Half of teachers want to quit the classroom
MORE than half of teachers are considering quitting because of high workloads, low morale and poor pay, a union has warned.
A National Union of Teachers survey also revealed the majority of teachers believe school curriculum and pupil assessments are “narrow and uncreative”.
And the union warned of a “perfect storm of crisis upon crisis” in the system as pupil numbers rise while teachers are leaving in droves, mainly because of their desire for a better work/life balance.
The YouGov survey of 1,000 teachers found 53% were considering quitting in the next two years, while two-fifths (39%) said they suffered low morale.
The National Union of Teachers said the UK Government must take urgent action on the key issues driving teachers away from the profession.
“The Government’s current priorities are both wrong and profoundly out of step with the views of teachers,” said Christine Blower, the NUT general secretary.
“They are the essential cause of the growing problems with teacher supply.”
The survey revealed workload continues to be a huge problem, with teachers working anything up to 60 hours a week.
Two-thirds of teachers surveyed (67%) said staffroom morale has plummeted in the past five years.
There have also been huge reductions in the number of support staff.
Just under half said there were fewer support workers in their schools and 32% reported a decline in the number of teachers.
Former education secretary Michael Gove’s introduction of performance-related pay has not gone down well, with two-thirds (67%) of those questioned saying they were against it.
Teachers – who earn around £29,446 on average in high schools – said it is “not practicable” to match an individual teacher’s contribution to higher grades for school pupils. The majority of teachers (76%) have also criticised the Government for turning schools requiring improvement by watchdog Ofsted into academies. They say the move damaging education. Meanwhile, 62% think the Government’s plans for 500 new free schools will have a negative
effect.
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“This survey demonstrates the combined, negative impact of the accountability agenda on teacher workload and morale,” said Ms Blower.
“Teachers feel the Department for Education’s work to tackle workload has been totally inadequate thus far.
“Meanwhile, nearly one million more pupils are coming into the system over the next decade.
“The Government’s solution so far has been to build free schools, often where there are surplus places and to allow class sizes to grow.”
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said teaching recruitment is at its highest level since 2008.
“We are working with the profession to understand and tackle the top issues that teachers said caused the most bureaucracy, with leading education experts taking action on key areas such as marking and lesson planning,” he said.