prejudice.

Gth, so in your job if you're going to do something new you have to learn it in your own time?

Have found it really interesting to read through a lot of the posts today, thanks to everyone who has commented!

I do realise that teaching is really hard and it's stressful, I completely recognise that. It's just that I've seen my friend's attitude in other teachers as well, but I don't think I've ever really come across it in any other professions, however stressful they may be., that's probably what prompted me to ask the question.

Your job sounds stressful, draining and rewarding. Please do me the courtesy of assuming mine is similar. If you have a moany, draining friend, try modelling the kind of behaviour you want her to show first ( Pollyanna to her complaints) and if she doesn't get the hint, seek other company. Same as you would for people who moaned about anything. For the record, there are people out there with just one child who find full time work a bit too much, and people who have four children and are full time teaching, doctoring, surgeoning, and probably leading nations as well. We all feel stress differently. Either sympathise or move on.

It doesn’t have to be a competition. I’m a teacher and a mum (dh is a deputy head too). Yes it is stressful as we are very busy. However, I’ve never said we have it worse than anyone else. Lots of other jobs are busy and stressful too.

The most draining thing about being a teacher is fighting to finish every fucking sentence and then answer questions form the five people who weren’t listening anyway

While this isn't a what-to-do, I've perfected a dead-eyed look when asked to repeat by non-listeners. I've got it so all the listeners will turn snarling on the the NLs and say: Miss just said that!!.

The other one is for that person who always has to have it said individually (for no good reason) and it's well-known one; three before me, ask three classmates before me. The others get pissed off very quickly and the snowflake learns to listen better.

summertime06
Your friend's 'attitude' is someone struggling in a career to the point of walking away (if I remember correctly).
People tend to turn to friends in such situations. Generally the friends offer a sympathetic listening ear and empathise, not nod along and then go online saying they don't really understand how anyone could find their career that bad at a time when the issues with retention and workload are regularly all over the press.

@LolaSmiles I am trying to understand and empathise, that's the reason I posted. I couldn't really figure out if teaching was so absolutely awful that she had to give up the career she'd worked so hard for, or if it was just as generally stressful as many other careers and just over and above the level of stress she was able to deal with...

Hopefully realising which one it is may help me to be able to support her a little bit better!

I couldn't really figure out if teaching was so absolutely awful that she had to give up the career she'd worked so hard for, or if it was just as generally stressful as many other careers and just over and above the level of stress she was able to deal with...

What does it matter which it is? Your friend is stressed. Full stop. As a friend, you shouldn’t even be questioning this.

Unfortunately the stress, workload, retention issues in teaching are always in the news.

It really doesn't matter whether teaching is deemed as stressful/less stressful/more stressful than other careers, your friend is at the point of wanting to leave which they wouldn't be doing lightly.
If you want to support her, your best best is letting her talk through her experiences. Schools have similar pressures externally but the individual culture can vary significantly between schools. Letting her explore her experience is probably more useful at helping her move forward than wondering how teaching compares to other jobs.

On MN there are so many threads by parents tearing their hair out at having to deal with the behaviour of their one or two teenagers, pre-schoolers etc. Is it really so hard to believe that significant stress is caused by dealing with the behaviour and individual needs of 30 or more other people's kids all at once, many of whom don't even want to be there, while simultaneously trying to get them through a syllabus well enough for you to keep being paid for your job, mark all their work, chase up those who haven't done their work, set detentions for mishehaviour, attend meetings, do loads of paperwork, constantly up your lesson-planning to fit in with new initiatives etc etc etc?

I couldn't really figure out if teaching was so absolutely awful that she had to give up the career she'd worked so hard for, or if it was just as generally stressful as many other careers and just over and above the level of stress she was able to deal with

Does it matter? She’s so stressed that she’s given up her job. She’s your friend-what difference does it make?

@C0untDucku1a You have to be trolling?

s for everyone!

I don't find teaching stressful but then I spent years supporting abusive City wanker cokeheads who threw things across the office, bullied me and kept me at work from 7.30am-10pm whenever they felt like it then patronised the fuck out of me. The worst day in teaching has never come close. Also, the paperwork in comparison is a piece of piss.

I switched from teaching to nursing. No matter how stressful and tiring nursing is, I have never once regretted the decision to change career. I will never take for granted the simple joy of leaving work and not taking any of it home with me (emotional stuff notwithstanding). I shudder when I recall all the Sundays and evenings given up to endless planning, target-setting and marking. By the time the school holidays came round, I was an exhausted wreck!

I honestly think that only teachers can truly understand it. I’ve given up trying to explain.

To the poster above who said about there being less curriculum changes in primary - that’s completely untrue. It is forever changing. Just when you think you’re getting into the swing of something - poof - it’s gone!