To think droves of teachers will make the decision by husband made today- to leave

[Peakyshelby]

Well after 6 years of teaching my husband has broken down, gone to the doctors, been signed off and says he is done.

he has done 3 years in 2 schools and then done supply for 3 years. There is too much to list but the highlights have been

been told to go and fuck himself and other insults thrown at him by kids with hardly any consequences from parents and schools

having stuff chucked at him

having to appear as a witness in court when a parent beat up his own child at home time in the playground

having parents create a smear group on WhatsApp against him and 2 other newly qualified teachers because the parents said there little darlings behaviour must be down to inexperienced teachers not being able to handle them.

having parents laugh and him and tell him he is picking on their little darlings by trying to sanction them.

have children laughing at him and saying my mum and dad don’t care what I do

hardly any support from above.

There is too much more to write but today he had a 10 year old child walk up to him and pour a water bottle over his head.

he is done. He qualified with a group of 10 others and 8 of them have since quit. 2 did not get through there NQT year.

He says the system is broken

This picture explains much of the problem.

It's not that bad where I work but behaviour has got a lot worse of late.
I've been in that exact position and came out the other side but only just and by changing from secondary to primary, but I totally totally get it. It's beyond miserable. Sorry no time to read all posts, but has anyone suggested working as a TA in another school? I know teachers who have done this, and it has restored some sanity. All the very best of luck to him. I'd prolong the sick leave for as long as possible. He's earned it.

Sorry to hear this, I hope he manages to find a new industry.
Shame, it's really down to poor parenting. No amount of money funneled into the state education system can salvage poor parenting.

What a mean, unkind, miserable post.

No, your DH has made a sensible decision.

My DM was a high school teacher. She left the profession in 2009 to look after my DSs (now grown up) when I had to deploy to Afghanistan. It was intended to be temporary but on my return she asked if we could carry on as she couldn't bear the thought of returning to work. So she became my full time nanny, kind of.

She'd been spat at, had to put herself in the way of strapping lads trying to attack girls, been threatened by parents, been mistreated and lied about to her face by line management... All in the few years preceding. She was in her late 40s and early 50s for all of this. She just didn't need it.

It broke her heart to leave the kids, most of whom were lovely, and the other teachers that were friends but the few kids that were unmanageable and the school management made it insufferable.

Bring back corporal punishment.: boot applied to arse.

It can't make matters any worse and may make them better.

Ban all mention of "suspected" ADHD and PDA as an excuse for violent or aggressive behaviour unless there is proper certification from an actual psychiatrist-not a GP. If one is produced, the question still remains: are they a physical danger? If so, then school is not the place for them..maybe a unit staffed by people who will not be frightened of them. If not, then they can stay.

This will not affect children who have special EDUCATIONAL needs. They will continue to be given special educational help and , in any case, will thrive better when they and their teachers are not in physical fear of life and limb.

Teachers' Unions should encourage members to go to the police and demand prosecution. If this doesn't work, the union should take up cudgels on their behalf..

Expel all kids who are violent or threatening and make the parents pay back the money that has so fare been wasted on trying to educate them. In some cases, it is just trying to polish a turd.

Where they go after they have been expelled is up to them but if they break the law, lock them and one of their parents up.

Extreme measures? Maybe but perhaps these extreme behaviours call for them. Nonetheless, I imagine none of this will happen. We are on a slide down and in 20 years or so, these thugs will be the parents of tomorrow and no-one but a lunatic will teach.

@anotherside I'm inclined to agree with you. I don't believe for one minute this is all down to feckless parents. Look at the state of every other public sector provision under Tory rule.

I do see that teachers have so much to deal with from parents these days which im sure wasn't ever such an issue before. That absolutely plays into it.

@BadLad let's not forget some teachers could and would get away with some appalling behaviour in 1969. There were some horrific abuses of power and abuse of kids. Ruling by fear is not the answer either.

If you wish to be so pedantic about grammar, might I suggest the use of the Oxford comma?

I too thought ''That poster sounds like a parent of a poorly behaved , undisciplined child''...

At the moment, these kids and their parents rule by fear

Turn that on its head and let the school rule by fear. Do you not think decent kids watching all this chaos are afeared? Do you not think teachers are afeared?

Turn it around, and let the rule of fear be applied to these Calibans.

If a student over the age of 12 hits a pregnant woman, he should be arrested on the spot, marched through the halls to a squad car, and left in jail for a week to contemplate if that is where he wants to spend the majority of his life from that day onward.

And I say that as someone who doesn’t view jail as an appropriate response to most disciplinary issues. People need to learn that there are some lines you simply cannot cross without severe punishment.

All parents want a decent education for their children. Most families do not have the option of private as they simply cannot afford it. It is not a possibility for most families, especially in the "levelling up" areas.

Yep. Agreed! It's worth paying to avoid the horrendous behaviour seen in state schools up and down the country.

