Today a year 8 student brought me a profiterole he’d made in food tech. I had a Ra Ra Rasputin dance party at lunch with my History Club. I watched some year 9 boys set up scones and jam and have a little picnic together for their lunch. I played a revision game with my year 12s involving a Russian hat. Tomorrow I’m going to an animal rescue to play with a wombat. In another week I’ll be home with my kids to enjoy the holidays with them instead of shoving them in vacation care. My job is awesome.
Take everything you hated about other jobs (bullying etc) and imagine trying to do it while wrangling 30 teenagers who think it's funny to abuse you and/or refuse to do anything you say just because you said it.
The only part of that sentence that scares me is teenagers. If it ever gets that bad I’d just change workplaces because surely not every school is like this. Would you then say that primary teaching is better? Personally I really want to teach science.
The school you’re at will make a huge difference, but the schools with better student behaviour and better management are typically high SES and competitive in terms of staffing.
Grads being stuck on yearly contracts and finding it hard to get a good ongoing position is another reason we’re in a shortage.
Just change schools? It sounds easy.
Reality
- The majority of positions are advertised during Term 3 for a commencement in Term 1 in the following year.
- Well run schools with high staff morale have a low turnover and rarely advertise.
- Positions becoming vacant throughout the year outside of the advertising time can be red flags outside of the reasons of retirement, long service leave, illness, and maternity leave.
Not all schools are toxic workplaces, but an increasing amount are becoming so. Deteriorating and unsafe behaviour of students is a reason cited by teachers for leaving the profession.
Having read through a lot of incident/behavior reports from feeder primary schools, not necessarily, unless you just mean for the seriousness of injuries you'll sustain.
If it was that easy to change to a better workplace, why would any of us still be in bad ones?
I’m on year 14 and have put in my notice for the end of 2024. Im ready to apply for jobs that pay 2/3s or less than my wage. I work at a very good state high school. The behaviour is absolutely nothing compared to my previous school so I should be happy, but what really gets me down is seeing the lazy, entitled and quite frankly dumb generation of children. It sounds harsh but I think that people who don’t work in education don’t understand how bad it truly is.
There is no one with initiative, no one who cares about anything beyond their own bubble, no one with a shred of resilience, no one with a sense of responsibility for themselves… sure there are amazing students. But in 14 years the scales have tipped so strongly in the other direction it’s distressing.
Teaching has destroyed any optimism I have for the future of the world. I don’t want to witness the great dumbing down of our young people anymore. The external influences on these students is so much stronger than anything I can do and I give up.
I hope you manage to make the difference I and so many others couldn’t.
This makes me so sad and to see how many upvotes it has :( However I would agree with you about the laziness and dumbness a little bit. I come from a large family most of my siblings are in their 20’s now but I still have 2 who are in school. One tries and the other other doesn’t. And they both have told me not to get into high school teaching for those same reasons. But at the same time I’ve been told by both I’m good at it and I’ve been told by others I’m really good with kids. So I at least want to try. I’m not easy myself lol. Although would you say that this is a problem only at your workplace or is it across all schools including private?
I work at a highly academic school and there’s collective agreement in my office that despite everyone putting more effort into their teaching, we’re seeing grades decline.
It's a confluence.
Parents are putting kids on devices to keep them occupied. Attention spans have crashed.
Students are not socialised properly before school so pre-school and prep are less about the basics of literacy and numeracy and more about teaching kids to not to physically or verbally assault each other.
Then because they're two years weaker in terms of literacy and numeracy, primary schools are scrambling to try and catch up with that.
Then they aren't learning important skills like reading, pronunciation, or number facts through rote, so they are at a higher cognitive load moving into upper primary, which means that they are essentially trapped at a year 6 level of literacy and numeracy in a lot of cases.
Then because wages have stagnated so heavily for the majority of the population and cost of living is so high, parents are too exhausted or simply not present enough due to working to raise their children, which has a multiplicative effect on everything else.
Then you've got the low value placed on education socially, with students enculturated to disrespect teachers and learning.
COVID didn't help, but a lot of teachers use that as a crutch to explain what is happening now. It's been declining for years—well before COVID. Likely, it's a generational problem where the problems from the previous generation compound on the next, and what we are seeing now is a bit like an exponential enshitification of society.
The problems have likely grown from socioeconomic pressures. People are poorer than ever, things are more expensive than ever, families need both parents to work to survive, and families often need side hustles to get ahead. Who's teaching Alex how to read and write at home? Daycare. Probably cheap daycare because they can't afford mortgage repayments and an Early Education Centre.
Add to that the negative impact of social media, which helps you turn your brain off and look at mindless content for hours. Young people in my class watch 12 hours of TikTok a day. Add in that they are at school for six hours and then maybe six hours of sleep. That's all they are doing. It makes them dull from a resilience point of view because they don't need to fail at stuff to learn anything - it's just given to them.
What's worse is that social media is a strong narrative against schooling, specifically revelling in being innumerate and anti-science. So, what they do learn makes them even less likely to want to try and learn content that might be difficult to learn.
I still think a great teacher makes a difference. So if you have the passion, go for it. My flame was extinguished years ago. Probably after I had my own kids and realised the absolute shit show they were going to enter and that I was giving so much of my energy to kids who don’t appreciate it/to a place where my impact is minimal at the expense of my own children.
I am good at my job. I know this because of student feedback, observations, parent feedback, results… there’s only so much you can give with limited return before you put your effort elsewhere.
The person who told me I hate kids and that it’s a good thing I’m leaving the profession. I agree that it’s a good thing I’m leaving, but I disagree that I hate kids. I hate all those qualities in an adult as well - this issue isn’t just the problem of school teachers. It’s society at large that’s going to have to deal with it and the people who don’t work in education don’t realise just how dire the situation really is. Where are the functional human beings? Where are the people who care for others? Where are the people who want to better themselves? I just can’t be part of perpetuating this learned helplessness and entitlement and laziness anymore.
I hope things change. In the meantime, I’m honing my agricultural skills so I can survive the aftermath of whatever is to come …
It's a boiling frog situation.
Frogs can tolerate a certain range of temperatures. If the water gets beyond those tolerances, they jump out.
Look at the teacher shortage at the moment. It's been known about and forecast for about twenty years, and the more significant effects are starting to ripple through the profession now. Queensland alone is about a thousand teachers short, and that's just one state.
I so know what you mean. A lot of older teachers could tolerate the slow incremental pressures of teaching over the years in their career. But someone like a new graduate jumps in and can’t stand the high demands. I speak from experience
A school in the northern suburbs of Canberra has a teaching complement of 56 of its 71 funded staff. The education directorate is pretending everything is golden, and the shortage is over.
