To say there are so many of us now that feel like this

[Enoughnowstop]

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-teacher-schools-i-love-my-job-i-cant-keep-going?fbclid=IwAR2PdWYSIoIHed0m_ljs-DvncLM1Pf0min7NaJxPvcj8klTgzPj_3Gftp_Q

I know there will be loads of teacher bashing as a result but it’s how so many of us feel. I don’t know what can be done as I want schools open and functioning but the fear that it will be at the expense of my health and/or that of my family. And at the same time, the persistent disconnect with colleagues, the just getting by, the making do...it’s all too much some days.

Thoughts are with my colleagues around the country today.

My DD is struggling, as are her colleagues, who are turning their frustrations onto her as Head of dept. Depending on classes taught they are now allowing teachers a late start or early finish because they are all buckling with the pressure.
15 kids have been excluded this week for their behaviour and a newly appointed Head of year has quit with no notice.

It’s a large school in a deprived area.

Teachers have been financially protected throughout the pandemic, yes they are putting themselves at risk but they will still have a job this time next year. If they are thinking of leaving I doubt it is as a direct result of 5 months of Covid but pre existing problems they have had with the profession for years

You’re not a teacher and yet you speak for all teacher currently toying with whether to resign or not?

What exactly are you afraid of?You are clearly of working age, so the virus is no threat to you; if you do catch it, you are vanishingly unlikely to have serious consequences

Am at the older end of things. I have a teen with a serious underlying condition. I have my own underlying conditions. I will probably be fine. I might not. It is difficult to pretend that doesn’t bother me.

I know a number of teachers who have handed in their notice very recently. Two of them have resigned without a job to go on to immediately, as the job (which was always incredibly demanding) was now massively affecting their mental and physical health, and one said that they weren't going to allow themselves to stay in a position which could lead to them feeling suicidal.

In a recent TES poll, 1 in 7 teachers said they were “physically and mentally on the brink”. Terrible.
www.tes.com/news/exclusive-one-seven-teachers-brink

Totally with teachers.

Hope the government is preparing for the collapse of the education system.

It is shocking. Schools should be closed for 3/4 weeks imo as a circuit breaker to stem the infection.

Teachers are working on the front line without adequate PPE or the means to compel students to wear masks, social distance or handwash.

I know of a support team at a local college where all but one of them have tested positive. The one who hasnt has a DH waiting for a kidney transplant and she is terrified.

@Bool

I guess the risk (that many others are facing) needs to be balanced with the job security, the last 6 months furloughed, the extended holidays you get every year. But if the balance doesn’t fit for you then sure leave and then find another career. But there are ups and downs with everything so be careful what you throw away.

• re job security, schools have had funding cut in recent years, so that, for example, one high level TA at our primary had her hours cut to 3 hours a week , entirely because of funding cuts, before she left

• re furlough, they weren't furloughed, they were working

• re holidays, a lot of this is notional unpaid leave factored into the contract (and many teachers do unpaid lesson preparation)

-be careful what you throw away exactly. You can't get your health back.

gamma minus, I think

A great example of poor comprehension isn't it?

And people wonder why in teaching there is (and has been for a long time) a constant recruitment and retention problem, which a lot of the other jobs/professions mentioned in this thread doesn't have or not to the the same extent - which the government throws millions and millions at every year trying to fix.

@herecomesthsun you can always find one example to disprove the general rule. That’s easy.

Being patronising also never helps the sympathy.

[quote Bool]@herecomesthsun you can always find one example to disprove the general rule. That’s easy.

Being patronising also never helps the sympathy.[/quote]
One example? but it was all wrong?

@JinglingHellsBells
IME there are too many people entering the profession who have no idea what teaching is like and aren't given the real truth about the job.

You can partly blame the government for that. I mean just look at those incredibly rose tinted 'get into teaching' ads.

@ProfessorPootle
I have so much sympathy for your situation. I think people running small companies are genuinely the hardest hit as they have employees relying on them as well as all the other pressures :(

@Mintychoc1
Interestingly I’ve heard that applications for teacher training courses are going up. Despite the undoubted challenges, it is seen as a secure job, at a time when so many jobs are threatened.

I suspect it will be like what happened in the last recession - a big increase in trainee teaching applications (because a lot of them can't find work in other professions - not sure if having a lot of new teachers doing the job simply because they couldn't find anything else is a good thing mind ) and then when the economy picked a lot of them left. Much better to have a stable and consistent workforce where retention of teachers is seen as a priority.

I work in a corporate where we get lots of ex teachers for various reasons.

Honest to god, around half of them expect corporate employment to be some easy dream compared to teaching. They don't know what's hit them. Quite a few go back to teaching.

I think in any job the grass is always greener.

'Honest to god, around half of them expect corporate employment to be some easy dream compared to teaching. They don't know what's hit them. Quite a few go back to teaching.

I think in any job the grass is always greener.'

I agree. When I see teachers complaining that they worked in the evenings and weekends or long hours I do wonder what they think the rest of us are doing. I've yet to find a 9-5 job, despite being contracted for 35/40 hours I've started work at 6am at home or on the commute, worked many evenings and weekends.

