Any teachers on here?

[Isteachingalwaysthisbad]

This isn't AIBU but hoping for opinions on my little sister's primary teaching job. My heart breaks for her. Sorry it's long.

She is in her 2nd year of teaching (ect) and is planning to give it all up and change career which is sad because she loves the job but feels it's the only option for her mental health. She always wanted to teach.

In her current class she has three SEN pupils but only has a teaching assistant a couple of hours per day. Also a large number of pupils are working years behind, plus also various behavior issues amongst the class.There is little support from SLT and they cannot offer any further support (staff shortages etc).

On top of this there are aggressive parents who shout and swear in the playground and also to the teachers. They also fight with other parents. My sister feels very threatened by some of them.

Parents complain to SLT with minor issues such as child had toy taken from them in class, ( shouldn't be playing with in any case), child wasn't selected for something etc

The children do like her and are always writing her little notes and telling her she is their favorite teacher.

Do other teachers out there have to deal with the same, is this what teaching is about nowadays?

Yeah this is standard in most schools. You’ll have the odd year where it’s a better class but this is pretty much how it is.

Jobs with a September start are usually advertised between Christmas and Easter, so she should look out next term. And sometimes they come up for a summer start. Assuming she’s in the state sector, she likely has only half a term’s notice, so if she’s lucky she could start a fresh in April. Otherwise September. I think that unless she sees something else that really catches her eye, she should try another school. Maybe even a private prep school. Or she could look at international schools and use her teaching qualification to work abroad and save some money for a deposit on a house.

It's better if she can stick it out to complete her training and then leave - a qualified teacher, rather than an NCT, is in altogether a better position when looking for other roles.

All of that plus the insane workload is why I left in 2022 after 6 years. Never been happier.

Tell her to look at moving schools. I am really happy at my school- they do exist. Sadly the SEN TA funding crisis is really hard everywhere. But even if parents are difficult SLT should be backing their staff and any aggression should mean an immediate ban from the premises.

I teach in what used to be a PRU. You’d think it would be awful because they used to have all the worst kids. It’s not like that any more. All my teaching is either 1to1 or small group. Lots of support. Mostly the kids are not unpleasant, just traumatised by lockdown and never overcome the social anxiety.

Yep. All this and more sometimes with having to take on extra responsibilities to cover staff absence (because they’re off to recover their mental health) and a bullying SLT, . Ridiculous expectations and sheer exhaustion. We are all leaving in droves. Teaching stole my best years. Get out now.

My Daughter is in the same boat she has packed it in after struggling with her second year ECT. It’s a bit heart breaking to deal with as she has wanted to be a teacher since she was 13,but the behaviour broke her as she spent most of her time corralling the 2-3 major problem kids in the class which was affecting her teaching and mental health.

luckily she was living with us so she has time now to reassess and work out where she wants to go next.

my hat goes off to the teachers heading into the current education environment and trying manage behaviour with one hand tied behind their back for essentially the same money my forklift drivers earn.

Unfortunately yes that's pretty much it

Now left education, you’re right, absolutely, not sustainable.

usually in at 7.30 until 7.30 at night, rarely had a lunch break, either on duty or sorting safeguarding. After students left at 3.30, team meeting, agencies calls due to safeguarding, calling parents, after school detention rota or revision club, every night.Sometimes marking or planning lessons if I was lucky. Home about 8.00, quick dinner, then prepping for next day, maybe an hour. Either Saturday or Sunday would spend most of day putting up resources for teachers. Exhausted reading this back. I did it until I couldn’t do it anymore. Did my PGCE in primary, absolute doddle compared to secondary. Prefer teaching teenagers, but worked in a huge city high school, that had more students in a year group than the feeder primary had in the whole school.

Yet, Bridget Phillipson is busy boasting about her free breakfast clubs which does not address the dire state of many schools in the UK. If she volunteered at your typical mainstream British school I would guarantee that she would hand her notice in by the end of the day.
She’s busy taking money of private schools and spending it elsewhere. Slow clap.

People like your sister need to shout louder so that everyone knows what’s happening inside those schools. Everything is bursting at the seams.

Please ask her to find a different school before she packs it in. She needs to find her school. I work in a little village school. The hours are long still, there is a lot of planning as mixed age classes, there are only four classes so everyone has to lead a couple of subjects each however, the kids are lovely and the vast majority of the parents are grateful for the job we do. We’re a good team and I love working there. I’ve been there 9 years and have no plans to move. It took me 4 schools to find this one.

my advice would be to change schools, try some out and find what she likes and what suits her.

