Stress putting trainee teachers off career in classroom, MSPs find

Poor pay, high stress and long hours are putting some trainees off a career in teaching, new research shows.

A survey by Holyrood's Education Committee revealed the difficulties facing school staff across Scotland.

Almost 700 trainees, teachers and other school staff responded to a questionnaire seeking their experiences on recruitment and retention.

Of the 51 trainee teachers who took part, nine said they did not consider teaching as a lifelong career while a further seven were unsure.

Reasons given included long working hours, poor pay and lack of support, lack of pay and promotion opportunities, workload and stress levels and lack of respect from pupils, parents and government.

Concerns were raised about long commutes to placements, with one trainee experiencing a 70-mile round trip with no reimbursement for travel expenses, and the amount of workload.

One respondent wrote: "The workload on placement is way too much at the beginning. One teacher said to my uni class after placement 'So, have you all cried yet?' and there was a resounding 'Yes'."

A dozen submissions referred to government policy, with comments referencing "too much government interference, constant change, lack of trust and autonomy".

The survey attracted more than 240 responses from primary and secondary teachers, with the vast majority highlighting making a difference to the lives of children as the main reason they teach.

However, more than half said morale was either low, quite low or very low.

One respondent said: "All of this number crunching and box ticking leaves teachers feeling exhausted, demoralised and as if their professional judgment counts for nothing. It is little wonder that recruitment and retention of teachers is a big problem."

Senior management held little appeal for most of those surveyed, with one discouraged by "the incredible workload and stress" of headteachers.

The committee also received 74 submissions from headteachers and senior school management.

One secondary school deputy headteacher noted: "At present many of my colleagues are looking into lucrative teaching opportunities in the Middle East. Many staff with financially secure partners are leaving and I know of a few who have opted to work in supermarkets instead."

Liz Smith MSP, Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman and committee member, said: "Of all the concerns raised by the teachers who submitted evidence to the Education Committee, it is those relating to the quality of teacher training that should worry the Scottish Government the most.

"Whilst this is a limited survey of 700 teachers, many of the comments tell us that all is far from well when it comes to teacher training experiences.

"Too many trainees said they did not feel the teacher trainee course was working well and that placements in schools were not always a positive experience."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are committed to maintaining teacher numbers nationally. Our deal with local authorities to maintain the pupil-teacher ratio has halted a period of steady decline in teacher recruitment by councils and resulted in 253 more teachers last year - the first substantial increase since 2007.

"While the school placements system within initial teacher education relies on effective partnership working between the General Teaching Council for Scotland, universities and local authorities, we would expect appropriate support and guidance to be made available.

"We're investing £88 million this year alone so every school has access to the right number of teachers, with an additional £3 million to train an extra 371 teachers in 2017/18 and £1 million from the Attainment Scotland Fund for universities to develop new routes into teaching."