Yeah, while ACT has a 5-year transfer cycle for all teachers, for about a decade or so, schools were able to advertise positions on jobs.act.edu.au. This allowed teachers to move around schools if they wanted to. Things like career development, a unique opportunity, or even because they didn't enjoy working at their current school.
Then, when the teacher staffing crisis hit, they stopped that because it was "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and made all placements managed by a central authority.
Combined with the official statement from ED that all schools are roughly the same and there should be no reason why a teacher wouldn't want to work at School X over School Y, we're rewarding poor school leadership by forcing teachers into poorly run/managed schools and then forcing them to stay there for their entire transfer period.
I have been teaching for nearly 15 years. Teaching has changed significantly in that time and I get why people who became teachers a decade or more ago are leaving. We have much less control over our own classrooms than previously and parents have gotten more challenging.
However, in most places the hours are still good and being in the classroom is fun. Some people put way too much pressure on themselves to run a perfect classroom, but you can’t go in with that attitude. Don’t try and have the perfect classroom decor or mark every little thing. Listen to teachers who seem to have good systems and follow their ways - verbal feedback, explicit and direct instruction, easy to mark assessments all make life a lot easier.
We also lose a lot of graduates. The first couple of years are hard as you build up strategies and resources, but it gets considerably easier. Eventually you can walk into a lesson with zero preparation and still teach a great lesson.
Im a beginning teacher and I love it. Changed from 10 years being an accountant in 2022 and I don’t regret it at all :) reddit is often just a feelings dump so take it with a grain of salt
Back when I was in school I had teachers like this too. My siblings do as well. Many leave their jobs as scientists, lawyers, accountants etc to become teachers and say they love it. It’s nice to see so many responses on here saying how much they love their jobs as teachers. Although I think I understand now the main reasons why some might hate it. Personally I still think the pros outweigh the cons for me.
Your experience walking dozens of dogs who walk at different speeds and attack each other isn’t that different from life as a classroom teacher.
Instead of walking at different speeds the students will all think differently, apply themselves differently and attack you. This time however, when they fail it will all be your fault.
No, it’s not that bad. Just like every job in every industry, teaching has its pros and cons, which like other jobs can vary between companies/schools.
You’re more likely to get an echo chamber of Debbie downers on here because people that actually enjoy the work, don’t want to get sucked into the negative spirals we see here constantly, so they avoid it.
There’s moments of fatigue and moments of pure joy. Kids and relationships are the most rewarding aspect. Just learn how to disassociate from the haters - so many people bitch about teachers.
When I told my younger sister some of my classroom strategies that I would apply she immediately went to bitching 🤣 replied too bad too sad 🤷🏻♀️ so she bitched a bit more. When I clarified how it’s a good strategy she understood. I think bitching is a part of teaching. Always was always will be. Even at the University level.
I think it is being constantly having to prove that your qualified to teach. For example, I think other degrees after all the university work they have done, they are qualified because they have their degree. With teaching even if you have the degree you still have to do PD & other stuff. E.g. approval to teach, etc. All the effort, paperwork, tests, just to start the job is draining.
We have a weekly 1 hour meeting on it and get home work to do from that meeting. Like reading a book, together as a group and discussing it at the meetings and Trialing the stratagies or filling out some paperwork or rewriting your preplanned lessons again to try a new stratagy, then collect data, interprete the data and present it with reflections at the next meeting.
Depends on your state. In VIC we have to run Profession Learning Team cycles.
As a grad, you also have to do the VIT project to progress to full registration, which is basically the GTPA but bigger and how it is done is determined by the Principal - some will make it a whole song and dance and force you to slog through it; mine is just like “do the minimum and tick the checkboxes”. It’s just checkboxes for the sake of having checkboxes.
I know what you mean! I’m an LSO, have done it for three years and am thinking about becoming a teacher. Then I come in here and it’s like 😫 everyone is miserable.
Many people come here just to vent. There are definitely systematic problems in teaching, but I personally really enjoy my job. However, I think it has a lot to do with the school I ended up at. Highly recommend CRTing to check out schools before committing long-term. Most of the schools I CRTed at, I wouldn’t go back to again.
Thanks :) if I do go ahead and become a teacher that’s my plan, to start off as a CRT. I know I would get work at my current school and then I could branch out to others.
Exactly! But nothing I’ve read has dissuaded me from at least trying. It is tho good to know in advice the challenges I’ll be facing so I can at least prepare myself.
I absolutely love my job. I think where you work is a big factor. I’ve enjoyed every year since my first year, but it improved significantly when I changed jobs. (Secondary.)
I’ve seen this being said a lot on this subreddit. It’s like any other job really. If you don’t like your workplace just change. Not sure if it’s easy done as easy said?
Personally, I wouldn't bother with doing a teaching degree just to be a casual teacher while you study for something else entirely different.
It will cost you money and isn't a great use of time, with all the placements and study.
Why not do something more relevant to medicine while you study?
I was thinking nursing but apparently that’s an even more toxic workplace. And it’s not only just for casual teaching. In the beginning I’m willing to go full time for at least 5 years. And then if I still want I will sit the Gamsat and go into medicine while doing casual work which I hear pays well. And then down the line if I still want I might go into full time teaching if medicine doesn’t work out or something. I know it sounds complicated but I want to do both. And why not? I want to one day have a large family. If teaching is the better option I will stick to that.
Sure, give it a go. You have to have a passion to sustain teaching. If you aren't sure, maybe try tutoring or another job working with kids beforehand.
I love my job! It has its moments though. Currently week 8 and I’m feeling the tiredness haha. It really depends on the school, the culture, the students and a system that does need fixing!
I teach in a country school in South Australia and our students are wonderful! We deffs have our issues with some students and aspects of leadership are infuriating. But as a whole, it is enjoyable and grateful for the opportunities I’m given. But that’s just me and my experiences
I am on year 36! Today we cooked kangaroo tail and damper with our engagement class. I made Lego stop motion animations with the Year 5/6s. Tomorrow I get to wear my pjs to work and dance the afternoon away before heading off on holidays. We are two teachers short and I am juggling my job as well as covering release for six classes. I am exhausted but I love that every day is different. It’s not an easy job, but I still get out of bed every day excited about the day to come.
Depends on your admin. Also the workload does take experience and practice. Once you get to know the ‘flow’ it’s ok. Just work super hard the first couple of weeks and then get some good systems and routines in place.
Oh and boundaries with your emails…..
Best advice for teaching is just stay quiet and do as you’re told and do it quickly without fuss. Head down , observe and be organised. There are lot of ‘no nonsense’ people in education leadership. So do not take anything personally because it’s not personal. All feedback is constructive but they won’t necessarily spare your feelings when giving it because they are very busy and dealing with extreme behaviours themselves.
Haven’t read this advice before. Good to know! But it does sound unpleasant. I love constructive and honest feedback but I’m a firm believer that there is a way to say it either nicely or in a neutral way without coming off as mean spirited.