@Dottyspottybattyfatty

'Honest to god, around half of them expect corporate employment to be some easy dream compared to teaching. They don't know what's hit them. Quite a few go back to teaching.

I think in any job the grass is always greener.'

I agree. When I see teachers complaining that they worked in the evenings and weekends or long hours I do wonder what they think the rest of us are doing. I've yet to find a 9-5 job, despite being contracted for 35/40 hours I've started work at 6am at home or on the commute, worked many evenings and weekends.

Teachers don't think other people don't work evenings or weekends. We realise that many many other people do. Many people don't though.

Why do people think 'teachers work hard including weekends and evenings' means they think others don't. Usually it's in response to someone suggesting we finish at 3pm.

Try being a care assistant and working long hours like nurses do and dealing with covid residents head on and in full ppe all day long

OP my DH is a teacher and he's really struggling with it. The job is almost impossible now with all the logistics, impacts and additional demands. It's only his second year of teaching (career change). It's hard to watch, I feel so sad and anxious for him and his colleagues.

I don't think people can understand or imagine how bad it is unless you are a teacher or are close to one.

@Enoughnowstop

Not asking for anything, *@Toebarb*, expect for people to realise that there are good teachers the country over making the decision to walk away. As parents, we should all be concerned about what that means for our children.

Your country is not alone. Several Teachers have died from Covid and a result many are leaving in droves. My son has had 4 different English teachers retire early or flat out quit and its only been 9 weeks.My oldest son has had 2 Calculus teachers quit in the last 9 weeks. We are loosing teachers at an alarming rate. We are even loosing Virtual Academy teachers. Its definitely a problem

I really feel for you OP. The thing that saddens me most about the whole pandemic is they way people are turning on each other.
I don’t know what the solution is but so thankful to people like yourself as not sure where we would be without you.

I just don’t get why teachers think they are above other workers? We have medical people in my family and we are just getting on with it.

I

I’m a secondary teacher and I’d say the morale in our school has gone up. There is very much a ‘we’re all in it together so let’s pull our socks up and get on with it’ feeling. Staff illness has nose dived (other than Covid related self isolating) and we’re all being kind to each other and helping out where we can. We know we’re providing a needed service and are trying our absolute best to keep kids in school and provide some stability. Yes it’s hard (double lessons are not good with KS3!) and yes the constantly monitoring who is here, who isn’t and who is self isolating is really time consuming but we’re doing it the absolute best we can.

Do I feel safe? If I’m honest, not always. I teach across three year group bubbles per day. That’s 700 children’s germs I’m potentially exposed to. Keeping 2 metres away is very difficult in our 1970s comp and many students don’t understand social distancing. However, that being said, I 100% believe schools should - as much as physically possible - stay open as we are the one constant for many young people at this strange time.

I’m sorry you don’t seem to work in such a supportive school, OP. Remember, though, while they may never say it, the students (and most parents) really do appreciate what you’re doing.

A lot of people would love to be in a guaranteed job being paid 100% salary whatever happens.
I see it’s not quite as cosy as working from home.
Teaching children should be a face to face activity. Any face to face activity will come with a degree of risk during this pandemic.

If you don’t wish to work in teaching at the moment you should find something else for a while but please don’t expect sympathy from the majority of the population who pay your wages, nor expect to hide away and receive a 100% handout paid for by the future taxes of the children you don’t wish to teach, whose futures are apparently expendable.

I'm a nurse. It's hard. I'm knackered, I'm working flat out, I facing a barrage of abuse pretty much every day, we don't have the right equipment to do what we're being asked to do, our guidelines change every day as various factions higher up try to shift the ridiculous work load away from their area of special interest but somehow always manage to dump it on the nurses, etc, etc etc.
Its shit but it's not more shit than teachers/supermarket workers/hospitality workers/bin men/anyone who is suffering. It's just different shit - some people are super resilient, some are super sensitive, some thing that some of you can sail over would have me on my knees weeping and vice versa. Everyone is scared, some of job loss, some of illness, some for their children, some for their old folk. We're all scared for our mental health and our physical health.
We have a government who don't seem to be managing this at all well and is trying to blame young people/students/care homes/insert group of choice here to deflect away from this.
But, do you know what, it's not a competition. We're in a terrible situation, trying to deal with a contagious, killer disease we know nothing about. It's okay to be frightened, it's okay to be angry, it's normal to feel desperate and depressed.

It's hard but we just have to get on with it, be as kind to each other as we can support who we can and be able to ask.for help when we need it. None of us can stop this but we can all try to make it a bit easier.

Keep going OP, we need you

I really feel for you, OP. Teachers have been dumped on massively and were already under huge strain. For those saying they are facing the public every day, are you doing so without social distancing, and without PPE? For those who feel disconnected from their colleagues, are you actually at home safe? I am not a teacher, by the way!

It's so depressing reading the posts kicking teachers when they are already down.

So much whataboutry and sheer nastiness.

I hope some of you feel good for making depressed people feel even worse with your venom. Odd way to get your kicks.

How vile to be you.