Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
40% of teachers would take a job abroad next term
Work-life balance & no respect take toll Fad diets double early death risk
A WORRYING 40% of teachers would quit the UK next term to work abroad if the right job came up, research shows.
The main reasons for leaving include work-life balance, lack of respect in schools, bureaucracy, disruptive pupils and government policy.
The study shows that 70% of teachers would consider working overseas.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The results are startling.
“But they are backed up by the fact that 40% of teachers leave within five years, whether they go abroad or leave the profession.
“It’s completely understandable why – given a 55-hour working week on average – teachers are looking to go somewhere else.”
The study comes as the number of secondary school pupils rises so fast it is estimated 47,000 more teachers will be needed by 2024.
Yet, after 2010 the number quitting the profession within five years has risen sharply.
Ann Mroz, editor of Tes magazine, which did the poll of 1,000 staff, said: “Our teachers are sought after all over the world, with the British teaching qualification often called the gold standard.
“There are a growing number of job opportunities for British teachers abroad, so we have to think about how to make it attractive for teachers to stay in the UK.” YO-YO dieting more than doubles the risk of dying young, a major study has found. Heart attacks and strokes are more common in otherwise healthy people who lose and gain weight repeatedly. Those in the top 25% for yo-yo dieting are two and a quarter times more likely to die from any cause over five and a half years, the study of 6.7 million South Koreans found. They were 43% more likely to have a heart attack and 41% more likely to have a stroke. People who yo-yo diet tend to have higher blood pressure, heart rates, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The study, the largest of its kind, was published in Circulation journal. Senior author, Prof Seung-hwan Lee of the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul, said: “Healthcare providers should pay attention to the variability of a patient’s blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels, as well as body weight. “Previous studies in other populations [suggest] this is likely to be a common phenomenon.”