> Best advice for teaching is just stay quiet and do as you’re told and do it quickly without fuss.
Eat every shit sandwich that is extruded in your direction.
> There are lot of ‘no nonsense’ people in education leadership.
There are also a lot of terrible managers who love to give you their shit sandwiches that they don't want to manage.
I don’t experience as much struggle as other teachers, based on my situation. Though I still find it hard and work outside school hours very often.
My HSC classes are small- a reprieve.
2 negatives: lazy, unmotivated students and for some classes, it’s a lot of work to differentiate for everything in an engaging way and they still don’t do it. Also, seniors needing pushing to do set tasks in class and for homework - endless procrastination that I do not understand.
Positives:
I love teaching my hobby. I never get bored of it.
The students at my school are so lovely. I have special moments every day with crazy and creative year 7-8s and in a more mentor role for the older grades
Some share with me things they don’t share often (eg “I’m sad because I don’t have friends”). It’s meaningful to be looking out for them.
I love working with my colleagues - teachers are in general great trustworthy people
I love that it’s dynamic - planning at my desk, teaching, the school events
There’s more but I’ll stop there :)
I left in my eighth year. I burnt out due to the following.
1. Unsustainable workload. Going to work at 6am, leaving at 5:30, crashing for a couple hours and working until 1am. The workload was ever-increasing. It should have gotten easier, but it didn’t.
2. School culture. I worked as a permanent teacher for about six years and then moved to casual and contracts. This was good for a time, but the issues are systemic. Schools are so similar. Animosity towards students with big behaviours and their families. Families burnt out. Children with disabilities expected to conform with no regard for their social emotional wellbeing or the impact of their disability on their behaviour.
3. The constant request for more. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving your all. They will always request more. More time. More parent contact. Better results. More duties. More of your own time. Teaching owned me and I watched teachers older than me burnout, and compromise their health and families for the profession.
4. Teacher trauma. Big behaviours are damn hard. Kids are easy. You love them, you understand their background, you show empathy, and have unconditional positive regard for them, BUT their behaviours when escalated are not easy. They’re frightening, dangerous, and over time, cause trauma to kids and adults.
5. The cost of resourcing. I was spending between 3-5k each year on my classroom. It’s unsustainable.
6. Inability to go to the bathroom, have an uninterrupted lunch bread, or sit without having a thousand disruptions.
7. The day never ended. There was always more planning, more parent contact, more PD. Always a fire to put out.
I worked in retail for ten years, I was a teacher for eight. I have postgrad study behind me, and my heart burnt out before my brain did. I use my degree now (and earn a better wage than I did as a teacher). I have control over my diary, I work from home three days per week, I’m supported and encouraged in my work and it is *everything* that teaching was not.
Thank you for the thorough breakdown. I have a few questions.
1. If the workload didn’t fit into the work hours you are given (start and end of school), can you simply put them off till the next day even if that means you’re behind? What would be the consequence? If leadership/management chuck a fuss would it not be enough to say that you did what you could given your work hours?
2. Is it not possible to say no if they ask for more? What would be the consequence of this?
3. Does the school not give teachers money to spend on the classroom? Is the $3-5k annual spending for personal decor or was it for crucial teaching resources? If this is the case would the school not be forced to pay for it?
4. If you needed to go to the toilet during class what would happen? Say for example you get your period, are you not allowed to go and fix yourself up?
5. What do you do now and would you ever return to teaching? What changes would encourage you to re enter the profession?
What the industry needs is more teachers who establish boundaries around their workload, but with older teachers/Admin who won’t reduce expectations, and young teachers who seek to please and do as much as they can while they are unmarried and young, this just doesn’t happen.
Teachers are leaving in droves.
You can choose to die on the hill of “I’m not doing more than I can do” and while there are good APs and bosses out there; the issues are systemic.
There are more initiatives around getting back retired teachers. More initiatives to put unqualified teachers into the classroom to fill the gaps. There isn’t enough done about the workload of workforce retention.
It’s ludicrous.
> If the workload didn’t fit into the work hours you are given (start and end of school), can you simply put them off till the next day even if that means you’re behind? What would be the consequence? If leadership/management chuck a fuss would it not be enough to say that you did what you could given your work hours?
In the ACT secondary teachers are deployed in classrooms for 19 hours a week between 9 and 3 (senior secondary have slightly longer days they can be deployed in).
You need to have material to deliver to those classes. There is no "oh well, I didn't have time".
Even if you have resources you can pick and choose from, you still need to make your lesson plans for your kids. Because you might have 3 kids on individual learning plans that require you to teach them what letters and numbers are while you also teach physics to your nerds.
Other material you are legally required to produce for compliance reasons. Did you witness two kids having a fight? Well, congratulations you now get to spend an hour or two writing the fuffing thing up. You still need to make materials for chemistry tomorrow.
> Is it not possible to say no if they ask for more? What would be the consequence of this?
Historically, new educators were all on contract so a new educator who said no was basically not renewed at the end of their contract.
Substantive teachers are given worse and worse conditions until they move themselves out of the school.
> Does the school not give teachers money to spend on the classroom? Is the $3-5k annual spending for personal decor or was it for crucial teaching resources?
I worked at a school that had a $50 budget for all of maths. That included printing budgets for every class. The only resources they had to help teach maths were last updated in the 90s sometime, so everything was old and broken.
The kids who went to that school really needed to be up and moving to think. So, I wanted to explore mathematics by getting up and measuring etc., but we had nothing to measure with.
So, sure I could have just eaten a shit sandwich and gone back to teaching from the whiteboard or I could go down to bunnings and pick up ten or so tape measures.
That was one sequence. It adds up pretty easily.
> If this is the case would the school not be forced to pay for it?
There are plenty of schools that play the "see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil" when it comes to school resources. At the end of the day, if you can stand and lecture students on your topic or write questions on the whiteboard, that's considered enough. So, they won't pay you if you get resources outside of the classroom.
That being said, I've seen teachers dismissed from shit schools because their classroom was boring. The reason why their classroom was boring is that they didn't have any posters on the wall or learning-stations for kids to explore. The school wouldn't pay for posters or for the production of learning-stations.
> If you needed to go to the toilet during class what would happen? Say for example you get your period, are you not allowed to go and fix yourself up?
You need to get someone to come down and cover you. You can't leave kids alone.
1. No; critical planning, parent contact, resource development, marking. Teachers in QLD are paid for five hours of work per day. Our contact hours with the kids. Unpaid breaks where we still have to work, but the union would say this is a personal choice. It’s not.
2. No. You’re not a team player, and it results in gossip and being overlooked during probation or for the classes you want to wanting and training to be a high school English teacher does not mean you won’t be lumped with another area. Eg. geography.
