The school I teach at up untill this year has had a high turnover of staff, bascially the entire staff bar 2-3 teachers changed in just a 2 year period. When I started in June last year I was the 4th teacher in that class, the kids were actualley taking bets on how long myself and my tandem would last- and much to their suprise we saw the whole year out, and came back this year.
I don't know about other states, but part of the problem for me and many other WA teachers is it is sooooooooooo difficult to get our permenancy, so even if I want to stay at a school and the principal wants to keep me, if there is a teacher with their permenancy they get reference over me. I am only on a 12 month contract (and have been for my entire teacher career, been 12 month contracts at a time) so at the end of each school year I do not know whether I will be staying at the same school or not. I have to wait until the permenent teachers have been placed into positions before I will know if there is a spot for me.
As for why teachers don't last out the entire year- speaking from my personal observations there are a few reasons, but mainly it comes down to:
WORK LOAD & STRESS: teachers are just asked to do more and more and more these days, and it does get to the point where some people ask is it really worth it, we have so much responsibility, and sometimes it really does feel like it never ends.
I only work 5 days a fortnight, and have already decided it will be a long long time before I go back to full time teaching, it just takes up sooooooooo much time, and is so demanding. I love my job and wouldnt consider doing anything else, but I also won't be doing 5 days a week until all of my kids are well on their way to high school.
On the subject of back tracking etc. We had 1 relief (the same peron... amazing) for 2 of the 3 days while Lach's current teacher was sick. It came to light that all they did for those 2 days was colour in. No maths, no alphabets, nothing. One parent said "could have kept my kid in kindy for this"
Unfortunatley that is usually the way with relief teachers- the problem is that they get booked in advance, so where they may be available on Mon, they may be booked else where for tues etc- relief teachers are in very short supply (at least here in WA, and I live and teach 20 mins for Perth). As for the work, that is quite usual, if a teacher hasnt left any specific work then the relief just gives them things to keep busy, and while I used to try my best to include some maths, english etc, I had no idea what level the children are at, what they hve done previously, what the teacher had planned etc. Even when I know I am going to be away and leave work for a releif, it is not usually exactly what my normal program would be- partly because another teacher doesnt know what is in my head, what I am trying to achieve from a certain lesson, and what I am assessing, and partly because when I am teaching specific things I like it done my way and like to know it is done properly.
ETA- If I am away from work sick, then I am usually sick sick, so dont feel I should sit for hours at my computer typing lesson plans and emailing them in for a relief teacher- especially when the person taking my class is a qaulified teacher and being paid nearly $300 a day to be there, I expect them to be able to come up with 5 hours worth of lessons to get through the day.
I am a teacher, and the biggest problem for me is that it is impossible to give students the individual attention they need when class sizes are so big. The job is incredibly draining and when jobs come up in private industry, many teachers jump at the chance to do something else. 70% of teaching graduates are not still teaching after 5 years. That's gotta be an indication that something is very wrong.
My teenage DD has attended 2 girls' schools. She was at the first school for 5 years until we decided she needed a change. One of the reasons was because staff turn-over started to get bad. Because I worked there i kind of knew why... and I also knew that it wasn't going to get any better. The last straw was when my DD had 4 teachers in grade 3. All of them left to work at other schools.
Where my DD goes to school now the staff all seem to have very high morale... they are all very vocal about loving working there. maybe one reason is because the class sizes are small? The only subject that has had a bit of turn-over is French... it's a bit of a joke how fertile the French teachers are LOL about 4 have fallen pregnant since my DD started in grade 4 (she is now in grade 9). You don't hear of many leaving to work at other schools. There are lots of very long serving teachers. I wish i could send my boys there!!!
I don't have any kids or anything i just wanted to say that i agree that its disgusting how teachers are leaving for no reason at all. I believe children need stability in all aspects of life when they are growing up, having different teachers all the time would confuse the children and upset some of them especially if they liked them. Its amazing how things have changed. I never had a different teacher i had the same from the start of the year to the end.
My DP's best friend is a teacher and he doesn't really enjoy it, he said that high school kids these days are very disrespectful to each other and to teachers and they are very racist, now he is half german and half thai and he has had some horrible names said to him and he's had things thrown at him in class. He wont be returning back to the school next year, he will be using the school holidays and whatever time he has to himself finding a public servant job.
He said he doesn't want to just walk out in the middle of a school term as its not fair on the students he has that he likes and that like him.
But its so sad that he spent close to 4 years studying in uni to realise that the job stinks pretty much.
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