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. But its so sad that he spent close to 4 years studying in uni to realise that the job stinks pretty much.
Hun, pretty bold statement! Most teachers dont leave a job for NO reason. I am sure there are underlying circumstances, such as that Ali mentioned in her earlier posts.

Sorry but I just had to comment on that.

Back to the opening post....

In regards to the change over of teachers suddenly becoming alot more frequent then back when we all went to school...
The teaching population has now become very young as a massive generation of much older teachers are retiring. Because there was such a gap in intake of teachers into the profession, there are mainly young teachers starting to teach. With young teachers, comes teachers at the age where they are starting families. So yes it is disruptive to the children if this happens to be midyear but it is up to the individual woman when she wants to have a child and it shouldnt have to revolve around the school year.

I have just returned to work after maternity leave and am job sharing with another teacher. Their previous teacher has just left to have her baby. Yes it might have been disruptive to the children but they have coped quite well and we are doing the best we can to keep things the same, good communication and handover to make the transition as easy as we could.

In regards to relief teachers when teachers get sick...
It is hard to get the same casual teacher everyday that a teacher is way. Yes in a perfect world that is how it would work but there is not enough funding in a school to employ the same casual teacher on call all the time. Teachers would love to have the same casual teacher taking the class each time as well (would make it easier for everyone) but it just doesnt work like this.

Also you have to remember that teachers work in a job absolutely surrounded with sickness! I honestly think its worse than working in a hospital with sick people sometimes! The kids that come to school with all their sicknesses and passing them around to not only the kids but the teachers as well can not be helped. Teachers are human as well and get sick. I have been back at work for all of 5 days and this arvo I feel terrible (coming down with a cold). Since being off work from the beginning of the year I had not been sick at all (knew it was because I was away from the kids at school). You cant expect teachers to go to school when they are sick and pass it onto the kids again as well. Sorry to go on about it but it is absolutely the biggest downfall of the job of a teacher and each year I waste such an incredible amount of money at the chemist because of it.

I guess the main thing to remember is teachers are human, they get sick, they have families (which should be our first priority but unfortunately school seems to prioritise for me and not by choice), they are looking for job security, financial security & job satisfaction just as any other workers in different professions are.