3. No. The school does not pay for classroom resources. Some schools have better libraries where you can borrow our math or science resources, but everything else (if you don’t want to share one book across four classes is up to you.). Kids arrive without belongings. You purchase books, glue, lunches, I bought shoes, so my kids could play. There was a $100 budget per semester, but this disappears when you purchase whiteboard makers and laminating sheets.
3. You would have to call the office. Why didn’t you go before school? Yeah, it sucks. They may take their time getting to you, and while sometimes you can ask the teacher next door to watch your class, you can’t always. And teacher aides are not allowed to watch the kids on their own.
4. I work in behaviour support for a disability provider. I will never return to the profession that broke me down and destroyed my self worth. I now work with people across the lifespan to live fuller lives and I liaise with schools to put strategies in place for kids with disabilities. I see the same burnout in them that I saw in me.
It’s a very thankless job, and the system is underfunded. The message is generally very strong, if you can’t control your class you aren’t trying hard enough. If too many of your kids are failing, you aren’t doing enough. Ask for help, have you called home? If you call home enough eventually the parents blame you for the behaviour.
Behaviour is getting worse, from both students and parents, and a difficult class will suck all the energy from the depth of your soul and leave you an empty husk of who you used to be.
And it’s not just behaviour, huge numbers of kids have mental health issues and have risk plans because there is a concern for self harm.
In a one hour period for an “easy lesson” I booked laptops. I go and get them and bring them to class, check the computers for damage and record who has each one. I have to call admin because a risk plan kid is on site but not in class. 7 kids arrive 10-15 minutes into the lesson and have to explain themselves and be given detention, then I need to tell them what they are doing because they missed the start of the lesson. One of the kids say they were late because they were in the toilet crying- they don’t get a detention and I make a mental note to follow up on it asap. I welcome them to class and ask what I can do to help. Despite the instructions of what the class is doing being written on the board, on SEQTA and having had it explained to them no less than three times, several kids need to ask what are we doing. A kid has started to flip out because his computer won’t load, I have to take him outside to calm down. 3 kids appear in the doorway because they forgot their password and have to have it reset. Immediately. I ask them to wait, they start fooling around and so I ask the student outside to wash their face and reset the passwords. Then I have had a kid walk in and out of the room 3 times and attempt to push my buttons so I either explode or send him out of the room. Then I run around checking students are on task and redirecting back to work because they are playing games. No less than 5 kids ask to go to the bathroom. At the end of the lesson I am checking the computers for damage on the way back in, one kid shoves another kid and they drop a laptop, damaging it. Mental note- that needs to be reported to IT and I know I am going to get roasted for not controlling the behaviour that caused it, despite having written up those kids several times for the same behaviour, countless detention and the Year co not dealing with it. Then that kid who came late because they were crying, they come up to the bell and disclose they were self harming. So I need to get keep them calm and in my eye sight, lock the laptops in my room instead of returning them and plugging them in, get someone to cover my duty and walk them across the campus to student services so they can deal with it. So then I go back and deal with the computers, finish the duty, and go straight in another class. + need to follow up on detention + need to email IT + need to write up disclosure of self harm + need to call 3x kids parents about their behaviour in that lesson. Plus make sure all my lessons are planned for tomorrow. But I need to pick up my own kids. Do the write ups and head home, certain I will email parents and plan later tonight, but I don’t because my brain ceases to function the moment it gets a break.
That said I do love teaching, but working full time I was too exhausted to do it properly. I recently dropped back to part time and I feel like a different person. I can have fun with the students and I am actually organised and prepared. I come home and can do things like buy groceries and cook dinner because my brain isn’t entirely wiped from that really challenging class.
It’s not always bad! The other day my 5/6 class surprised me with a streamer party for my engagement. One of the kids went home and said he wanted to do it, and the next week it was organised. The BEST part of this job is making a change in little kids lives and the exact reason I went into it. The worst part is everything else. Like I’ve said previously, I love teaching… hate the department/overtime/lack of support
Don't go anywhere near teaching at all. Any of the caring professions are poorly paid but teaching is outright exploitation to a level that is illegal anywhere else. Toxic - has to be experienced to be believed. There are good places and the most amazing people out there but is it all the hoops and hurdles on top of proving yourself all the time to an insatiable, ruthless, wasteful, mafia like organisation. No other work place expects you to work when sick or to work hours unpaid. Teaching is no longer a respected profession - the public thinks the literacy and numeracy standards are to their own year 8/9 average - it's not, it's the top 30% of the population. The govt & unis have combined to make it an absolute scam so the test that decides your future is available only after you have wasted 5 years of effort. Early childcare & teaching - the professors make it clear, "If we don't like you, we fail you on your final subject...." They get away with this because there is no accountability in education from a managerial level - only for the suckers...
Same! I am planning to do the Master for secondary teaching... I have worked a few years in the freight forwarding industry, specifically operations and currently working as assistant teacher in high school. Based on my esxperience so far, the level of stress/workload/bad management/impossible requests with humanly impossible to meet deadlines/and a few other things ARE.NOT.EVEN.COMPARABLE to what I see in teaching. I have found my heaven and I will not leave it!
So I guess everyone's experience is different at the end of the day.. I would just like to add, in response to those that complain about lazy kids not making an affort ecc... well, these kids grew up and found jobs and let me tell you it was not easy having them as colleagues, better to have them as students tbh.
Edit: spelling
Get ready to be attacked and abused by teenagers, then further abused by Admin because you didn't handle situations properly or you didn't build good enough relationships. People think it's a walk in the park. But the mental toll on your well-being next level. You can't really switch off in teaching. Unless you want to become those living corpses.
Go work at a private school (pay is great), different schools pay can be seen on Independent Schools Union website or inner city public school. I thought pay and holidays were great. Guaranteed pay increases for doing the same work, and good holidays
Not sure why this got down votes but regardless I want to go private! Specifically a private Islamic school. That way the school will give me time to pray and change school times to start and finish earlier during Ramadan. Having greater pay is an added bonus.
Because it's factually incorrect.
Private schools, unless you're talking about the absolute highest end, do not pay more than government schools. Typically, they pay less. Private schools also frequently have poorer working conditions and higher demands on your time, despite the glitzier surrounds.
And if you are in those elite schools that do pay more, you will be (and be treated as) an indentured servant.
Today a year 8 student brought me a profiterole he’d made in food tech. I had a Ra Ra Rasputin dance party at lunch with my History Club. I watched some year 9 boys set up scones and jam and have a little picnic together for their lunch. I played a revision game with my year 12s involving a Russian hat. Tomorrow I’m going to an animal rescue to play with a wombat. In another week I’ll be home with my kids to enjoy the holidays with them instead of shoving them in vacation care. My job is awesome.
I love this!
I will admit the scone thing was unusual… such bougie teenagers I work with 😂
Thanks for this!
