to feel quite shocked that DH has PTSD from teaching?

[FunnysInLaJardin]

Its feels pretty awful tbh. He has just today received this diagnosis and has been referred for priority EMDR.

He has taught for 25 years in a secondary school, and got out last year due to clinically diagnosed burn out.

I knew it was bad, but I never realised it was this bad.

How can this be allowed to happen?

That 6 to 12 week thing is ridiculous and even if you went off sick to start another job it wouldn't work with references. All I can say is I work a minimum wage job live in a 2 bed terrace have 2 kids and all their needs are met we certainly don't need to choose between heating and eating we live a very basic simple life but where together and happy. However this wasn't the case when my children where put into care while I was in the middle of a mental health crisis. I will never allow that to happen again so my main goal in life is to keep it stress free including a stress free job if I was ever in a position where I was doing anything that impacted my mh in anyway I'd walk away no matter what. My children should never have had to go through what they did because of my mental health.

OK, yeah I understand now - as you say the prior existing diagnosis of EUPD is likely why they are refusing to diagnose CPTSD.

So it’s not necessarily that generally the bar is so ridiculously high for PTSD diagnosis, and that teachers being diagnosed with it is strange or unusual , but it’s more that in your case there are specific circumstances which have sadly led to this diagnosis not being applied and certain treatments withheld .

I agree that EUPD is applied to women far more and can unfortunately be weaponised against women.

Good point about the long notice periods. I DID resign with nothing lined up because I absolutely had to for the sake of my mental health, BUT I had no children, no mortgage, and some money from an inheritance to keep me going while I figured out what to do. That's a very unusual situation to be in.

That's if you're taking the notice period from the date you can hand in your resignation.

You can only leave at 3 set dates- Christmas holidays, Easter holidays and Summer holidays. The last date you can hand in notice for a Summer leaving date is the end of May. If on June 1st you decide you can't take it any more, you have 7 months until you are allowed to leave.

To think it's double standards for DN to discipline her dc for swearing when she does it ? often in front of them often, sometimes even at them

My cousin loved her teaching job for 15+ years. Her school was considered OK, neither good not bad, middle of the road. She complained about workload, stress, etc and to be honest I didn't feel to much sympathy for her. She chose that field, the hours she worked were in fact much less than mine, but she had very good holidays (I work as a software developer) and so on.

BUT her school situation changed dramatically when some issues arose with pupils. She was threatened verbally, signs/signals/images left for her. The people who made those threats were known, and it was a very serious matter. It impacted her, her DH, kids and our extended family. The police were of little practical help (her DF is ex-army too so would have excellent local police contacts).

Teaching staff should have much more support in these situations. I feel this could never happen in many other occupations. Teachers can be very very exposed in scenarios with "bad" students/parents.

What happens if you leave at other times do you have to go off sick. Would they sue you for breach of contract I'm just curious because you sound like prisoners

Yes, they could sue you, the chances are you would just not get a reference. Some teachers take extended sick leave through their notice period, but given the underfunding of schools this comes with a lot of guilt and causes a lot of disruption for the children, so for most this is a last resort.

Thank you for adding this. I have been reading through and thinking about the different perspectives and the different barriers to transferring or escaping from teaching, and this is something that has been illuminating.

There seem to be 2 sides to the 'why things are so bad and traumatic' posts: sometimes the abuse and violent behaviour of large classes, and on the other hand, regular experience of a bullying management culture. Additionally a long notice period and a work pattern that is restrictive around family life. Several are saying that some effects on mental health, triggered by teaching, also last a very long time.

So it seems that expectations of teaching as a job or career would possibly have been (but are very different from): - your colleagues would be pulling in the same direction and supportive to you; - classes would generally respect you and there would be effective behaviour corrections; - there would be enough teachers in your workplace to make things effective; - those who stay likely to be the very proficient people, not those who have checked out; - the general shape of the work should lay ground that mostly allows for a healthy inner life; - your training at university would pay off, in terms of being regarded with respect as someone who was originally selected due to particular abilities, and possibly financially.

If the opposite is true, and the scenario is not uncommon, and there is no quick, sure fire way of suddenly reforming the system to get to a middle ground (which I'm pretty sure there isn't even if a fabulous overall strategy was pulled in asap), then where/when should this view be tackled, of how things are to be seen realistically as a feature of the job, and then improved? Why is it a bullying culture, say, and how is that something that could change with greater sticking power?

I'm thinking on this because there are elements of the above in a large number of jobs, even if quite a few think they're worth less than the university-ratified ones. Call centre work also having some of the shit sandwich. Medical professionals and legal posts having long, family-hostile hours, mostly disrespect from the 'users' on the end of the service, and probably a hell of a lot of pressure. Office work etc being outsourced and pay salami sliced. University lecture posts suiting younger singles, in the early years, because so many posts are short-term and it helps to be able to move easily or travel a long way to maximise opportunities. It's a pessimistic list, but most choices will have something that doesn't match the promise of how it is presented in its best version, unfortunately.

Regarding the notice period.

