By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor
There appears to be a teaching crisis are a Teachers’ union said there was a crisis in recruitment.
A survey has revealed that four out of five teachers have thought about leaving the profession entirely.
The poll of nearly 900 members of the teaching profession have said they have seriously considered leaving. The worry research was by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers who found 83 per cent were thinking about quitting while at the same time 24 per cent said they will not be teaching anymore within two years.
This news will pile even more pressure on the Tory government who are already battling a recruitment crisis in the NHS with junior doctors staging a series of strikes, with more planned this month.
The disgruntled teacher statistics comes as the union’s annual conference begins. The union will warn of a “deepening crisis” in recruitment. This caused by worries over the workload of teachers.
An English teacher from Oxfordshire told researchers: “I just can’t manage the relentless workload… My marriage has recently broken down and I am now divorced.
“My ex-husband said it seemed school was always more important than him and the family.”
A teacher in an academy from Tyne and Wear added: “I don’t feel I have a life outside school. I am physically and mentally exhausted when I come in from work.”
When asked why was barring new teachers from entering the profession, 2 out of 3 said the profession wasn’t respected enough, 62 per cent said it was pupil behaviour and the just under half cited poor pay.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “No-one is more determined to raise the status of teachers than this Government and we want to work constructively with the sector and unions to do so.
“Despite claims to the contrary, teaching remains hugely popular with UCAS figures showing a rise in teacher training applications and acceptances and over a thousands more graduates training to teach secondary subjects than last year.”
