Teachers Want Out and This is Why

Teachers want out and the reasons why might surprise you. Being a teacher who recently left the profession I know all too well the reasons that might force a teacher to quit. I have my personal reasons, but there are many that are shared with others who have quit or want to quit but haven’t yet for various reasons. This post is very personal for me but I thought it was time to write it.

I love(d) teaching. For me, it was a calling. I didn’t become a teacher because I loved a specific subject. No, I became a teacher because I wanted to make a difference. The goal was to help teenagers find their place in the world. To help them get to know themselves with a little less resistance.

I was officially a science teacher but the subject was only a vehicle I used to teach people about life. During the first few years, the exhilaration of learning to create a positive community in my classroom was all the motivation I needed. I didn’t care what subject I was teaching, it was all a different lens to apply to life, connecting and helping teens accept themselves.

I Didn’t Leave Because of Pay

Contrary to popular belief, pay is not the main reason why teachers leave the profession. The pay for the number of hours worked was fairly atrocious considering I had 5 years of university under my belt but I didn’t mind. It was not about the pay it was about the change and growth I felt I could provide my students. I felt like I was making a difference and that was worth more to me than dollars in the bank.

Funny enough, it was when teaching started to be more interesting financially after 12 years that I left. I should have been more satisfied with my work situation, not less. Regardless my desire to continue to work in this field eroded more with every passing day.

Imagine, we are responsible for paying for the materials that decorate our classrooms for any non-standard furniture we feel our students would benefit from. Imagine, having to pay so that you can do the job that is supposed to pay you. It was not the end of the world, but it was yet another thorn.

I Didn’t Stay Because of Long Summer Breaks

One of the many irritators for teachers is this constant reference to us having amazing work conditions because of our summers off. Honestly, most teachers will have somewhere between 5-7 weeks off during the summer. They are not paid for this time off. Yes, they receive pay, but this is money that was withheld weekly during the year so that teachers can continue to be paid during the summer. This also means teachers cannot apply for employment insurance in the summer even though they may not know if they will have a contract in the next year. Laws for this are different depending on where you live. That being said it is just one more thorn to worry about.

Last summer it took me 5 weeks to recover from the exhaustion I accumulated during the school year. By the time I felt like I had recovered my regular energy, I had 1 week of relaxation before my brain went back into teaching preparation mode for the last week. I use to be one of the teachers that was able to escape school during summer by traveling. But not last year my own kids required a more stable situation.

Most Adults I know struggle to be around their kids during the holidays. Imagine being around kids all day 5 days a week for 10 months. That requires some recovery time. So time off in the summer isn’t always filled with leisure. It is necessary. Yet this “perk” isn’t enough to keep teachers in.

The Administrative Team Can Make or Break Teachers

When I started, I was lucky enough to come into an amazing group of educators with a very student-focused approach. The goal was to help each teen shine as much as possible and help ail what was bothering them so that they could live a more fulfilling existence. We dealt with human feelings and needs first, academics were always second. Trying to help a child with low academics if their basic needs are not met is useless. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs* is a good reminder of this.

* I don’t 100% agree with the last step of self-actualizing. Maslow paints a very selfish orientation for needs to be met, but I think the last step is one where self-actualization through acts of service should be an extra layer on top of just self-actualization.

But I digress, eventually, the principal we were lucky to have was too innovative for the school board we were working with and he was “demoted” to another position. As the years went on I watched in horror as we had a turning door of administrative people come and go.

You would think that changing administration would not have a huge impact on a teaching staff but it does. The teachers lose their usual protocols. Each principle has its own priorities and way of communicating and running meetings.

From Student Centered to Adult Centered

Unfortunately, the student-centered approach that I associated with was slowly eroded and replaced instead with a more power-driven approach. The school that saw the students at the center of its decision-making slowly shifted back to being adult focused.

I watched as my fellow student-centered educators left one by one to try and have more impact in other school settings. Each one reported back that unfortunately, the grass was not greener elsewhere.

But I stayed, probably the most optimistic of the group. I kept thinking that eventually, we would do what was needed because the students well being depended on it. I waited and waited and eventually, I decided to try and rock the boat myself. All I did was tire myself out more.

Teachers are Tired and This is the Main Reason They Want Out.

Alas after 5 different principles, Covid, and 2 maternity leaves, I realized that we were not heading in the right direction. I fought, debated, and exchanged with others to try and shift things back to focus on the students. The teachers in the school were discouraged and although everyone agreed on what was needed, we didn’t have the resources to do the right thing. Everyone continued to float in survival mode. While the kids continued to struggle.

We were all tired. Tired of having administrative changes, tired of always having to do more with less, tired of unsupportive parents, tired of demanding administrations, tired of standardized testing, tired of endless meetings, tired of excessive paperwork, tired of broken photocopiers, tired of complicated budgets, and unnavigable bureaucracy. Most of all we are tired of not being able to do what we were supposed to do in the first place.

Teachers want Out because 0f a Lack of Resources

In order to make up for the lack of resources we all worked harder to fulfill the gaps. But you can’t pour from an empty cup and eventually, teachers retreated within themselves. Desperately attempting to survive by showing up physically and numbing themselves from what was happening. Our school like so many others was plagued with illnesses, undocumented burnouts, and resignations. As more qualified teachers went “missing” they were replaced with well-meaning folks with no training.