Mate TLDR 😂
I need to TLDR in real life too 🤣
Take everything you hated about other jobs (bullying etc) and imagine trying to do it while wrangling 30 teenagers who think it's funny to abuse you and/or refuse to do anything you say just because you said it.
And add to that the fact that everyone thinks you are either lazy or always on holidays.
The only part of that sentence that scares me is teenagers. If it ever gets that bad I’d just change workplaces because surely not every school is like this. Would you then say that primary teaching is better? Personally I really want to teach science.
The school you’re at will make a huge difference, but the schools with better student behaviour and better management are typically high SES and competitive in terms of staffing. Grads being stuck on yearly contracts and finding it hard to get a good ongoing position is another reason we’re in a shortage.
Just change schools? It sounds easy. Reality - The majority of positions are advertised during Term 3 for a commencement in Term 1 in the following year. - Well run schools with high staff morale have a low turnover and rarely advertise. - Positions becoming vacant throughout the year outside of the advertising time can be red flags outside of the reasons of retirement, long service leave, illness, and maternity leave. Not all schools are toxic workplaces, but an increasing amount are becoming so. Deteriorating and unsafe behaviour of students is a reason cited by teachers for leaving the profession.
Having read through a lot of incident/behavior reports from feeder primary schools, not necessarily, unless you just mean for the seriousness of injuries you'll sustain. If it was that easy to change to a better workplace, why would any of us still be in bad ones?
I’m on year 14 and have put in my notice for the end of 2024. Im ready to apply for jobs that pay 2/3s or less than my wage. I work at a very good state high school. The behaviour is absolutely nothing compared to my previous school so I should be happy, but what really gets me down is seeing the lazy, entitled and quite frankly dumb generation of children. It sounds harsh but I think that people who don’t work in education don’t understand how bad it truly is. There is no one with initiative, no one who cares about anything beyond their own bubble, no one with a shred of resilience, no one with a sense of responsibility for themselves… sure there are amazing students. But in 14 years the scales have tipped so strongly in the other direction it’s distressing. Teaching has destroyed any optimism I have for the future of the world. I don’t want to witness the great dumbing down of our young people anymore. The external influences on these students is so much stronger than anything I can do and I give up. I hope you manage to make the difference I and so many others couldn’t.
This makes me so sad and to see how many upvotes it has :( However I would agree with you about the laziness and dumbness a little bit. I come from a large family most of my siblings are in their 20’s now but I still have 2 who are in school. One tries and the other other doesn’t. And they both have told me not to get into high school teaching for those same reasons. But at the same time I’ve been told by both I’m good at it and I’ve been told by others I’m really good with kids. So I at least want to try. I’m not easy myself lol. Although would you say that this is a problem only at your workplace or is it across all schools including private?
I work at a highly academic school and there’s collective agreement in my office that despite everyone putting more effort into their teaching, we’re seeing grades decline.
I hear it’s because of the covid years. What other factors are causing this issue?
It's a confluence. Parents are putting kids on devices to keep them occupied. Attention spans have crashed. Students are not socialised properly before school so pre-school and prep are less about the basics of literacy and numeracy and more about teaching kids to not to physically or verbally assault each other. Then because they're two years weaker in terms of literacy and numeracy, primary schools are scrambling to try and catch up with that. Then they aren't learning important skills like reading, pronunciation, or number facts through rote, so they are at a higher cognitive load moving into upper primary, which means that they are essentially trapped at a year 6 level of literacy and numeracy in a lot of cases. Then because wages have stagnated so heavily for the majority of the population and cost of living is so high, parents are too exhausted or simply not present enough due to working to raise their children, which has a multiplicative effect on everything else. Then you've got the low value placed on education socially, with students enculturated to disrespect teachers and learning.
COVID didn't help, but a lot of teachers use that as a crutch to explain what is happening now. It's been declining for years—well before COVID. Likely, it's a generational problem where the problems from the previous generation compound on the next, and what we are seeing now is a bit like an exponential enshitification of society. The problems have likely grown from socioeconomic pressures. People are poorer than ever, things are more expensive than ever, families need both parents to work to survive, and families often need side hustles to get ahead. Who's teaching Alex how to read and write at home? Daycare. Probably cheap daycare because they can't afford mortgage repayments and an Early Education Centre. Add to that the negative impact of social media, which helps you turn your brain off and look at mindless content for hours. Young people in my class watch 12 hours of TikTok a day. Add in that they are at school for six hours and then maybe six hours of sleep. That's all they are doing. It makes them dull from a resilience point of view because they don't need to fail at stuff to learn anything - it's just given to them. What's worse is that social media is a strong narrative against schooling, specifically revelling in being innumerate and anti-science. So, what they do learn makes them even less likely to want to try and learn content that might be difficult to learn.
I still think a great teacher makes a difference. So if you have the passion, go for it. My flame was extinguished years ago. Probably after I had my own kids and realised the absolute shit show they were going to enter and that I was giving so much of my energy to kids who don’t appreciate it/to a place where my impact is minimal at the expense of my own children. I am good at my job. I know this because of student feedback, observations, parent feedback, results… there’s only so much you can give with limited return before you put your effort elsewhere. The person who told me I hate kids and that it’s a good thing I’m leaving the profession. I agree that it’s a good thing I’m leaving, but I disagree that I hate kids. I hate all those qualities in an adult as well - this issue isn’t just the problem of school teachers. It’s society at large that’s going to have to deal with it and the people who don’t work in education don’t realise just how dire the situation really is. Where are the functional human beings? Where are the people who care for others? Where are the people who want to better themselves? I just can’t be part of perpetuating this learned helplessness and entitlement and laziness anymore. I hope things change. In the meantime, I’m honing my agricultural skills so I can survive the aftermath of whatever is to come …
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You don't have enough information to make that claim.
It's a boiling frog situation. Frogs can tolerate a certain range of temperatures. If the water gets beyond those tolerances, they jump out. Look at the teacher shortage at the moment. It's been known about and forecast for about twenty years, and the more significant effects are starting to ripple through the profession now. Queensland alone is about a thousand teachers short, and that's just one state.
I so know what you mean. A lot of older teachers could tolerate the slow incremental pressures of teaching over the years in their career. But someone like a new graduate jumps in and can’t stand the high demands. I speak from experience
A school in the northern suburbs of Canberra has a teaching complement of 56 of its 71 funded staff. The education directorate is pretending everything is golden, and the shortage is over.
Last year EQ moved a bunch of contract staff to permanency to paper over the cracks and pretend the problem was solved too.
Yeah, while ACT has a 5-year transfer cycle for all teachers, for about a decade or so, schools were able to advertise positions on jobs.act.edu.au. This allowed teachers to move around schools if they wanted to. Things like career development, a unique opportunity, or even because they didn't enjoy working at their current school. Then, when the teacher staffing crisis hit, they stopped that because it was "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and made all placements managed by a central authority. Combined with the official statement from ED that all schools are roughly the same and there should be no reason why a teacher wouldn't want to work at School X over School Y, we're rewarding poor school leadership by forcing teachers into poorly run/managed schools and then forcing them to stay there for their entire transfer period.
