'I'm going to die': Teachers are quitting Scots schools in record numbers - they tell why
Teacher testimony on why they are quitting Scots classrooms provides a harrowing account
Teachers are being forced out of Scottish schools due to lack of support and poor pupil behaviour, new research has found.
Staff are quitting in record numbers but a study shows many are reluctant to leave but feel they have no alternative.
Findings from the University of the West of Scotland reported bleak testimonies from teachers who had left or reduced their hours.
Nearly half of those who quit did so with no alternative paid employment, highlighting their desperation to get out.
Of the 63 who took part in the research, published in the Oxford Review of Education, 36 were primary and 27 secondary.
Two thirds said they would prefer to stay in the profession but the work had become untenable.
One primary school teacher said: “It was about 18 months of real turmoil trying to decide.
“And then eventually I just thought I’m going to die if I don’t stop this job because I’m not eating properly and not sleeping properly.
“I don’t do anything outside of work.
“I just suddenly realised my life was completely running away with itself.”
Researchers found that, despite school management knowing teachers were intending to step down, little or nothing was done to effect change.
One secondary teacher said: “I had made my intentions known for about three years that I was going to leave at some point.
“The school knew exactly why … We would collectively meet the senior leadership team to say the white flag is up.
“There would be lip service paid, but no change.”
Another secondary teacher described being assaulted by a pupil and then blamed for the incident.
A primary school teacher said she was persuaded to leave by her partner after being “frightened” by an “eruption” of behaviour in the classroom.
The study heard teachers describe exhaustion, nausea, sleep disorders, weight changes alongside chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.
Other teachers described being unable to make progress with learning because of “firefighting” poor behaviour.
One said: “I’m not going to be teaching them anything. It’s going to be a class where I’m just going to try to survive for two hours.”
Another added: “The last two or three years of teaching, I didn’t teach. I just dealt with behaviour. “The passion I had at the beginning was lost by the end because it was just firefighting.”
The paper tells the Scottish Government it must shift its priority from attracting new teachers to “sustaining those already committed to the profession and from counting bodies to understanding the conditions that make teaching sustainable for those who want to stay.”
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The latest figures show that 408 Scottish teachers quit within five years of passing their probation period.
This brings the total to 2,081 since 2018, the first year the figures were collated.
Led by Professor Moira Hulme, the study interviewed teachers who had resigned within the previous 18 months.
Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Conservatives education spokeswoman, said: “It is utterly damning that teachers who still love teaching are being driven out because working in Scotland’s classrooms has become so relentlessly stressful.
“These testimonies expose the human cost of years of SNP failure. Ministers cannot keep treating teachers as numbers on a recruitment spreadsheet while doing nothing to address the reasons so many experienced staff are walking away.”
The Scottish Government said teacher recruitment and employment are “matters for councils” but said it is taking steps to ensure there are the “right numbers of teachers in the right subjects and places”.
A spokeswoman added: “We have ensured our teachers are the best paid and enjoy the lowest pupil-to-teacher ratio in the UK.
“We are also working to reduce class contact time, giving the workforce more time to prepare lessons.
“We have also allocated over £2 million to support the wellbeing of teachers and school staff since 2020.”
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