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!

@hormonesorDHbeingadick, but one of the reasons there are not enough to go around is the dropout, and people being put off training.

I think I would enjoy teaching if it was truly 40 hours a week. I love presentations, I like teenagers, I'm good at explaining, I like my degree subject, I hate my corporate office and want to do something that makes a difference.

However I am not prepared to work 70 hour weeks, and I've seen several teaching friends go through breakdowns and tell me horror stories. So no teacher training for me!

So I'm not signing up for training whereas if the # classes per teacher were reduced, I probably would.

My partner's mum is a teacher and she leaves the house at 6am and returns after 8pm. Why would anybody want to sign up for that, even for 30k tax-free to train?

ItIsWhatItIsInnit I’m not saying it’s a bad idea. I would go back to teaching if I had 50% PPA. But at at time when funding for schools is being reduced in real terms it’s not something I see happening anytime soon.

@AverageMummy It doesn’t really change my point though. Work stress applies to an awful lot of roles, being paid well to withstand it doesn’t change that.

But I don’t have the same financial stresses that a teacher might face, I appreciate that I don’t know what that feels like. I do think teaching is underpaid and it must increase the resentment to work so hard and not be adequately rewarded.

Yep it's hideous!

I think teaching, medical patient facing roles, social work are all incredibly stressful jobs. However teaching (and social work actually) are vilified whereas being (eg.) a nurse is romanticised. All these people are expected to work themselves to the bone, but teachers are perceived to have long holidays despite however many times they have to explain that non-contact hours are for planning.

Starting on pgce secondary this September, and was seriously contemplating not continuing with 😬

I was so envious of teacher friend who went off with her family to France camping for 5 weeks in the summer!

That sounds fucking shit, sleeping on the floor under a flimsy piece of fabric for 5 WEEKS?! I'd rather stay at home

I may be returning to teaching in September after a long break. This may not be the best thread to have read!

@grizzlybearatemyhomework exactly. People think they know everything and plenty aren’t afraid to say so. I’m sorry you had to put up with that.

Starting on pgce secondary this September, and was seriously contemplating not continuing with
My advice to trainees and aspiring trainees is to go in with your eyes open.

There's nothing worse (in my opinion) than cynical people starting the year by trying to tell the trainee that the profession is terrible, but I also think trainees who are grounded with an awareness of the challenges in teaching are better prepared for the inevitable pressures.

For example:
Trainee A is a trainee fresh out of university who thinks they're going to save the world one child at a time and rescue them from the clutches of the 'old hands' who are irrelevant, who spends hours and hours on single lessons thinking this is what it means to be great, who buys into the misplaced belief that time spent working equals how much you care about the kids. They've seen the adverts about how they could be a head of department in 3 years and they already picture themselves as SLT. They see teachers complaining about the stress and pressure and think they need to stop moaning because surely we all do the extra mile for the children etc. They think they're going to be different. Their lessons will always be outstanding, their books will be immaculate for every child, they'll engage the disengaged, they'll be a mentor and a friend and a social worker and a counsellor because it's for the children. They'll spend their holidays making incredible hulk models for their incredible work display to show engaging they are and because they work so hard and always put the children first, they're never going to end up complaining about paperwork. If anyone says otherwise then that prove a how much schools need teachers like them.

Trainee B: Wants to be a teacher because they love their subject and want to share it with their students. They have read about the challenges in education and know that a fixation on books might have unintended consequences. They've read TES and cuts to CAMHS so anticipate that some weeks they might have to deal with a pastoral situation that is beyond their expertise as a teacher. They're aware that Ofsted myths and ofsted ready obsessions will lead to paperwork and it will be a ball ache. They're under no illusion that teaching is going to have its challenges and that sometimes there's something to be said for being good enough and not burning out. They may have different approaches to their experienced colleagues, but they actively seek advice and listen to what they can learn. They work out when people are being bitter and cynical vs when they are helping them become a new teacher who has critical thinking, who can work out which bits of paperwork need to be ticked off and which require effort. They know they're early on their journey and they'll teach some crap lessons some days (for any number of reasons), and they need to pick themselves up and get on with it.

Trainee A is likely to leave the profession in 5 years burnt out or having taken any professional criticism as a sign their colleagues don't understand their methods, or will make it to SLT in 5 years being the soet of leader who creates workload heavy initiatives and doesn't back staff on behaviour because 'if you entertain them they'll behave'.