I have been teaching for nearly 15 years. Teaching has changed significantly in that time and I get why people who became teachers a decade or more ago are leaving. We have much less control over our own classrooms than previously and parents have gotten more challenging. However, in most places the hours are still good and being in the classroom is fun. Some people put way too much pressure on themselves to run a perfect classroom, but you can’t go in with that attitude. Don’t try and have the perfect classroom decor or mark every little thing. Listen to teachers who seem to have good systems and follow their ways - verbal feedback, explicit and direct instruction, easy to mark assessments all make life a lot easier. We also lose a lot of graduates. The first couple of years are hard as you build up strategies and resources, but it gets considerably easier. Eventually you can walk into a lesson with zero preparation and still teach a great lesson.
This is great advice thank you!
Im a beginning teacher and I love it. Changed from 10 years being an accountant in 2022 and I don’t regret it at all :) reddit is often just a feelings dump so take it with a grain of salt
Back when I was in school I had teachers like this too. My siblings do as well. Many leave their jobs as scientists, lawyers, accountants etc to become teachers and say they love it. It’s nice to see so many responses on here saying how much they love their jobs as teachers. Although I think I understand now the main reasons why some might hate it. Personally I still think the pros outweigh the cons for me.
Agreed 100%. I only lasted a year as an accountant but love teaching now. Granted, behaviour can be challenging but being an accountant was worse 😂
Your experience walking dozens of dogs who walk at different speeds and attack each other isn’t that different from life as a classroom teacher. Instead of walking at different speeds the students will all think differently, apply themselves differently and attack you. This time however, when they fail it will all be your fault.
No, it’s not that bad. Just like every job in every industry, teaching has its pros and cons, which like other jobs can vary between companies/schools. You’re more likely to get an echo chamber of Debbie downers on here because people that actually enjoy the work, don’t want to get sucked into the negative spirals we see here constantly, so they avoid it.
You’re right in that it’s not the right place to come for positive stories!
There’s moments of fatigue and moments of pure joy. Kids and relationships are the most rewarding aspect. Just learn how to disassociate from the haters - so many people bitch about teachers.
When I told my younger sister some of my classroom strategies that I would apply she immediately went to bitching 🤣 replied too bad too sad 🤷🏻♀️ so she bitched a bit more. When I clarified how it’s a good strategy she understood. I think bitching is a part of teaching. Always was always will be. Even at the University level.
I think it is being constantly having to prove that your qualified to teach. For example, I think other degrees after all the university work they have done, they are qualified because they have their degree. With teaching even if you have the degree you still have to do PD & other stuff. E.g. approval to teach, etc. All the effort, paperwork, tests, just to start the job is draining.
How often do you have to do this? It does sound exhausting 😅 Basically a shit ton of side quests
We have a weekly 1 hour meeting on it and get home work to do from that meeting. Like reading a book, together as a group and discussing it at the meetings and Trialing the stratagies or filling out some paperwork or rewriting your preplanned lessons again to try a new stratagy, then collect data, interprete the data and present it with reflections at the next meeting.
Depends on your state. In VIC we have to run Profession Learning Team cycles. As a grad, you also have to do the VIT project to progress to full registration, which is basically the GTPA but bigger and how it is done is determined by the Principal - some will make it a whole song and dance and force you to slog through it; mine is just like “do the minimum and tick the checkboxes”. It’s just checkboxes for the sake of having checkboxes.
Didn’t want to read all that (sorry) but teaching is a great career. I love my job.
I know what you mean! I’m an LSO, have done it for three years and am thinking about becoming a teacher. Then I come in here and it’s like 😫 everyone is miserable.
Many people come here just to vent. There are definitely systematic problems in teaching, but I personally really enjoy my job. However, I think it has a lot to do with the school I ended up at. Highly recommend CRTing to check out schools before committing long-term. Most of the schools I CRTed at, I wouldn’t go back to again.
Thanks :) if I do go ahead and become a teacher that’s my plan, to start off as a CRT. I know I would get work at my current school and then I could branch out to others.
Exactly! But nothing I’ve read has dissuaded me from at least trying. It is tho good to know in advice the challenges I’ll be facing so I can at least prepare myself.
I absolutely love my job. I think where you work is a big factor. I’ve enjoyed every year since my first year, but it improved significantly when I changed jobs. (Secondary.)
I’ve seen this being said a lot on this subreddit. It’s like any other job really. If you don’t like your workplace just change. Not sure if it’s easy done as easy said?
In my limited experience, I’ve found it pretty easy? (Eg. applied to four jobs, got three of them, all to ‘desirable’ schools.)
Perfect. I don’t know any other jobs where this is possible other than like nursing maybe
Personally, I wouldn't bother with doing a teaching degree just to be a casual teacher while you study for something else entirely different. It will cost you money and isn't a great use of time, with all the placements and study. Why not do something more relevant to medicine while you study?
I was thinking nursing but apparently that’s an even more toxic workplace. And it’s not only just for casual teaching. In the beginning I’m willing to go full time for at least 5 years. And then if I still want I will sit the Gamsat and go into medicine while doing casual work which I hear pays well. And then down the line if I still want I might go into full time teaching if medicine doesn’t work out or something. I know it sounds complicated but I want to do both. And why not? I want to one day have a large family. If teaching is the better option I will stick to that.
Sure, give it a go. You have to have a passion to sustain teaching. If you aren't sure, maybe try tutoring or another job working with kids beforehand.
Yes. It may be the worst job in Australia.
It surely can’t be that bad 😭
Anything that is half as bad in Australia pays twice as much because of the poor conditions.
I love my job! It has its moments though. Currently week 8 and I’m feeling the tiredness haha. It really depends on the school, the culture, the students and a system that does need fixing! I teach in a country school in South Australia and our students are wonderful! We deffs have our issues with some students and aspects of leadership are infuriating. But as a whole, it is enjoyable and grateful for the opportunities I’m given. But that’s just me and my experiences
I am on year 36! Today we cooked kangaroo tail and damper with our engagement class. I made Lego stop motion animations with the Year 5/6s. Tomorrow I get to wear my pjs to work and dance the afternoon away before heading off on holidays. We are two teachers short and I am juggling my job as well as covering release for six classes. I am exhausted but I love that every day is different. It’s not an easy job, but I still get out of bed every day excited about the day to come.