This.

Oh my this.

My three siblings and myself all qualified as teachers. I was last to cave at around 7 years in. I had spent a few months off with stress before I realised life is short and I shouldn’t be putting myself under such huge levels of stress just to put food on the table. I was up to my eyes on beta blockers and when they didn’t take the edge off and I still felt like I was going to have a heart attack at any given second, I also took the herbal anti anxiety tablets (that it clearly says don’t take alongside medication) but I was that desperate! I got married while teaching and I can remember even getting into the rant about how much I hated it (alongside the heart palpitations) on my wedding day, when it should have been the happiest day of my life. Looking back at my wedding photos I just look a shell of myself. I have loads of really angry spots from the stress too, haven’t had a single spot since!

Things that happened to me during my career:

• spat at
• kicked (probably hundreds of times)
• had pins thrown at me
• had a chair thrown in my direction
• had to break up fights within my classroom
• had a child smash a school window in anger
• had children that weren’t even supposed to be in my class, come running in and start attacking children
• had to evacuate the class due to how dangerous situations got
• had infant children repeatedly leaving via the fire exit and setting off the alarm, hundreds of times per day, as I shout over the top of the alarm to try and actually teach the rest of the class
• had a child go round while kids were working stabbing them with a pencil (like full force STABBING them in the back)
• the head teacher walked about with a black eye from being punched
• the depute had a broken bottle put to her throat
• staff threatened with knives
• parents phoning in to dictate where in my class their child will be sitting
• children then swaggering into my class the next day saying I better listen (about who they’ll sit with) or they’ll just get their mum to phone in again 😳
• parents phoning in to demand extra packs of work to be made up and sent home like I’m a paid tutor
• kid’s who’d been raised well and never heard a swear word in their life being subjected to every swear word under the sun roared across the classroom day in day out
• when I went to very nicely chat to a 5 year old’s mum after school to say that he’d spent the full afternoon carrying on in the toilets, climbing doors, soaking people etc and was repeatedly asking out, she answered back in the most horrible way, that her precious angel should be going to the toilet as often as he likes
• head teacher’s lying about anything and everything to cover their own back. Denying all knowledge of any violence or behaviour issues in the school (while sat there black and blue) 🙃
• colleagues crying in the staff room. There wasn’t a day went by when I didn’t see someone cry. I’d then get in my car and cry all the way home that night

You literally can’t put into words the level of disrespect you experience as a teacher. On top of it all you seem to be expected to act like none of that is happening, everything is going great and everyone in the class is doing so well. If you write anything other than that on a report it will be sent straight back to you. Parents (of the kids who are genuine angels) have absolutely no concept of what is actually going on day to day. If they did there is no way any sane person would allow their child to be in that environment.

good for him on escaping!

That’s gonna make a difference - not. Lack of money causes abusive behaviour? What a ridiculous excuse.

Probably more likely the opposite. Labour even more support too many rights of the individual against the majority as it is. Individuals have the right to have a dangerous dog, the right to stay in council housing despite anti social behaviour, the right to openly steal from shops with little fear of consequence. (But god help you if you call someone the wrong pronoun - the police will be round in 10 seconds.)

Parents (of the kids who are genuine angels) have absolutely no concept of what is actually going on day to day. If they did there is no way any sane person would allow their child to be in that environment

And that is one of the saddest things I’ve read on this thread.

This is why zero tolerance schools are popular with lots of parents.

Just thinking the same at my childs school.

Bring Back Mr Gryce!

Vote Labour if you want, but get your head out of the sand.

My relative was assaulted in 2007 as a teacher and his PGCE/NQT colleague was on antidepressants in 2005 due to the goings on in the classroom.

Things have certainly got worse. But don't be under the illusion that prior to 2010, it was utopia.

Parents (of the kids who are genuine angels) have absolutely no concept of what is actually going on day to day. If they did there is no way any sane person would allow their child to be in that environment

So true. Parents are told to be tolerant and inclusive - they dont realize the kids with issues aren’t SEN kids, they just assume they are.

I can recognize a lot of the behaviour, I left after 10 years and work in an office setting. I’m never sworn at or kicked or punched, I can make a cup of tea and go to the loo. I don’t have to dealing with kids screaming and slamming doors. Or crying girls who have witnessed more crap day in day out.

Uoir DH needs to leave. He has a degree and can do better.

I'm a socialist. I do think that class sizes and school funding are issues that compound the problems. Also pay and pensions have an obvious effect on teacher morale and retention.

But, I must agree with this PP that none of those things really get to the root of it. My DM's awful experience and exit from teaching was during New Labour years.

It's the behaviour of the pupils and the school management! It's been a festering sore in certain schools for many years. Quite what causes that and how to fix it, I'm unsure.

In our local Secondary there is a higher percentage of girls than boys being suspended at the moment