Former trainee teacher says profession's workload made her ill
Figures show over two thirds of teachers considered leaving the profession last year. Workload was the highest concern.
A former trainee teacher from Stockton says the amount of pressure put on teachers made her physically ill.
24-year-old Charlotte was training at a school in Durham, but made the decision to drop out when the workload began impacting on her health.
She was only 6 months into her training when she started to suffer from anxiety and other health problems.
She said: "I think the past two months it just became unbearable.
"I was just feeling sick every morning and some mornings I was actually being sick.
"I just wasn't sleeping at all, I wasn't eating properly just because I was feeling so worried and anxious.
"It was physically affecting me.
"It was being observed, the marking and the planning, there, you just don't get a lot of time.
"There was support but it just wasn't enough.
"I think if you're the sort of person I was, getting stressed very easily, it all just became too much."
Charlotte's now training to become a teaching assistant.
Figures from the teacher's union NASUWT show that she may not be alone.
Results from their Big Question Survey found that two thirds of teachers admitted the job had a detrimental affect on their mental health.
68 per cent said they'd considered leaving the profession altogether, with workload cited as the biggest worry.