I was one of the teachers who always loved my job. My pride came from knowing I made a difference. These past years, I found that although I could easily identify the needs of the kids I could not help them. There were simply no resources to help them. So my ability to make a difference decreased every year and with it my joy of teaching. Our nurses, psychoeducators, and drug counselors were all removed from essential services due to budget cuts. We ended up with kids with severe needs and only a part-time guidance counselor to help them.

The needs don’t stop existing because the resources do.

After Covid, some of the kids and adults were in desperate need of help. Unfortunately, they had nowhere to turn. Teachers picked up a lot of the slack that was left. We actually care about the kids we work with, and usually go above and beyond to support them.

Over the years I have fed kids, provided pregnancy tests, gave drug talks. Provided anger management just to name a few. I was constantly wearing multiple hats to try and fill the gap. This was on top of actually doing my job and all the other undocumented “extras” that I never signed up for.

A Culture Where Burn Out is a Right of Passage

A few years back, I was given a bunch of random courses I had never taught before. These included grade 10 standardized exams and advanced physics and chem classes. I have a background in neuroscience with a specialty in biology so I was pretty far from my teachable.

In addition, this brought my schedule to 110%. I requested my schedule be changed to a more reasonable one, this was ignored. This meant that my chemistry and Physics students literally knew more science than I did. It also means I was learning the content before teaching it.

One day mid-October I just started crying and couldn’t stop. I felt inadequately prepared to teach these subjects. I had no choice but to see my doctor. Who informed me I was experiencing adaptation issues, also known as burnout. I couldn’t believe I had reached a point where my job was making me sick.

Eventually, the union got involved. They had a full course taken out of my schedule stating it was an abusive schedule and disproportioned task. I was able to return to work and find a more reasonable balance. It was embarrassing that I couldn’t handle it and that I had let my students down. I felt weak and thought my colleagues would judge me for it. They didn’t.

Been There, Done That.

Instead, I was met with so much support, encouragement, and stories from teachers who had experienced their own burnout. “Welcome to the club,” was the most common phrase I heard my first week back. It suddenly made a lot more sense why the older teachers refused to get involved in various school projects. The more you take on the more trouble you take from administration, parents, and students.

Teachers take on more for the benefit of the kids but often at the cost of their own personal time and well-being. No accommodations are made for teachers who take on more committees, clubs, or sports teams. It is a weird form of forced volunteering. They cannot make teachers do it but if teachers don’t it looks bad.

Teachers are Indirectly Being Forced Out

I went back to school with a different approach. Turning into a veteran teacher that guarded my time like a hawk. I promised myself I would never get to that point again. But a few years later, I did again.

Even with all the lessons previously learned, I went to the limit of what I could give and eventually went on sick leave again. My body just wouldn’t let me go on anymore. It became harder for me to take care of my family. The desperation I felt at school slowly started to seep into my personal life. It took me months to get back to a place where I felt functional let alone normal. I knew I had to change something. After a few months on sick leave, I realized that my values were not in alignment with my workplace. And against all odds, I, the person who loved teaching chose myself and my family over my passion.

Grieving the Loss of Our Profession as We Know It

It was a heart-wrenching choice to quit teaching. One I never thought that I would have to make. But here I am. I never thought I would be anything other than a teacher. All I ever wanted to be was a teacher ever since I was in secondary 3 biology. I found that when I left teaching I was also leaving a huge part of my identity behind.

More time and a lot of work lead me to accept that I loved teaching but not in this context. Sadly enough, so many of my peers who re-oriented themselves towards other jobs outside of education also grieve the loss of their profession. It is not that we can no longer be teachers. Rather than the job tasks have changed so much that what we actually do at school is not really teaching anymore. The job and school have changed beyond recognition and this is in a little over a decade.

The introduction of smartphones, and social media amongst other things means that kids have access to more information and fast-paced entertainment than before. Competing with this type of dopamine-inducing entertainment in the classroom with bland concepts is an impossible task.

Our Kids Deserve More

Things need to change because our kids deserve better. We need some fundamental changes in education so that it can be useful for kids again. We need to remember that teachers and students are people first. Academics should never be prioritized over the building of connections between educators and students.

Kids are more independent than ever. This makes them question the relevance of school. Teachers too are questioning the relevance of school since we cannot even keep kids safe or provide the needed resources. Teachers are not leaving because of poor pay. They are leaving because teaching has become an unfulfilling and impossible task. The dissatisfaction with the quality of the education we are giving is the main reason we are leaving. We don’t even know why we are doing what we are doing anymore.

If you have kids at school you probably noticed that getting an exceptional teacher is a bit of a Russian roulette. Most teachers start out with high hopes to make a change but the system is what it is robs them of the opportunity to really do their job.

What can you do about it? If you know any teachers ask them how you can help! It starts with changing the dialogue and people being aware there is an issue. Teachers can only give your kids what they have themselves. If their work conditions are decreasing then so is the quality of the environment your child is learning in.