Teachers leave the classroom as ‘workload’ pressures rise
36,000 staff quit profession last year
A RISING number of teachers are walking out on the classroom despite an expected increase in pupil cohorts, as they struggle to cope with swelling pressures of the job, it has been warned.
Today, as staff head back to school for the start of the academic year, education experts have revealed that some 36,000 working-age teachers left the profession last year, and fewer are being trained to replace them with a third of newly-qualified staff quitting the classroom within their first five years.
It comes as a survey carried out by the Education Support Partnership, a counselling service set up to support teachers, has this week shown that 75 per cent of those who responded said they faced physical and mental health issues in the last two years because of their work.
Disgruntled teachers have cited recent curriculum reforms, Ofsted and funding pressures as reasons why they are struggling to cope. The revelations are being made public in the first episode of new BBC Inside Out series, which airs today.
Julian Stanley, chief executive officer at the Education Support Partnership, said the charity had seen an increase in the number of calls to its helpline.
He said: “In the last year I would say it’s been a 35 per cent increase, we’re dealing with 9,000 calls a year which equates to 150 calls a week.
“A lot of those calls are from people who are talking about concerns in the workplace but, more frequently, they are struggling with issues about the pace of change, the nature of the environment in which they work and the volume of work which they are asked to undertake.” Mr Stanley added: “Teachers are hugely dedicated. Commitment is great but equally you have to keep people functioning every day in front of different classes of children and I don’t always think that the public appreciate just how exhausting that can be.”
Only 80 per cent of those who qualify actually go into the profession, the programme found.
However, despite the reported shortfall in the area as an increasing number turn their back on the classroom, the Department for Education has said it is “seeing higher numbers return to teaching”.
Those featured on the programme include Callum Wetherill, a 28-year-old teacher from Wakefield.
He suffered a nervous breakdown that he claims was brought on by increasing demand at work.
Mr Wetherill said: “It got the point in my career where I couldn’t physically get out of bed in the morning, I was fearful about going to work.
“That first year was the best in my teaching career. External pressures – change in curriculum, Ofsted pressures, finance, funding – all just pile on you as time goes on. Ultimately, four years down the line, I had three to four weeks off work diagnosed with work-related anxiety.”
Mr Wetherill now works at the Joseph Norton Academy, a special school near West Bretton, Wakefield, where he said he is much happier.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “We are taking a huge amount of action in terms of tackling workload.
“We’re tackling the marking issue, we’re tackling the data collection issue.
“We’re tackling the lesson preparation and resourcing issues that schools are facing.”
“Thirty-two thousand came into teaching last year and I’m very optimistic that we’ll see a similar figure, or higher, this year coming into teaching. We’re also seeing higher numbers returning to teaching. Last year, 14,000 people returned to teaching.”
THE END of the summer holidays may be greeted with some relief by many parents but for an alarming number of teachers, the start of a new school year will be approached with dread.
New research for BBC Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire has found teachers are leaving the classroom at the highest rate since records began, with a counselling service reporting 75 per cent who responded to a workplace survey say they have faced physical or mental health issues. Other statistics are deeply concerning; one in three teachers quit the classroom within five years of qualifying and 36,000 working-age teachers left the profession last year.
One young teacher from Wakefield said external pressures from frequent curriculum changes, OFSTED inspections and worries about school funding, contributed to his nervous breakdown.
A small area of encouragement is that the Government has acknowledged there is a problem and intends to take action to tackle it. Schools minister Nick Gibb has highlighted initiatives with marking and data collection that are intended to reduce the workload on teachers and allow them to concentrate on their core duties in the classroom.
It is a step in the right direction, albeit it is clear that much more needs to be done in relation to workload and resourcing.
Teachers have a vital, if often under-appreciated role to play in our society, and require the right support and tools to be able to do their jobs effectively. Otherwise, the education of our children will suffer and eventually the nation as a whole will lose out in the long-term.