Trainee B is probably going to be the better teacher long term. They'll be a critical thinker and a reflective teacher who knows when they need to do things better and when sometimes shit happens. They'll be the ones who take a massive issue with people claiming teaching is easy because they do the job day in day out. They may love or feel ambivalent about the job over time, but they'll be the people who give the best advice to the next generation of teachers.

I really enjoy teaching & think a healthy awareness of life at the chalk-face is a useful thing for a trainee to have.

Work stress applies to an awful lot of roles, being paid well to withstand it doesn’t change that.

It puts you in a more fortunate position than someone who is both stressed and underpaid though.

Plus you’re not surrounded by people telling you you’re not stressed and you don’t know what it’s like in the real world.

Plus you’re not surrounded by people telling you you’re not stressed and you don’t know what it’s like in the real world.
This is the point.

Many teachers accept a certain amount of reasonable pressure and stress that is part of a professional job. They draw a line at unreasonable expectations and certainly want to call people out who feel the need to tell them how easy it is, how they wouldn t last in the real world, how any unreasonable demand is reasonable because 'you get holidays' and so on.

Well I now have 8 weeks off but feel that I have earned it!

Yeah, sounds not cool decent!

Why was Londonteacher deleted? I missed that post.

What's this contract?!! I've been teaching 26 years and never seen one of these

The actual teaching 30 children is the part I love. However, the pressure from slt for 85% of the class to be at age related expectations of above, regardless of AEN, gets the teachers stressed and in turn the children pick up on this. Then it's a never ending spiral of stress- I then feel really bad for the children feeling it, so I try not to let it show. Stress levels rise and the downward spiral continues...

Then the children go.home and the paperwork starts!

I have no doubt that teaching is incredibly and increasingly stressful, my DM was a teacher and a single mum for most of my growing up & it certainly put me off! However my job is 60hrs/week with few weekends full off and too busy to take full (statutory) leave entitlement.
That's fine, it's a career I have chosen.
However, an old school friend started going out with a friend who is a farmer - she was a primary school teacher, and when we all went out to dinner once, kept saying over and over and over again how no-one could understand how stressful it is being a teacher, the hours they have to work with planning etc.
I have a huge amount of respect for teachers and all of the effort, however, unfortunately people like this really affect the perception of teachers - she should have known her audience - farmers work all hours, day & night - and barely get a weekend free, nevermind a full week of holiday.

Is it because you dislike your own jobs so much that you resent teachers? Or, is it a juvenile memory of being at school? If it's just the holidays, rest assured it evens out to being about the same as everyone else, just more expensive. I love my job, I'm happy to work 65+ hours a week because my job matters, I genuinely make a difference every day. I am proud to be a teacher.

I think it's the superiority that some people seem to have that 'I'm far more stressed and important and busy than you because I'm a teacher' complex, rather than appreciating that they aren't the only ones with stressful, time consuming and important jobs.

Yes, it's hard and stressful being a teacher, my DM was one, whilst being a single parent as I grew up; my SIL is also a teacher & HOD now, so I'm not displaced or unaware- I really do understand how much work & stress is involved in teaching. I know I couldn't do it.

I'm not afraid of hard work, as previously posted, I also work hard & work long hours, and actually, my job enables several hundred parents to keep their jobs & salaries. That's quite stressful too - knowing so many families rely on you doing your job properly.

That's quite stressful too

Yep, and I’ve never heard a teacher say otherwise.

Teachers respond to people saying they don’t work very hard-then get accused of being moaners that think they work harder than everyone else.

You may get the odd twat who says otherwise, but they are just a twat-it’s nothing to do with them being a teacher... and I’m sure all professions have one or two of those.

Well, here's an actual survey today!

teachertapp.co.uk/why-uk-teachers-are-walking-out/?fbclid=IwAR0XpYkKDZG6vhjjpKEw2GQsVFp9CVQA8UynIMt2JMTP5gDppGS3jQzTIP8

Doesn't compare teaching to other professions : just reports on stress.

Bloody hell - only 6% hadn't felt stressed/unhappy in previous 2 weeks!

That's pretty dire. Government needs a kick up the ass or there's going to be major problems.

I would seriously consider training (I'm a maths grad, apparently in demand) but those survey results would put off anyone but the most noble/dedicated/selfless.

Go in to private ItIs - longer hours and demands on your time in a different way but virtually free of the govt bs and poor pupil behaviour which is making people walk.