Excessive demands driving many away from profession

Britain's education system is on the brink of a staffing crisis after a survey by the National Education Union revealed many teachers are thinking of leaving the profession because of the size of the workload and the personal toll it is taking.

In England, the recruitment target for new teachers has been missed for five years in a row, and the State of Education survey of 8,600 union members, published at its annual conference, revealed the worryingly low morale of many of those already in the profession.

One respondent said: "Working 70 hours a week for many years has meant my health and family life have suffered. I am getting out before the job kills me."

The lop-sided nature of the work-life balance, and the demands of out-of-hours working, were a common theme in survey responses.

"With a young family, and despite working part-time, I have come to realize that a job in education is not conducive to family life," said one teacher, with another adding "My personal life doesn't exist any more."

The size of the workload is also threatening to drive away new recruits. Of those who had been teaching between two and five years, 26 percent said they planned to quit altogether in the next five years.

The union's joint general secretary, Kevin Courtney, said an excessive focus on performance targets, rather than the creative side of teaching, was one of the biggest problems his members faced.

"So long as the main drivers of a performance-based system are still in place, schools will continue to be in the grip of fear, over-regulation and a lack of trust," he said.

"The government is doing a far better job of driving teachers out of the profession than they are solving the issue of excessive workload."

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the government was aware that excessive hours and bureaucracy were the "biggest threats" when it came to recruiting teachers and keeping hold of them, and the Department for Education said addressing these issues was an integral part of its strategy for trying to attract more people into the teaching profession.

These figures come two weeks after a survey by the University College London Institute of Education highlighted similar issues.

Its findings revealed that although teachers were aware that they were entering a demanding profession, the reality of expectation in the workplace was more than they could deal with, and their morale soon began to suffer.

The survey was published in the British Journal of Educational Studies and contrasted the reasons people chose to become teachers with the reasons they gave for quitting.

Popular motivating factors included wanting to make a difference (69 percent), to work with young people (64 percent), and love of subject (50 percent).

By contrast, their reasons for wanting to leave tended to be more personal.Top of the list was to improve work/life balance (75 percent), the size of the workload (71 percent), and a target-driven culture (57 percent).