Quitting teachers explain why they are leaving
28 January 2019
Surveys* of teachers and principals who quit the profession last year show they left mainly due to a lack of work/life balance and burnout from high workload. The survey respondents included 169 primary and 201 secondary teachers and principals.
Pay was a lesser but still significant issue. Many leaving teachers were intending to move to non-teaching jobs, a few were moving overseas to teach and a significant number were leaving the profession without knowing what their next move would be.
Sadly for the profession, fewer than 10 percent intended to return to teaching.
Former Bunnythorpe primary school principal Margie Sutherland said: "It is definitely the workload. I heard from a group of secondary teachers at a wedding in the weekend and they were saying the same thing. It is not all about the money. For older teachers like me, its about making the job realistic.”
NZEI Te Riu Roa President Lynda Stuart said New Zealand was losing passionate, quality teachers because they were overworked and underpaid and simply could not put up with the situation any longer.
"This survey shows why teachers and principals have been so resolute in rejecting the Ministry's collective agreement offers so far.”
“We have a choice as a country - to pay teachers and principals properly and give them more time to teach and lead, or watch the teacher shortage increase exponentially.”
"Students' education is already suffering from growing class sizes and classes being split around the school when relievers can't be found. We have to address this crisis NOW and give current teachers a reason to stay or return, and potential teachers a reason to join us," she said.
PPTA President Jack Boyle says, “Nearly half of all new teachers leave the profession within five years. Watching the spark go out in an awesome young teacher’s eyes is heart-breaking. We’ve known the statistics for a long time, but reading peoples’ stories in this survey really shows the human anguish behind the numbers.”
“I am convinced that if we make teaching the desirable profession it should be; if we reduce unnecessary red-tape and box-ticking; if we prioritise time to teach; and if we put in place the proper support for new teachers, the crisis level shortages we are experiencing would disappear.”
“People don’t leave the job they love when they are supported well and remunerated properly. It is up to the government to do the right thing now. Let’s recruit our own experienced teachers back."
ENDS
*NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA contacted the 433 primary and all secondary teacher and principal members who resigned from their job and the union in 2018. Those who had permanently left teaching were invited to take the online survey, with 169 primary and 201 secondary taking part.