One in five new teachers leaving.

DGD is just off to university to study drama and education. She is just completing a gap year as a teaching assistant at the secondary school she attended. It does not seem to have put her off.

I expect it depends on the school, the head, the children and the parents.

I am not surprised, particularly if it is students with a degree who then do a nine months PGCE, which is very pressured, and is insufficient time to discover whether you have an aptitude for teaching or whether you actually want to do it. Working as a TA is a good preparation, but it is a shock for some when they have to assume full responsibility as a teacher; I have seen it happen several times.

I think a year as an assistant is good preparation for many jobs/professions. If they could be paid an "assistant" level of pay and not minimum wage which probably is not possible in some areas of work where the company cannot afford to employ someone not productive from day 1.

No I couldn’t be a teacher today. If one of the little blighters chucked a chair at me I’d probably clout him and end up sacked or in prison.

I loved teaching. I came to it late-34- and embraced the job fully. I took on new responsibilities and changes to my teaching methods wholeheartedly. I did a four year secondment and thoroughly enjoyed that too. I retired at 60 because I was exhausted. I didnt have the same links to the pupils anymore, although I was still a good teacher and got very good results. It was the endless paperwork which did for me; paperwork which did nothing to improve teaching but was about making teachers more accountable. It coincided with a terrible Head of Faculty who was promoted beyond his capabilities and was, and still is apparently, the laziest person in teaching I have known. He relied on staff doing his job for him and doing things he was paid for, not us. I was glad to go

I left teaching high school after a couple of years and taught disadvantaged adults. Much better and much more civilised. Then I went into social work which was better again. I continued to teach adults in the evenings, they were an absolute joy to teach and so appreciative.

It will depend on the school, the type of pupils and parents, discipline in the school, support given to new teachers, mentoring etc. The area will also play a big factor in the demographics, support given by parents to education. Lots of factors in play. Children starting school in nappies is a no no I think. When my children started school it was made very clear that all children had to be toilet trained. Why is that no longer the case?

Quite apart from any personal views on this, it's a very worrying statistic for education.
Are we heading for a situation in which school staffing is mostly young, new teachers, just developing their skills, who, then, leave and are replaced with the next tranche of inexperienced people?
That would not be good.