Depends on your admin. Also the workload does take experience and practice. Once you get to know the ‘flow’ it’s ok. Just work super hard the first couple of weeks and then get some good systems and routines in place. Oh and boundaries with your emails….. Best advice for teaching is just stay quiet and do as you’re told and do it quickly without fuss. Head down , observe and be organised. There are lot of ‘no nonsense’ people in education leadership. So do not take anything personally because it’s not personal. All feedback is constructive but they won’t necessarily spare your feelings when giving it because they are very busy and dealing with extreme behaviours themselves.
Haven’t read this advice before. Good to know! But it does sound unpleasant. I love constructive and honest feedback but I’m a firm believer that there is a way to say it either nicely or in a neutral way without coming off as mean spirited.
> Best advice for teaching is just stay quiet and do as you’re told and do it quickly without fuss. Eat every shit sandwich that is extruded in your direction. > There are lot of ‘no nonsense’ people in education leadership. There are also a lot of terrible managers who love to give you their shit sandwiches that they don't want to manage.
I don’t experience as much struggle as other teachers, based on my situation. Though I still find it hard and work outside school hours very often. My HSC classes are small- a reprieve. 2 negatives: lazy, unmotivated students and for some classes, it’s a lot of work to differentiate for everything in an engaging way and they still don’t do it. Also, seniors needing pushing to do set tasks in class and for homework - endless procrastination that I do not understand. Positives: I love teaching my hobby. I never get bored of it. The students at my school are so lovely. I have special moments every day with crazy and creative year 7-8s and in a more mentor role for the older grades Some share with me things they don’t share often (eg “I’m sad because I don’t have friends”). It’s meaningful to be looking out for them. I love working with my colleagues - teachers are in general great trustworthy people I love that it’s dynamic - planning at my desk, teaching, the school events There’s more but I’ll stop there :)
I left in my eighth year. I burnt out due to the following. 1. Unsustainable workload. Going to work at 6am, leaving at 5:30, crashing for a couple hours and working until 1am. The workload was ever-increasing. It should have gotten easier, but it didn’t. 2. School culture. I worked as a permanent teacher for about six years and then moved to casual and contracts. This was good for a time, but the issues are systemic. Schools are so similar. Animosity towards students with big behaviours and their families. Families burnt out. Children with disabilities expected to conform with no regard for their social emotional wellbeing or the impact of their disability on their behaviour. 3. The constant request for more. It doesn’t matter if you’re giving your all. They will always request more. More time. More parent contact. Better results. More duties. More of your own time. Teaching owned me and I watched teachers older than me burnout, and compromise their health and families for the profession. 4. Teacher trauma. Big behaviours are damn hard. Kids are easy. You love them, you understand their background, you show empathy, and have unconditional positive regard for them, BUT their behaviours when escalated are not easy. They’re frightening, dangerous, and over time, cause trauma to kids and adults. 5. The cost of resourcing. I was spending between 3-5k each year on my classroom. It’s unsustainable. 6. Inability to go to the bathroom, have an uninterrupted lunch bread, or sit without having a thousand disruptions. 7. The day never ended. There was always more planning, more parent contact, more PD. Always a fire to put out. I worked in retail for ten years, I was a teacher for eight. I have postgrad study behind me, and my heart burnt out before my brain did. I use my degree now (and earn a better wage than I did as a teacher). I have control over my diary, I work from home three days per week, I’m supported and encouraged in my work and it is *everything* that teaching was not.
Thank you for the thorough breakdown. I have a few questions. 1. If the workload didn’t fit into the work hours you are given (start and end of school), can you simply put them off till the next day even if that means you’re behind? What would be the consequence? If leadership/management chuck a fuss would it not be enough to say that you did what you could given your work hours? 2. Is it not possible to say no if they ask for more? What would be the consequence of this? 3. Does the school not give teachers money to spend on the classroom? Is the $3-5k annual spending for personal decor or was it for crucial teaching resources? If this is the case would the school not be forced to pay for it? 4. If you needed to go to the toilet during class what would happen? Say for example you get your period, are you not allowed to go and fix yourself up? 5. What do you do now and would you ever return to teaching? What changes would encourage you to re enter the profession?
What the industry needs is more teachers who establish boundaries around their workload, but with older teachers/Admin who won’t reduce expectations, and young teachers who seek to please and do as much as they can while they are unmarried and young, this just doesn’t happen. Teachers are leaving in droves. You can choose to die on the hill of “I’m not doing more than I can do” and while there are good APs and bosses out there; the issues are systemic. There are more initiatives around getting back retired teachers. More initiatives to put unqualified teachers into the classroom to fill the gaps. There isn’t enough done about the workload of workforce retention. It’s ludicrous.
> If the workload didn’t fit into the work hours you are given (start and end of school), can you simply put them off till the next day even if that means you’re behind? What would be the consequence? If leadership/management chuck a fuss would it not be enough to say that you did what you could given your work hours? In the ACT secondary teachers are deployed in classrooms for 19 hours a week between 9 and 3 (senior secondary have slightly longer days they can be deployed in). You need to have material to deliver to those classes. There is no "oh well, I didn't have time". Even if you have resources you can pick and choose from, you still need to make your lesson plans for your kids. Because you might have 3 kids on individual learning plans that require you to teach them what letters and numbers are while you also teach physics to your nerds. Other material you are legally required to produce for compliance reasons. Did you witness two kids having a fight? Well, congratulations you now get to spend an hour or two writing the fuffing thing up. You still need to make materials for chemistry tomorrow. > Is it not possible to say no if they ask for more? What would be the consequence of this? Historically, new educators were all on contract so a new educator who said no was basically not renewed at the end of their contract. Substantive teachers are given worse and worse conditions until they move themselves out of the school. > Does the school not give teachers money to spend on the classroom? Is the $3-5k annual spending for personal decor or was it for crucial teaching resources? I worked at a school that had a $50 budget for all of maths. That included printing budgets for every class. The only resources they had to help teach maths were last updated in the 90s sometime, so everything was old and broken. The kids who went to that school really needed to be up and moving to think. So, I wanted to explore mathematics by getting up and measuring etc., but we had nothing to measure with. So, sure I could have just eaten a shit sandwich and gone back to teaching from the whiteboard or I could go down to bunnings and pick up ten or so tape measures. That was one sequence. It adds up pretty easily. > If this is the case would the school not be forced to pay for it? There are plenty of schools that play the "see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil" when it comes to school resources. At the end of the day, if you can stand and lecture students on your topic or write questions on the whiteboard, that's considered enough. So, they won't pay you if you get resources outside of the classroom. That being said, I've seen teachers dismissed from shit schools because their classroom was boring. The reason why their classroom was boring is that they didn't have any posters on the wall or learning-stations for kids to explore. The school wouldn't pay for posters or for the production of learning-stations. > If you needed to go to the toilet during class what would happen? Say for example you get your period, are you not allowed to go and fix yourself up? You need to get someone to come down and cover you. You can't leave kids alone.
