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

I honestly fear for the future! Who is going to want to do teaching or join the police force in the future?!….. no one is the answer!!
My DD 13 comes home daily talking about abusive behaviour… year 7’s vaping, kids self harming, kids bulking each other… kids abusing teachers and supply teachers!…. Bloody awful!
My DD is lovely and has had issues transitioning to seniors … 11 / 12 year old sending each other nude pics…. It’s awful! I fear for the future !

Even by the end of primary the work is too hard for a lot children
Is it significantly harder than 30y ago? Or could the difference be that my generation (80s kid) had to do homework and not doing it was not an option (parents would check, consequences from school etc)
(disclaimer: wasn’t in the uk)

Absolutely not being unreasonable at all - it's becoming a tale as old as time. I quit 4 years ago (taught for 15 years). Lots of reasons for leaving, but the catalysts being bullying from management, and losing a pregnancy after a pupil threw a table at me. It didn't hit me, and so I can't say it's the reason I lost the baby, but the stress of it all certainly contributed. I was the last of my university course friends to pack it in.

I have no idea anymore about how it can be fixed, but as a new parent it certainly makes me worry about my children's education in the future.

And sadly you’re a big part of the problem!

Is it significantly harder than 30y ago? Or could the difference be that my generation (80s kid) had to do homework and not doing it was not an option (parents would check, consequences from school etc)
(disclaimer: wasn’t in the uk)

You surely don't think that all parents checked? I have been a teacher for 30 years in UK schools. I've never worked in one which did not have consequences for not doing homework. I went to school in the 1980s too btw. There have always been plenty of children who found schoolwork too hard.

I certainly didn't have to know all the grammar they do now when I was 11. It's too long ago for me to remember with certainty what I did in maths at age 11 but I don't think it was as hard, no.

You can see here what they had to do in SATs this year...

Grammar
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-2-tests-2024-english-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-test-materials

Writing
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2018-teacher-assessment-exemplification-ks2-english-writing

reading
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-2-tests-2024-english-reading-test-materials

maths
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-2-tests-2024-mathematics-test-materials

According to my daughter 10 teachers are leaving at the end of this school year! Very sad

Not that it will make this anyone happier but this problem is not just a "UK-problem". Visit Scandinavia, Germany and France and you will see the same thing. The "thugs" one could meet in secondary school are now in primary school assaulting others while sending videos of it on snapchat. I'm sure screen time without parental control, absence of parents who are on screens themselves when not working have something to do with it but I'm sure there are other contributing factors as well...

It’s a reflection of 14 years of a government that has allowed our infrastructure in every area to fail. Social services/legal/healthcare/housing/policing/schools. Turning schools into businesses. All this is a reflection of the devastation this government has caused but of course some have the option to pay their way out of social problems and ignore their part in creating these problems after voting in grifters who wanted austerity for the many and profits for the few.

If schoolwork is too hard for children, how are they going to cope with work?

Yes, about to get much worse with the levelling down agenda. I would rather moved countries than sending my kids to state school in my area. I saw a mother outside one of the local state school calling his toddler you fucking piece of shit! It was very disturbing and I decided right then I would have to pay and arm and a leg to send my kids to private.

I haven't the answers..
But I definatly know politicians don't..

If schoolwork is too hard for children, how are they going to cope with work?

There are jobs that don't require academic ability, or knowledge of subjects like maths (even at upper primary school level).

To be fair there are a lot of jobs you could do without knowing how to write a verb in its past progressive form or being able to divide a fraction by a fraction. I managed to get two postgraduate qualifications in different subjects without knowing half the grammar year 6 has to know now! I've never had a problem getting or keeping a job either.

But not many jobs that just involve filling shelves, some stores will expect some cleaning too. Or is that also too difficult?

There won't be many jobs that don't require some level of education before long. And even now, those jobs don't pay very much at all.

Exactly! Those threats are a joke.

You do know all of this is shop window dressing?

Top show that's all it is and if you think that the majority of children are learning all this amidst the chaos that we have had described to us on this thread, then I have a bridge to sell you.

Some will learn some of it, no doubt, but anyone who thinks that there are rows of polite and well behaved children, with beaming faces, learning all this need to be taken by the hand to a place where they can do no harm.

In which part of the country does your husband teach?

So much depends on the school, who ur line manager is, ur own personal authority to take charge and run good lessons and whether you are backed or not.

You can be absolutely heading for nervous breakdown at one school, and really enjoy another.
That's been my experience anyway. Been a secondary teacher for nearly 30 years.

Please remove "State' from your postvand insert 'any'. Thank you

Couldn’t agree with you more. Parents are their children’s first teachers and as such should be teaching them that such behaviour is not ok.

Also abuse towards teachers from the parents is inexcusable, what on earth is going on?

I think alot of respect has gone out of society. I don’t think Boris helped with his leadership style. We don’t need a comedian to run the country. I don’t care if they are boring, if they do a good job that’s the most important thing.

Also I think standards are to high. Yes of course standards are a good thing, but conservatives seem to be disproportionate in their views of things.

Bizarre

I have family in the Balkans and I'm being told the same.