"We need more teachers, and we need them now..." "By the next decade, there will be 800,000 more pupils in secondary schools. Now is the time to study to become a teacher...Rebecca Ratcliffe, theguardian.com, Monday 30 June 2014 13.46 BST, http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/30/teacher-shortage-in-2020s"
A decade ago when I was training under a highly publicised scheme to attain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with my Bachelor's degree, it seemed a great opportunity to have your student loan repaid by qualifying and joining the profession... on reflection, over ten years of service in the public sector I always felt obliged to be the best every day despite illness or the pressures of work related stress, parents, pupils, politicians and being ridiculed for earning less than what I was 'worth' to the private sector (with less work related stress, higher salary and recognition as a professional!). I'm often asked why I chose to teach or indeed continued to do so - there is no simple answer other than the self gratification and knowing that I have made a difference to a young person's life - this is priceless. Consider this, teachers are in 'loco parentis' (in the place of a parent) for the majority of a child's learning journey... the most impressionable years are in the hands of 'teachers' during the day... So now we're looking at recruiting and placing new teachers into classrooms because the economies of scale demand this (again)....I wonder when they say we learn from our mistakes, how and when the 'mistake' (ignorance) of accepting the vital role a teacher (learning practitioner) plays in a young person's life will truly be appreciated i.e. when will teachers be used as professionals and not just pawns on the front line set up to take responsibility for other's mistakes? Where is the support for the rigours of the classroom (21st century battlefield?) Where is the care during and after a teaching career? There are often studies on the number of days lost to work related stress, however there seem to be few on the number of years (life years) lost by a teacher undergoing the stress... Teaching is indeed highly imperative and a rewarding career, however to any person considering entering the profession they should be made aware of the risks to their personal well-being, unless of course there is a radical change to the profession (which in my opinion is unlikely in the short term). Do you agree? We obviously need teachers, so how do we move forward and ensure the safety and well-being of the aspiring teacher? We've had the work life balance reviews, how do we ensure they are really enforced for the true intention to protect an invaluable workforce? What are your thoughts? Would I give up teaching? NO. Would I do it again given a second chance? absolutely! Teaching and learning are keys to progress and evolution depends on it. The following is an extract from: Tackling teacher stress - National Union of Teachers THE EXTENT OF TEACHER STRESS Stress has been described by the HSE as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed upon them”. Although stress itself is not a disease, it is recognised that excessive or prolonged stress can be a cause of mental and physical illness. HSE research has found that one in five people – an estimated 5 million workers – is ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressed at work, and that stress, anxiety and depression nationally lead to more than 12 million lost working days each year. The International Labour Organisation has estimated that the cost of stress to the British economy amounts to over ten per cent of its Gross National Product (GNP). Over the past ten years, studies have consistently found that teachers are amongst the most stressed workers in Britain. In 1997, Professor Cary Cooper of the University of Manchester’s Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) surveyed 104 jobs in the UK and found that teaching ranked fourth highest in terms of the prevalence of work-related stress. A 1999 survey by the NUT found that 36% of teachers felt the effects of stress all or most of the time. HSE research in 2000 found teaching to be the most stressful profession in the UK, with 41.5% of teachers reporting themselves as ‘highly stressed’. In 2003 a study undertaken by the Schools Advisory Service, the largest independent provider of teacher absence insurance in the UK, showed that one in three teachers took sick leave in the previous year as a result of work-related stress. A survey on occupational stress, published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology in 2005, ranked teaching as the second most stressful job out of 26 occupations analysed, with only ambulance drivers exceeding the stress levels found in the teaching profession. Finally, TUC surveys of union safety representatives in the education sector have consistently found stress to be the health and safety issue of greatest concern, with nearly three-quarters of safety representatives citing it is as the most significant hazard facing workers in schools and colleges in 2004. The human consequences of this excessive stress on teachers are serious and wide-ranging, and can include physical symptoms such as headaches, raised blood pressure, infections, digestive disorders, heart disease or cancer; mental health symptoms such as withdrawal, poor concentration, anxiety, depression, insomnia, ‘burn-out’ and an increased risk of suicide; and behavioural consequences such as low self-esteem, increased drug or alcohol intake and deteriorating personal relationships leading to family, relationship or career problems. Stress causes difficulties too in terms of teacher recruitment and retention, with many teachers choosing to leave the profession in the face of levels of stress which they find overwhelming. One recent survey found that 40 per cent of teachers currently in the profession expected to have left teaching within the next five years, and of those anticipating leaving, excessive workload was cited as the main reason amongst the under 50 age group. THE CAUSES OF TEACHER STRESS Recent research evidence has shown that the main sources of the current high levels of teacher stress include:
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