34 years in Primary teaching and I've seen the job change beyond all recognition.

I really wouldn't recommend it as a career anymore, it's definitely not for the faint hearted.

I teach secondary and am actually an ect but taught unqualified for several years before I did my training. It is pretty brutal in terms of expectations, hours etc. I have classes with 70% of students with SEND needs (all together to ensure ta support) and it's challenging beyond comprehension some days. I have y7 students who can't read or write and still have toileting issues, as well as struggling socially and emotionally. They should be in specialist provision but there are no places.

However, I love it like nothing else. I'm lucky to be in a department where we do everything collaboratively and wellbeing is crucial and supported. SLT are also fantastic and the school ethos suits me. It doesn't detract from the significant issues with workload and behaviour but there are good schools and on balance, it's completely worth it for the love of the job. I did find out during my training year that my fellow apprentices were working in schools where there wasn't the support and it sounded frankly awful.

There is no easy answer and it's desperate that education is in this state.

Sadly it is getting worse and worse. I’m SLT and been in teaching for 22 years.
I don’t think I’ve another 20 days left in me let alone another 20 years.
Sadly there is an increasing profile of parents who are tearing teachers apart, hugely unreasonable and think it is acceptable to send you 10 emails a day about minor issues, harass and threaten staff, post accusations and inflammatory/untrue comments all over social media, verbally and sometimes physically abuse staff - and unfortunately this is not exclusive to any one school. It is the same across the board.
Education is the only service that can’t opt out- social services, health- they can all disengage. But not schools who are expected to have the magic want to fix society’s problems. I have retrained in another career and I am planning how I can leave.
I love the children, I love the buzz of the classroom. It’s all the additional demands- presumption of mainstream for children who deserve so much more support, cutting services to the wire, having no budget and having to spend hundreds of our own salary on being able to resource school properly, abusive parents, increasing violence…it is an entirely unsustainable job these days and I would never ever suggest anybody does it. Something I never thought I would ever say. This week I’ve barely slept and hardly eaten due to stress and that is no use- seeing my GP next week. Getting out now is the best thing she could do for herself.

I would advise her to look for another school rather than throwing in the towel. Her school sounds particularly tough - she wouldn’t be treated like that in my school and were a school in what some think is a very challenging demographic.

Our school was lovely due mainly to the HT. She went off with stress and never came back. I had 3 years of working with the new useless head. Any vacancies were filled with young inexperienced teachers she knew from elsewhere. Most of the time I was meant to be teaching SEN pupils, I was taken away to do supply cover.

A HT can be the difference between a great school and an awful one.

Teaching is really hard. Until you've done it or had a close relationship with a teacher you cannot comprehend just how consuming it is.
Moving schools may make it a bit better as will experience but neither will take away the pressure,stress and the sheer amount of work required to get by.
I would say if she can complete her ECT, to do so because then she is fully qualified which she may find beneficial in the future. Then get out, because the longer you stay the harder it is to leave financially.

Sounds like a day in my school!

Sounds like most schools I’ve worked in to be honest. It’s normal to have a couple of SEN kids in each class. Schools are chronically underfunded/ understaffed and often not enough TA’s available to support all the kids who would benefit from it (not to mention the benefit for the teachers). Levels of violence have also risen as the kids know there’s very little in terms of consequences for their behaviour.

SLT though should absolutely have a grip on parents abusing teachers. I’ve worked in several schools where parents are not allowed to approach class teachers without an appointment

Yep more and more schools are like this, sadly. It won’t improve either. She is wise to flee now.

Teaching is tough, but it doesn't have to be as hard as that.
I would suggest she gets through her ect year then look for another job - there are schools with supportive SLT and good relationships with parents etc (I know, I work in one) but sadly they are becoming rarer.

Where does she live?
Can she apply for a job in a village school?

Try another school- probably private. I did this a few years ago (though now retired) and it was hugely better, although still hard work. Demanding parents but at least they usually knew how to behave!

Recently retired and volunteering in Y6 in my local primary. The class teacher looked broken today. 7 children with EHCP's, several children working at Y3/4 and no class TA. Just another normal day, and this school is in a 'naice' village. My heart breaks for the children we are failing [all of them, SEND budget inadequate, achievers not being pushed, strugglers not supported] and the wonderful teachers we are driving out.