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Original poster

Are the staff in your school really stressed?

187 replies

christinarossetti · 15/02/2013 22:49

A question for both teachers and parents/carers.

I've had a number of conversations today with parents and teachers from different schools and realised that there's been a reoccurring theme of teachers saying how stressed they are and parents saying how stressed the teachers seem to be.

Ofsted will be in our school next half-term, so obviously people very stressed.

Is this normal in education at the moment, or is it just the people I know?

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exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 08:35

Sorry iPad has a mind of its own . Were not we're.

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 08:37

It may have changed, Euphemia, but the unit plans for maths not only told you how to teach it but what to say!

Flojobunny · 17/02/2013 08:39

No not stressed at all. We have lots of measures in place to help with work life balance.
Sure, its a busy job, always things to be done and just when u are finally on top of one thing there's always a dozen other things to be sorted.
Yes when Ofsted are due it is stressful, at it would be in any job if u had inspectors in and as I am in Year 6 it gets quite stressful around SATS time and the leavers production but like I said, measures in place to help.

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 08:41

The Head should be easing the stress - many add to it!

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 08:42

Probably because they are stressed and pass it on!

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 08:43

The stress is piled on for SATs because the school (and the Head) are judged by them.

roughtyping · 17/02/2013 08:44

Euphemia - do you not feel stressed? (Sorry, I've skipped to the last page!)

I'm also a primary teacher in Scotland. I feel like there is just more and more being piled on - one initiative after another, as well as normal stuff with the class, as well as being expected to produce brand new planners with no time out - I don't feel that anyone can actually do it well IYSWIM.

I didn't teach under 5-14, I only started training in 2009. I love teaching but it is very stressful. Seems completely different to the stress of English teachers though.

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 08:47

My friend's DD was very stressed teaching in Scotland- she has left.

roughtyping · 17/02/2013 08:52

Just now TBH my worry is permanency - I'm due to gain permanency at the end of next month but I'm having to cross my fingers and hope they don't 'break my service' - despite having my own class. They make you stop working so that you don't gain permanent employment rights. Supply teachers have been left out in the cold in Scotland. A short term supply teacher (working for less than 5 days in a school) works for £50 a day now regardless of how long they've been teaching. It's awful. One of my friends had a kid pulling up carpets and jumping off of tables recently while being paid the lower rate, SMT had to get involved.

Sorry - that's a whole other thread altogether. :(

LindyHemming · 17/02/2013 08:52

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roughtyping · 17/02/2013 08:54

True - it seems mental down there!

LindyHemming · 17/02/2013 08:54

This reply has been deleted

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roughtyping · 17/02/2013 08:56

It is tough going. All schools seem to be struggling for supply (short or long term) now. I wonder why...

LindyHemming · 17/02/2013 09:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 09:23

I wouldn't supply teach for £50 a day.

CailinDana · 17/02/2013 09:25

God no, me neither exotic. When I was doing day to day supply I was on between £90 and £120 a day.

postmanpatscat · 17/02/2013 09:47

I'm not stressed, I love teaching :) Overloaded, yes, but not stressed usually. I teach 4 days a week (my own class), am SENCo, on SLT and also NQT mentor and training my TA on the job. We had ofsted less than two weeks ago too.

shebird · 17/02/2013 12:57

It's so sad to hear so many say that it is the system that causes the most stress and the reason so many good teachers are leaving. I always imagined it was the children that caused the most stress:). Reading this post is very depressing and worried about what is really going on at my DCs school. Our HT has left and has yet to be replaced. The teachers are doing a great keep calm and carry on act but I'm not convinced. Lets hope for a lottery win and I can send them to a private school.

Arisbottle · 17/02/2013 14:11

I do not see why private staff should be any less stressed than state school teachers. Unless it is linked to class size.

Again this may be because I teach secondary, but I do not recognize this picture of teaching on here.

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 14:16

Private school teachers can be just as stressed - the parents can be a nightmare- they are paying for it and they are customers!

Arisbottle · 17/02/2013 14:18

We all pay for our children's education through taxes, all parents have the right to expect the best education.

Feenie · 17/02/2013 14:20

But parents are not customers in state schools - children are.

teacherwith2kids · 17/02/2013 14:21

Postmanpatscat,

Like you, I am often somewhat overloaded.... but not usually stressed...

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 14:25

I know teachers in the state system who have moved from schools in very good areas to rougher ones because they can't stand the interference from parents!

exoticfruits · 17/02/2013 14:26

It doesn't mean that children are not getting the best education - they get that without parents being continually on their backs about trivialities.

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