The exodus continues

[Feenie]

timparamour.com/2016/03/07/the-story-of-the-teaching-crisis/

raven I remember you from the TES (I was Coolas) - so pleased you're having a great time abroad! How lovely to have free accommodation and some respect!

Wow, it all sounds incredible! My dds are settled and DH has a good job which he loves so abroad is not on my agenda but it sounds like a credible and fantastic alternative.

to you all two weeks till Easter!

I've had this academic year off on maternity leave. I've missed the students but I haven't missed all the nonsense. I'm over the moon that I'm able to drop down to three days.
Interestingly, absolutely no one applied for my mat cover, they had to get a former teacher back and my department are all slightly over timetable. I've previously taught in three departments. My main HoD isn't prepared to share me anymore leaving us an RS teacher down. This will be very difficult to find and we are one of 'the best' (whatever that means) schools in the country. This recruitment crisis is affecting all schools. I think we're rapidly approaching a situation where we'll have more part timers than full timers. And it's not just parents. A young male physics/maths teacher has dropped his hours, to keep his work life balance.

I'm hanging in there at the moment mostly because I moved schools in September last year, that alone has made a big difference (bullying, toxic work environment in my last school) and I really hope to stay in the profession I love but I can understand why so many are leaving.

Really heartening to hear all these stories about rediscovering their mojo abroad.

If Michael Wilshaw had his way, none of us would be allowed to, of course.

I truly dislike the ways teachers are treated.
Three teachers from my ds's primary school are leaving at Easter( including the Yr 6 teacher).
Parents are so worried, they have enrolled their children in after school tuition classes
It's so bloody sad

It takes quite a lot to leave at Easter. They must be pretty unhappy (or pregnant!)

Cheers Coolas .

Another factor, of course, is that my dc are no longer being taught by exhausted scared people, or ground through test after test...

I have 3 bright kids with differing needs - one is severely dyspraxic, one's super G&T (with suspected high functioning autism) & one's deaf.

All are flourishing in a small classes with happy, effective teachers. I'm not for a moment saying better teachers in the sense of being more qualified or more intelligent or more dedicated. But teachers who are more effective because they can genuinely communicate enthusiasm & have time to think.

It's scary what a difference it makes. Being miserable, frightened & resentful doesn't bring out the best in anyone.

I'm currently 4 days a week in Primary, but dh has been drip-feeding the idea into my head to drop back to 3. He says he's never seen me like this before, and I've been teaching 30 years, so ought to know what I'm doing. Don't feel as though I do, though. The goal posts have changed so rapidly, and even colleagues going on courses come back saying the course leaders have no idea what's going on either.

Part of me is just hanging on to the belief that the pendulum will have to swing back soon. I've seen some tough times in the profession over the years, but nothing as bad as this. I have fantastic and outstanding teacher friends who are on their knees with exhaustion, anxiety and stress and ready to walk. Our HT is awarding people whole weeks out of class to try and sort out the backlog of work, but it soon mounts up again.

Worst of all, though, is that the children are exhibiting signs of stress too. So many of them just can't cope with what we're having to expect of them.

I'm secondary maths and far from expecting the pendulum to swing the other way I'm expecting it to get worse.
What we've got to look forward to over the next couple of years:
Y7s having to resit their SATs in December meaning a massive load of work and intervention for these poor kids who are deemed to have failed.
First cohort going through the new GCSEs, the pass rate falling by 23% (as it must) and the shit hitting the fan when that hits the league tables.
Introduction of new linear maths A-levels. This will create a massive workload in getting up to speed with the changes. If it's anything like the new GCSE, textbooks will be crap and information will be thin on the ground. Take-up will plummet. Worse, we will be stuck in Y13 with kids who would have dropped out after AS with a reasonable grade who will have to continue to A-level because they now only take 3 subjects and can't drop one.

I remember RavenAk from TES as well - was on there for many years before they changed it :)

I have many friends teaching abroad now. I'm now supply - although we can't keep going on the small wage it offers, so I'm going back to the finance industry after this next maternity leave. Supply has made me like teaching again though :)

I have to say I'm insanely jealous of Raven's current working conditions but wouldn't have the bottle to do it myself.

I retrained as a teacher 2 years ago. As well as the Exodus of experienced teachers there is a ?odus of those who don't even do their NQT year (including me). Three of those on my course who were really good went to Hong Kong (stalked by recruiters on campus) - now regularly giving us Facebook updates on their lovely expat life . Others went into: Charity fundraising/Civil Service/Recruitment consultancy. Of those who stayed in education, I and one other do supply, and a few of the others went to indie schools. Of those who went to state schools, most are openly saying they are only doing the NQT year before scarpering elsewhere. The one who is adamant she will stay in the school she work in has already been given a TLR, in Sept she will be HoY on reduced timetable with rapid pathway to SLT...

