Why do so many newly qualified teachers leave?

www.learningspy.co.uk/education/why-do-so-many-teachers-leave-teaching/

Maybe because PGCE courses do not provide them with the skills to deal with:- Extremely I'll behaved children
Rude and demanding parents
Demands of a continually shifting curriculum and data gathering
Continual personal assessment and judgements made by SMTs
The real fear that OFSTED presents
Frozen pay, which has decreased through tax etc. over the last 3 years
Blame for societie's woes - teachers should spot anything wrong with a
pupil and get something done immediately!

I have just completed my first year of happy retirement after 38 wonderful years of teaching, but I was an old (bag) hand and could cope with all of the above. X

Of course I meant 'ill behaved' although my IPad did not!

My own experience of teaching is very limited. I spent most of my working life as a legal secretary but, about ten years ago, re-trained as a literacy teacher in adult education.

I enjoyed the teaching very much - this was probably partly due to the fact that my students were willing and eager participants. However, as I am sure other teachers will testify, there were huge amounts of paperwork - detailed Schedules of Work to be prepared each term, detailed lesson plans each lesson, lesson material to be prepared and photocopied, individual learning plans, homework to be marked, etc., etc. I was employed on a sessional basis and on the face of it the hourly rate was good. But once I'd taken into account travel to and from each teaching centre, speaking to students after the class, doing all the aforesaid paperwork, I worked out that I was being paid about £4 or less an hour.

I too had previously thought that teachers were quite fortunate, with a short working day and long holidays, but the reality is that a good proportion of work that is done by conscientious teachers (and I think most of them are) is outside the classroom and can amount to many hours.

I was lucky to have taught adult students, who were courteous, keen and appreciative. I did have one experience of being allocated a small group of young people who, for whatever reason, had dropped out of formal education. This was a very different experience - extremely challenging. I'm sure that teaching a large class of younger students must be very demanding and I can understand how teachers can finally "burn out".

In the end, I decided to return to secretarial work because I felt like I was working quite long hours and yet - with all the additional travelling, preparation, etc. - only being paid around £400 a month. As we still had a substantial mortgage at that time, it really wasn't sustainable.

Nowadays it seems that teachers are criticised for everything and, although some parents are appreciative of their efforts, the media seems to take every opportunity to belittle what they do and blame them for things that are often outside their control.

Not read the article yet but could it be something to do with the difficulty they experience finding a job in the first place?
My DD just heard yesterday that she has a permanent job at last, two years after getting her PGCE. She's not a wet-behind-the-ears new graduate either - she worked as a TA for 2 years in a school in a deprived area of Newcastle before doing her PGCE and has been doing supply for two years.
She's committed and enthusiastic but there were very few jobs to apply for.

J 52 ......Spot on!

I believe it's due to the stresses in the job. They work long hours, in difficult situations. So many children have home lives that leave them ill equipped to deal with the pressures of school life. So many parents have drug/alcohol problems. A close friend with 30 years in, who has always been "outstanding" and is so committed to her work, talks about dreading the ofsted inspection - what if I have an off day, and bring down the school standards she'll say. She works 12 - 14 hour days.

Bureacracy and too much central control, which sap professional freedom and job satisfaction.

mishap, exactly.

NQTs were part of my training responsibility when I was working, along with trainees trainng on the job and PGCE students. (And everyone else who needed training of any sort. And teaching English.)

I honestly think that, although the full time, on the job training is hard, those who were successful - and there were many - knew exactly what they were going to face. They had lived a school life, were in school almost every day, so were aware of the pressures and demonds from all quarters. They had an intensive training day each week, in which pedagogy and philosophy and teaching methods were taught.

It was part of a collegiate of 10 local secondary schools, and the trainees did half a year in each of two schools, to broaden their experience.

I am not knocking the PGCE route at all, but some of the emerging NQTs find the reality of school quite hard.

And yes, J52 I agree with all you say. Knocking teachers is often a favourite pastime; look no further than Gransnet from time to time. It hurts.

My DS gave up teaching ten years before retirement to do something else. the reason that she was finally overwhelmed with the bureaucracy and paperwork she had to do that neither helped the children nor gave any useful information. She had been teaching for nearly 30 years and was a head of department and, until the last two years had loved her job.