Although teachers can leave 3 times a year there is a lot of pressure to only leave at the end of the school year as to not disrupt classes. I've known parents to be angry at staff leaving at Christmas or Easter. It's also hard to start a new teaching job at Christmas or Easter, as I know from my own experience.

And another example of terrible treatment, I used to work for a London Borough that had council teaching accommodation a bit like a hall of residence. It was, as you would expect, mainly used by young teachers.

It used to be the case that people could stay living there as long as they wanted. However it was then decided to limit it to just 2 years.

Guess when the council told the teachers who lived there? June 1st. So they couldn't then decide to leave their jobs as a result. They all had to stay until at least Christmas.

I was furious and appalled when I heard. And it didn't give them that long to find somewhere new to live either, in London, on a teaching salary.

Schools often don't give teachers any idea of their timetable for September until well after 1st June either, so if you get a really shitty deal, you're stuck with it till at least Christmas.

I'm in adult Ed on a fraction of the salary. I still don't know if my gcse will be running in September. My maths class may be changing the awarding body/format (so I'd need to rewrite the course and find new materials. Work don't pay for any curriculum). Additionally if any of my courses don't recruit I need to make up the hours.

Its crazy
I want a different job.

I quit teaching, nearly doubled my salary with a new (private sector) employer - they were fine with the 3 month notice period.

However I think they expect it tbh as my company activitely seeks to poach teachers inc golden hellos etc.

I hope the national press and MP’s get to hear about this thread. It is a huge societal problem that most people are simply ignoring ..

And your company is.....

Most I read is teachers taking very low salary posts. Or local gov jobs on 25-30k.

I'm not going to post my employer on here....

I was on a shade over 30k as a teacher after two years service.

Ah shucks but makes sense! I'd love to increase my salary now!

A headteacher, Ruth Perry, died by suicide in January 2023 following her school being rated inadequate. The inquest found that the Ofsted inspection directly contributed towards her death.

Following her death there was massive pressure put on the Conservative government to remove single word Ofsted gradings of schools as the coroner warned of the risk of more deaths.

The government said no.

They knew the risks, and they did not give a toss.

The new Labour government has promised to get rid of Ofsted gradings. Hopefully they might pay more attention to the crisis in teaching.

I do have a Ph.D as well so that helps a bit.

Non university level teaching institutions can't keep hold of Doctors.

I voted yabu. I wanted to add some context as what I my vote meant was that I am sadly not surprised. I think children (certainly in Scotland) go from a nurture and open environment in primary to a sit down and shut up in secondary. Given that resources are stretched to the limit, pupils with additional needs can't get the support they need it's totally understandable. Your poor DH went into teaching to help and ends up being a social worker as these areas are under funded also. Teachers are not on high salaries, work overtime at night to mark books and are then subject to all sorts of children's issues from their backgrounds or needs
Very sad and I hope he gets helps x

Experienced teachers are leaving in droves (ahem), because - especially since COVID - student behaviour has become unmanageable.

My experience is that it used to be one or two in a class (quite manageable), but now it can quite easily be 6-8 in every single class, coming in with an agenda to disrupt and destroy the chances of any learning taking place by anyone. Add to that mobile phones and the impact of social media (often relating to events outside school), and what was always a difficult job has become almost impossible.

The support systems are simply not in place for teachers. I could never recommend that any student or child of mine became a teacher in the UK.

Not in the least surprised having listened to several Teachers who are friends. Failure by parents to implement controls in their own households coupled with parents thinking their children are Saints and should therefore not be corrected at all by anyone in authority has led to insubordination - old fashioned word yes but that is the reality. Mobile phones allowed is another issue and has already been recognised by teaching boards in most countries and is thankfully being dealt with. Latch key kids - no guidelines and left to their own devices because Mom and Dad work to uphold 2.4 lifestyle. It starts with kids unable to put their own coats on let alone tie a shoe lace and goes on and on. Take it up a few years and look at the kids on the streets coming home from school. No respect. No doubt going to get shot down for this but it is actually time people said enough. Kids are supposed to be the next generation yet these past two generations seem to have only produced spoilt brats who have no respect for any authority and their own parents. Hats off to the parents who do actually parent but they seem to be far and few these days. When they do, children learn how to respect their elders and thrive.

I’m so sorry for him, and I can understand it. . My friend is pastoral support in a school and they are stressed to breaking point.

Schools vary. The constant drip drip effect of low level disruption day after day year after year will have an effect. Many schools with poor behaviour have very weak senior management who ‘make allowances’ for kids. Fatal error. The truly brilliant Headteacher of state school Michaela Community School in Wembley, Katharine Birbalsingh is a model all Headteachers should follow. Sadly she is sidelined and ignored by left wing ideologues (including Headteachers) who put political ideology over what is educationally best for children. In 2024. Hard to believe but true. She has some books on Amazon.

It’s interesting that you mention the last two generations being spoilt brats with no respect, that can only mean that Generation X (myself) and Millennials have gone wrong as parents.

I do wonder if it was the law that changed how we discipline and punish our children, or if genx/millenials have a softer parenting style than say the silent generation and baby boomers (my parents)

Although I have heard the silent generation absolutely spoiled/cherished their children and negative things about baby

I don’t know but maybe food for thought.