Britain -Schools 'face talent drain' as morale of teachers dives

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/may/12/schools-face-talent-drain
<snip>
Morale among state school teachers is at "rock bottom", according to a former chief inspector of schools, who speaks out as unions warn that a "perfect storm" of government meddling threatens an exodus of talent from the profession.

Christine Gilbert, who resigned as head of Ofsted last year, said there was evidence of widespread disillusionment in schools despite the level of teacher professionalism being "better than ever".

Her comments come as a survey from the biggest teaching union, the NASUWT, reveals that nearly half of its 230,000 members have considered quitting in the last year, amid a collective crisis of confidence in the profession.

More than a third said that they did not believe they were respected as professionals and half said their job satisfaction had declined in the last year.

The disturbing figures are published ahead of an attempt by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to increase levels of social mobility by improving performance in state schools. Clegg will announce on Monday that 2,100 secondary schools will take part in the government plan for summer schools this year.
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This is happening everywhere!

[LeftishBrit]

1. k&r & hoping that the moron Education Ministers Michael Gove and Nick Gibb will make an 'exodus from

their profession' before they utterly ruin education in the UK!

[malaise]

2. Osbourne and Hunt are more likely to depart first

'The brook' is overflowing with information

[MadHound]

3. This is happening everywhere,

People entering the teaching profession now last less than five years. Massive testing, surly parents, low pay, domineering administrators, stilted curriculum, all this and more is contributing to a massive exodus from teaching.

[Igel]

4. Well, yeah.

In the US it's a horrible system of laws based on politics and, more importantly, laws based on court decisions that makes life unbearable.

Then administrators and parents play CYA because nothing can ever be their fault and seldom the fault of the kids.

A lot of regulations drive policy; then the policy has results that the regulators don't like so they rewrite the regulations to punish the results and get a second set of results they don't like. No hint that just perhaps the regulators make a bunch of assumptions that are just plain wrong.

[knitter4democracy]

5. I hang out on a message board for teachers: this is true.

It's an international board, and we have teachers from everywhere. The teachers in Britain sound just as angry and exhausted as we do, as do those in Canada and Germany, as do those in South Korea and everywhere else. Testing is on the rise everywhere, as is teacher "accountability," and we're all under attack everywhere.

We've all become convinced there are some powerful players behind this.

[malaise]

6. Destroy the education system and make way for brainwashing from

the right wing. They will lose - we are not going back.