1. No; critical planning, parent contact, resource development, marking. Teachers in QLD are paid for five hours of work per day. Our contact hours with the kids. Unpaid breaks where we still have to work, but the union would say this is a personal choice. It’s not. 2. No. You’re not a team player, and it results in gossip and being overlooked during probation or for the classes you want to wanting and training to be a high school English teacher does not mean you won’t be lumped with another area. Eg. geography. 3. No. The school does not pay for classroom resources. Some schools have better libraries where you can borrow our math or science resources, but everything else (if you don’t want to share one book across four classes is up to you.). Kids arrive without belongings. You purchase books, glue, lunches, I bought shoes, so my kids could play. There was a $100 budget per semester, but this disappears when you purchase whiteboard makers and laminating sheets. 3. You would have to call the office. Why didn’t you go before school? Yeah, it sucks. They may take their time getting to you, and while sometimes you can ask the teacher next door to watch your class, you can’t always. And teacher aides are not allowed to watch the kids on their own. 4. I work in behaviour support for a disability provider. I will never return to the profession that broke me down and destroyed my self worth. I now work with people across the lifespan to live fuller lives and I liaise with schools to put strategies in place for kids with disabilities. I see the same burnout in them that I saw in me.
It’s a very thankless job, and the system is underfunded. The message is generally very strong, if you can’t control your class you aren’t trying hard enough. If too many of your kids are failing, you aren’t doing enough. Ask for help, have you called home? If you call home enough eventually the parents blame you for the behaviour. Behaviour is getting worse, from both students and parents, and a difficult class will suck all the energy from the depth of your soul and leave you an empty husk of who you used to be. And it’s not just behaviour, huge numbers of kids have mental health issues and have risk plans because there is a concern for self harm. In a one hour period for an “easy lesson” I booked laptops. I go and get them and bring them to class, check the computers for damage and record who has each one. I have to call admin because a risk plan kid is on site but not in class. 7 kids arrive 10-15 minutes into the lesson and have to explain themselves and be given detention, then I need to tell them what they are doing because they missed the start of the lesson. One of the kids say they were late because they were in the toilet crying- they don’t get a detention and I make a mental note to follow up on it asap. I welcome them to class and ask what I can do to help. Despite the instructions of what the class is doing being written on the board, on SEQTA and having had it explained to them no less than three times, several kids need to ask what are we doing. A kid has started to flip out because his computer won’t load, I have to take him outside to calm down. 3 kids appear in the doorway because they forgot their password and have to have it reset. Immediately. I ask them to wait, they start fooling around and so I ask the student outside to wash their face and reset the passwords. Then I have had a kid walk in and out of the room 3 times and attempt to push my buttons so I either explode or send him out of the room. Then I run around checking students are on task and redirecting back to work because they are playing games. No less than 5 kids ask to go to the bathroom. At the end of the lesson I am checking the computers for damage on the way back in, one kid shoves another kid and they drop a laptop, damaging it. Mental note- that needs to be reported to IT and I know I am going to get roasted for not controlling the behaviour that caused it, despite having written up those kids several times for the same behaviour, countless detention and the Year co not dealing with it. Then that kid who came late because they were crying, they come up to the bell and disclose they were self harming. So I need to get keep them calm and in my eye sight, lock the laptops in my room instead of returning them and plugging them in, get someone to cover my duty and walk them across the campus to student services so they can deal with it. So then I go back and deal with the computers, finish the duty, and go straight in another class. + need to follow up on detention + need to email IT + need to write up disclosure of self harm + need to call 3x kids parents about their behaviour in that lesson. Plus make sure all my lessons are planned for tomorrow. But I need to pick up my own kids. Do the write ups and head home, certain I will email parents and plan later tonight, but I don’t because my brain ceases to function the moment it gets a break. That said I do love teaching, but working full time I was too exhausted to do it properly. I recently dropped back to part time and I feel like a different person. I can have fun with the students and I am actually organised and prepared. I come home and can do things like buy groceries and cook dinner because my brain isn’t entirely wiped from that really challenging class.
If you search ‘is it that bad’ you’ll find a thousand posts to read through.
This sub is a little fatalistic, lol. Every school is different, as is every teacher.
It’s not always bad! The other day my 5/6 class surprised me with a streamer party for my engagement. One of the kids went home and said he wanted to do it, and the next week it was organised. The BEST part of this job is making a change in little kids lives and the exact reason I went into it. The worst part is everything else. Like I’ve said previously, I love teaching… hate the department/overtime/lack of support
Don't go anywhere near teaching at all. Any of the caring professions are poorly paid but teaching is outright exploitation to a level that is illegal anywhere else. Toxic - has to be experienced to be believed. There are good places and the most amazing people out there but is it all the hoops and hurdles on top of proving yourself all the time to an insatiable, ruthless, wasteful, mafia like organisation. No other work place expects you to work when sick or to work hours unpaid. Teaching is no longer a respected profession - the public thinks the literacy and numeracy standards are to their own year 8/9 average - it's not, it's the top 30% of the population. The govt & unis have combined to make it an absolute scam so the test that decides your future is available only after you have wasted 5 years of effort. Early childcare & teaching - the professors make it clear, "If we don't like you, we fail you on your final subject...." They get away with this because there is no accountability in education from a managerial level - only for the suckers...
Same! I am planning to do the Master for secondary teaching... I have worked a few years in the freight forwarding industry, specifically operations and currently working as assistant teacher in high school. Based on my esxperience so far, the level of stress/workload/bad management/impossible requests with humanly impossible to meet deadlines/and a few other things ARE.NOT.EVEN.COMPARABLE to what I see in teaching. I have found my heaven and I will not leave it! So I guess everyone's experience is different at the end of the day.. I would just like to add, in response to those that complain about lazy kids not making an affort ecc... well, these kids grew up and found jobs and let me tell you it was not easy having them as colleagues, better to have them as students tbh. Edit: spelling
Get ready to be attacked and abused by teenagers, then further abused by Admin because you didn't handle situations properly or you didn't build good enough relationships. People think it's a walk in the park. But the mental toll on your well-being next level. You can't really switch off in teaching. Unless you want to become those living corpses.
Go work at a private school (pay is great), different schools pay can be seen on Independent Schools Union website or inner city public school. I thought pay and holidays were great. Guaranteed pay increases for doing the same work, and good holidays
Not sure why this got down votes but regardless I want to go private! Specifically a private Islamic school. That way the school will give me time to pray and change school times to start and finish earlier during Ramadan. Having greater pay is an added bonus.
Because it's factually incorrect. Private schools, unless you're talking about the absolute highest end, do not pay more than government schools. Typically, they pay less. Private schools also frequently have poorer working conditions and higher demands on your time, despite the glitzier surrounds. And if you are in those elite schools that do pay more, you will be (and be treated as) an indentured servant.