Tyra Packer, 29, a primary-school teacher in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, for seven years, left the profession last summer, to protect her physical and mental health.She had been feeling anxious, at home, often in the middle of the night, and then at school, despite the support of her colleagues.As a classroom teacher but also phonics and PE lead, Miss Packer felt unable to properly fulfil any of her roles - often working well into the evening.“You’re tired - you’re also mentally drained," she says.
Miss Packer had “mixed emotions” when she quit her job but has since seen marked improvements to her health.She now runs a small baking business, making “chunky cookies” and celebration cakes and hosting children’s workshops.“My anxiety has probably completely faded since leaving school, something I noticed instantly," she says.“I definitely sleep like a baby now.”The annual figures, external, released by the Department for Education on Thursday, cover the academic year 2023-24.On top of rising vacancy rates, they also reveal the proportion of state-school teachers leaving the sector is at its highest since 2010 - 39,971 (8.8%) left in 2022-23, not including those who died or retired.In a report in May, external, MPs on the Education Select Committee said teacher recruitment and retention had been a “persistent challenge for over a decade” and “while there have been welcome increases in absolute teacher numbers, these have not kept pace with pupil numbers”.
"There are teachers at Springwest, making a difference, who could earn triple the salary and work from home,” Mr Hart says.He hopes the next government will help schools make teaching more attractive, supports other schools trialling a nine-day fortnight and wants teachers to be able to enjoy a three-day weekend “by the time I retire”.Springwest is fully staffed - but this year, filling some roles in specialist subjects - such as religious education, history and geography - has been “difficult”, Mr Hart says.English teacher Hafsa Yusuf says early Friday finishes help everyone’s mental health.
“It leaves students and staff refreshed and ready to come in on that Monday knowing that they’ve got a little bit of elongated weekend ahead of them,” she tells BBC News.The school’s culture of kindness also protects her mental health.She had found lesson planning “really daunting” - but sharing plans, and a rigorous behaviour policy run by senior leaders, have kept down her workload.
"But it would be naive of senior-leadership teams to think that that is going to completely solve the issue of teacher stress and wellbeing.”National Foundation for Educational Research lead economist Jack Worth said the number of empty teaching posts, and those being filled temporarily, was now “the highest it’s been since comparable records began, in 2010”.And a key challenge facing any incoming government would be making a teaching career more attractive, financially and otherwise, to ensure there were enough high-quality teachers in schools.
The government raised starting salaries at the beginning of this school year, as well as having “levelling up” payments of up to £3,000 for some teachers in shortage subjects.Labour has announced plans take forward the recommendations of the Teacher Workload Reduction Taskforce, external, “to give staff a better work-life balance”.Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour would “put education at the heart of national life” by “valuing the school workforce”.Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: "Every child deserves the chance to flourish - and that means investing in great schools and teachers.
The original article contains 945 words, the summary contains 566 words. Saved 40%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Tyra Packer, 29, a primary-school teacher in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, for seven years, left the profession last summer, to protect her physical and mental health.She had been feeling anxious, at home, often in the middle of the night, and then at school, despite the support of her colleagues.As a classroom teacher but also phonics and PE lead, Miss Packer felt unable to properly fulfil any of her roles - often working well into the evening.“You’re tired - you’re also mentally drained," she says.
Miss Packer had “mixed emotions” when she quit her job but has since seen marked improvements to her health.She now runs a small baking business, making “chunky cookies” and celebration cakes and hosting children’s workshops.“My anxiety has probably completely faded since leaving school, something I noticed instantly," she says.“I definitely sleep like a baby now.”The annual figures, external, released by the Department for Education on Thursday, cover the academic year 2023-24.On top of rising vacancy rates, they also reveal the proportion of state-school teachers leaving the sector is at its highest since 2010 - 39,971 (8.8%) left in 2022-23, not including those who died or retired.In a report in May, external, MPs on the Education Select Committee said teacher recruitment and retention had been a “persistent challenge for over a decade” and “while there have been welcome increases in absolute teacher numbers, these have not kept pace with pupil numbers”.
"There are teachers at Springwest, making a difference, who could earn triple the salary and work from home,” Mr Hart says.He hopes the next government will help schools make teaching more attractive, supports other schools trialling a nine-day fortnight and wants teachers to be able to enjoy a three-day weekend “by the time I retire”.Springwest is fully staffed - but this year, filling some roles in specialist subjects - such as religious education, history and geography - has been “difficult”, Mr Hart says.English teacher Hafsa Yusuf says early Friday finishes help everyone’s mental health.
“It leaves students and staff refreshed and ready to come in on that Monday knowing that they’ve got a little bit of elongated weekend ahead of them,” she tells BBC News.The school’s culture of kindness also protects her mental health.She had found lesson planning “really daunting” - but sharing plans, and a rigorous behaviour policy run by senior leaders, have kept down her workload.
"But it would be naive of senior-leadership teams to think that that is going to completely solve the issue of teacher stress and wellbeing.”National Foundation for Educational Research lead economist Jack Worth said the number of empty teaching posts, and those being filled temporarily, was now “the highest it’s been since comparable records began, in 2010”.And a key challenge facing any incoming government would be making a teaching career more attractive, financially and otherwise, to ensure there were enough high-quality teachers in schools.
The government raised starting salaries at the beginning of this school year, as well as having “levelling up” payments of up to £3,000 for some teachers in shortage subjects.Labour has announced plans take forward the recommendations of the Teacher Workload Reduction Taskforce, external, “to give staff a better work-life balance”.Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour would “put education at the heart of national life” by “valuing the school workforce”.Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: "Every child deserves the chance to flourish - and that means investing in great schools and teachers.
The original article contains 945 words, the summary contains 566 words. Saved 40%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!