I didn't have the bottle either, to be fair.

But then my twunt of an h turned out to be having an affair with a 'family friend'.

Once I'd LTB, or rather booted him out, I realised I was going to have to sell the house, my entire social life - which had resolved round his hobby for years & which OW is heavily involved in - was toast, & then I was going to be single handedly caring for 3 dc whilst simultaneously teaching full time...

Really, there was never going to be a better time to turn to the 'International Jobs' section of TES! .

noble I'm jealous too. But I don't understand why it's not achievable here. (I mean not the villa and the pool, but the better conditions!)

I've NC for this thread but I'm another one.

I've been a teacher for 10 years, I'm an HOD in an outstanding secondary school, often working 80 hours a week and I cannot do it anymore, I'm done.
When I spoke to my union they were helpful, my workload is excessive because we can't recruit a second in department but I don't want to get them involved, I don't want to rock the boat I just want out now.

As a single parent I can't just leave but I'm planning my escape, I should have enough money to be able to go this time next year. I'm not sure how I'm going to last the year out but I have to. I have no idea what I'm going to do next but I want to have a life outside of my work.

I feel for you all. I am training to be a T A.
I am degree educated, used to run my own company and no amount of money would make me do a teaching job. Stuff in the classroom yes but all the other nonsense. No.
As for anecdotes a v nice young man is an NQT at our school. Previous experience in industry. Is now on an ever downward spiral
Classroom in chaos. Kids misbehaving. Parents complaining. Him getting stressed. Parents demanding information about what the kids are learning. Him not having time to respond to them all individually and mark the homework.
He now has literally 3 patents waiting to be cross with him at the end of each day.
I really am not sure he will make it through the academic year before deciding it isn't for him. V sad.

Noblegiraffe - I'm dreading it too. We currently do IGCSE (English and Lit) as they are better prep for A Level. We switched when the Tories said we could, now suddenly we can't (there's been no change to IGCSE) if we want it to count. Currently the head's prepared to take the hit (tbh I think the government will be the ones who look stupid when we suddenly come bottom of the GCSE table but are still top 5 for A Level). I'm also heartbroken about the destruction of Creative Writing A Level and creative subjects more generally.

My head of department said to me on Friday, he doesnt know how anyone with children survives in teaching!
As a fellow maths teacher Noble I totally agree with you. The new changes will make things worse.

frika I've had several parallel universe type conversations with nurses and midwives and it seems to me that although you're not a teacher your experience of overwork, unfeasible data managing and shifting goalposts will give you a fair idea of what it's like over here at the whiteboard face.

I live in hope that things will have to change for the better. Have a hug for the NHS from the teaching profession

I nearly resigned last week but was talked out of it by my desperate head. I might still do it in May though. I've been teaching for nearly 20 years and have just had enough. I love the kids and love planning lessons but can't stand the crap any more. All the things that take up my time are of no benefit to the children in my class and some of them even have a negative impact. It's a joke.

I can't do this for another 25 years.

TES

Problem solved...

Me too...I nearly resigned last week after a doozy of a row with my HT on Thursday.I didn't go in Friday...HT phoned me on Friday and apologised hence I am back in this week. One day at a time...hanging in for the sake of my kids.

What was the row about?! Good to hear of a head teacher who apologises though.

DH works in the private sector (power industry). When I worked full time, his salary was almost double mine. His bonus is a third of my salary.

He starts work at 8:30am and finishes at 4:30pm. He NEVER, EVER does work outside these hours.

I worked 8am til 5:30pm and then 3-4 hours every night including 6-7 hours on weekends and STILL my work was incomplete. Some plans never got written because I literally ran out of time. Most of my time outside the classroom was spent marking - 60-90 minutes PER lesson. SMT didn't, apparently, require every piece of work to be WWW and EBI with extension tasks and THAT work to be then marked on top of new work. But everyone was told we weren't doing enough of it. But when we WWW and EBI every piece of work, we weren't told we were doing too much!

I went part time due to the demanding workload and the detrimental effect it was having on my personal well-being and family life. My OWN CHILD was being shunted in front of the the TV with cracker snacks to watch cbeebies and DVDs whilst I spent MORE TIME on other children. I spent 1 hour a day with my child and only about 4 hours each day on a weekend. I was, in effect, a part time mother.