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

@Antisocialantibutterfly they are leaving. They don’t want to, they want to be educators, they want to teach but it’s becoming untenable in many schools to do so.

It’s so short sighted just to bleat ‘well leave then’, as who will teach these kids? How are schools going to stay safe with no staff? There is a retention and recruitment crisis. It’s a SERIOUS problem.

We have to address the root causes of teachers (and NHS workers) unhappiness if education and health care is to survive and thrive.

It is a problem for us all and it is only getting worse.

Just leave. I did as not only is the job hugely stressful but also poorly paid . Unless a zero tolerance policy is introduced nothing will change. Booting out the ferals will impact the parents lifestyle and only then will you see more parental support.

The students who go on to uni are the ones who want to learn - or think they do.

If it’s a top red brick it could be 40%+ private school alumni.

Then who will teach our children?

My friend has been a primary teacher for over 25 years. Currently off sick as they had a break down in class. Has no intention of ever stepping foot in classroom ever again. But I also have a friend who is around 10 years into her career as a primary teacher, and another who is an experienced secondary teacher and they both enjoy their jobs overall. I think the school, and more specifically the senior management, play a big role in what day to day working life is like.

I’ve been teaching for 10 years and never known behaviour to be as bad as it is at the moment. I’m very visibly pregnant and already had a bottle thrown at me and been pushed by a group of boys.

I’m not at the point of leaving yet, I still feel like for me, the good outweighs the bad, but something absolutely has to change. I’m regularly comforting coworkers who are in tears because of something the kids have done, or the parents.

A few of DS's friends left Uni and did Teach First.

One has been punched regularly in the face and stomach and was head of department by age 25ish because he was the most senior...

Relative assaulted whilst teaching (kicked and punched) 15 years ago. Resigned for the end of that academic year as this was the norm, not the exception. "Good" school. Went to teach in private instead (not perfect - overworked). School will probably close if VAT goes on those fees (not big/prestigious). Starmer will be looking to attract this relative to teach maths in the state sector again. Not on your fucking nelly mate. Will be out of teaching in that case, unless tutoring privately online.

@Mirabai I agree, I'm not comparing like with like, I'm saying that I couldn't cope in this type of teaching environment at all, but more than that, the way teachers are treated is not, in the main, how university sector lecturers are treated by other staff/management. The sector tolerates a huge amount of bullying seemingly, as does the NHS in some places, and I'm amazed by this tbh. I'm not saying all is well in the uni sector, and some places are treating their staff shoddily right now as there's a squeeze on the sector, but the teaching sector seems like something else. I have friends who quit teaching recently and their jobs sounded nightmareish and they'd just rather have less money than do them.

That's just awful! What happened to the boys who pushed you? Was there any punishment?

Or kids from abroad who are better brought up

Also got told to fuck off by a parent when trying to support a child to do homework.

Well said

I caught a child talking in an exam, twice. Warned the first time and second time I removed the paper and told them to get their book out and read until the others were finished. I explained at the end that if that had been a GCSE, they would have potentially been graded a U. Told child they wouldn’t be getting a grade (it was an end of year KS3 exam) but I’d base hers off her years work instead.

Parent complained that I embarrassed her child and I was hauled infront of SLT who told me that we have to bend to the parents and I needed to apologise to the child.

That was the beginning of the end for me. Weak leadership and ridiculous parents.

Parents need to start accepting responsibility for their children’s behaviour.

I’m so sorry your husband has had to go through all of that.
Society is fucked.
I was a primary school teacher, now a TA. The biggest problem we have is not the children, it’s the parents. There are some very angry & unhinged people out there raising children, and it’s worrying.

Exactly my predicament!

I'm a teacher. Children and parents know that there are no sanctions - there is nothing you can do that they care about. How I wish we could stand up to these parents and remove their children from the classroom so that the other children can learn. I used to care about the reasons for their behaviour and want to help but I don't anymore. I've seen too many members of staff, and nice children, suffering because of them.

You've only got to tell a kid that they can't go to prom - after five years of shit behaviour and a million warnings - to find yourself in the local paper for unjustly persecuting them. A whole generation of parents who can't accept any sanction that might make thrir child a bit sad.

If you figure it out - let me know!

Disgusting comment.

CranfordScones · Today 19:00
This sort of behaviour doesn't seem to happen in the schools run by people like Katharine Birbalsingh. But all the liberals seem to hate her and what she stands for.

Yes that’s interesting. Why does Katharine Birbalsingh get so much criticism for running a school that won’t tolerate bad behaviour?

I left teaching about 7 years ago. I retrained as a gardener (I have a specialism in this field, but it’s niche).

I'd dealt with guns, knives, two bomb scares, lockdown following kids with baseball bats on site, a kid who’s face was stamped on by another child, an adult who’s fingers were posted to her in a box, riot vans, abuse from parents, violence from teenagers, I was spat at, pushed, hit, sworn at, threatened.

And that’s before you consider social services cases for neglect, CSE, kids who had been beaten, parents who drive them to school drunk, kids that ran away, arranged marriages, kids taken abroad illegally, kids who disappeared… the child who blew both hands up holding a fireworks (and not both at the same time, two separate incidents!)

I didn’t see a doctor soon enough. I was left with PTSD; I didn’t function at all for 12 months. Now I find it difficult to enter a school building - I constantly dread parents evening.

My advice: get out whilst you still have your sanity. It’s not worth it.

I'm so sorry, what used to be a respected, rewarding career has been utterly destroyed. There's a massive fb group on how to leave teaching, the stories are unbelievable. But sadly he's probably right to leave.

And here we have a semi-literate comment by someone who semi-thinks.

Why are you saying that marking etc is without pay? It's part of the requirement for their annual salary. They don't get an hourly rate. I agree that the hours are insane but they are paid.