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💁🏼‍♀️Why Teachers Are Really Leaving (It’s Not Just Workload) · ✨️Aligned and Thriving: For Teachers🌿

• 0:25
  Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Aligned
• 0:28
  and Thriving for Teachers. I am still Mel, and it's lovely
• 0:33
  to have you here and I'm sure you're absolutely appreciating
• 0:36
  me in your ears today. This episode, I'm really, I know
• 0:42
  I'm excited to bring this one to you because it's something that
• 0:45
  I've been trying to address. I think through lots of my reels
• 0:49
  and posts and things on Instagram.
• 0:51
  If you haven't seen them, please make sure you go and check out
• 0:54
  Aligned and Thriving for Teachers on Insta and on
• 0:56
  Facebook, because I do share lots of tips and tricks over
• 1:00
  there that I may not actually talk about on the podcast.
• 1:03
  There's just all those little quick things.
• 1:05
  So make sure you go and check those out.
• 1:07
  But today's episode is, it's sort of stemmed from lots of
• 1:11
  stuff that I've been reading lately when I've been doing
• 1:13
  research around what I wanted to talk about.
• 1:16
  So apparently these are like, well, I'm going to compress
• 1:21
  them, but there's about 20 reasons why why teachers are
• 1:24
  currently leaving the profession.
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  And I want to put my spin on it. So I may not give you all 20,
• 1:30
  but I'm going to give you my, my take.
• 1:33
  So. And honestly, look, most of them
• 1:36
  aren't the real reason because I don't think it's just one thing.
• 1:41
  It's not just the workload, it's not just the behaviour, it's not
• 1:46
  just the admin. I think it's a build up of just
• 1:50
  everything over time. And if you're in it right now,
• 1:55
  you feel that you get it. So let's start #1 the overload
• 2:01
  problem. Let's start with an obvious one.
• 2:05
  This one everyone talks about. It's the workload, the admin,
• 2:09
  the reporting, the extra expectations.
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  Yes, this is 100% real. And it's not just that we're
• 2:17
  busy, it's that it, it never ends.
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  It just actually seems to keep getting bigger and bigger and we
• 2:25
  don't have any extra time. It just keeps piling up.
• 2:29
  Since I started teaching, the amount of admin that I have to
• 2:32
  do, it's nearly tripled. Actually.
• 2:34
  I would say 100% tripled. No one's gone.
• 2:38
  Oh, we'll give you some extra time to to match that.
• 2:41
  Yes, we probably had some pockets here and there.
• 2:44
  It is nowhere near enough. If you're expecting us to record
• 2:47
  all of this stuff, when are we actually doing that?
• 2:51
  Unless it's in our own time that we're not actually getting paid
• 2:55
  for to do. Yes, I know reporting has
• 2:59
  changed and it may look different now.
• 3:01
  I know in the state that I work in, we don't write comments
• 3:04
  anymore. We have evidence of learning.
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  So yes, we're not writing long comments, but now we're
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  collecting work samples and uploading evidence and ticking
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  boxes. And honestly, I don't actually
• 3:15
  think that's easier. I think it's just a different
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  type of work and it's just constant.
• 3:22
  And look, as a parent who is married to the the, I don't know
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  what to say. Being polite.
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  He was a naughty boy at school. OK, so he's not, he's not
• 3:36
  academic in that way. He is other way smart.
• 3:40
  That's a great way to put it. So I give stuff to my husband
• 3:44
  because I'm like, I already know what this means.
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  What do you think it means? And so I'll give him a work
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  sample. And he's just like, Oh yeah,
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  looks at the rubric and looks at the top bit that says what Mark
• 3:53
  they got. That's all he reads.
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  And I was like, so do you read anything else about how to move
• 3:57
  them forward or how to do this? He's like, nice to be words.
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  What if we had comments, darling?
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  He's like, yeah, I loved it when they had comments because I
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  could, like, read it. And then you had to guess
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  between the lines of what they actually were talking about.
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  It was fun. And then I actually knew that
• 4:11
  they they knew my kid. I was like, yeah, yeah.
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  And he goes, I know it was a lot of work for you because he saw
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  the other side. He saw me having to do the work
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  and to write the comments and do the thing.
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  But he's like, I think he got more of an insight into the
• 4:25
  actual child and the fact that you as the parent were like,
• 4:27
  yeah, you know, my kid, you've got this.
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  And that's the part that I think, I know that we're trying
• 4:33
  to make it easier, but I think it just looks different.
• 4:36
  It looks different. And I'm not the biggest fan.
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  You can come at me if you like. But I didn't choose it.
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  I didn't make the decision. I actually enjoyed writing
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  comments. So yeah, that's just me.
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  And that was one way of them trying to reduce a load when not
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  really sure. But yeah, there's always
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  something else that we sort of could be doing.
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  But anyway #2 the mental load that no one sees, that's a big
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  one. This is the one that really gets
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  to you because it's the emotional labour.
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  It's thinking about student well being, the behaviours, the
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  parent expectations. This job doesn't just take your
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  time, it takes your brain and all of the things like with it.
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  So you're constantly thinking, did I handle that right?
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  Should I have said something differently?
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  What's going on for that student because they didn't have lunch
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  today and that's not normal. So then you're questioning
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  things and then you add in your your actual life outside of
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  school. If you're a parent, you're a
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  partner, you're a friend, you're holding both of those worlds in
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  your head at once. And I know for me, my brain just
• 5:55
  doesn't switch from teacher to home life instantly.
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  I've had to train it to do that. I've got school thoughts and
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  family thoughts and life admin thoughts and Oh my gosh, did I
• 6:04
  shave my legs this morning Thoughts.
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  Like I have that many tabs open in my brain that sometimes it
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  gets really confusing. And so I've then had to train
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  myself to have these strategies when I look at other people in
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  other workplaces, like say you're working at a Cafe and
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  you're a worker, you're not a manager, you're not anything
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  else and you've gone and you've made your amazing coffees.
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  Like, I'm just going to talk about my barista because they're
• 6:27
  amazing, but they've made my coffee and they love the fact
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  that they get to leave and just go home because it's not like
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  the coffee's going to come back. Like, I don't know, yeah, you
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  might get a complaint from someone, but they can only
• 6:41
  complain when the stores open. Like this is the thing we are,
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  we are constantly on and we don't get that opportunity
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  unless we train ourselves to actually switch off and put
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  those boundaries in place. It's a lot harder for us to
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  actually do that. And some people, if they don't
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  learn how to do that, that's what starts to lead them in the
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  direction of maybe I shouldn't be teaching because this is
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  hard. So that's a reason #3 the
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  system. Oh yeah.
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  This one's hard to talk about, but it matters.
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  I can't control it, but it leads to things like a lack of
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  support. I'm just going to say the word
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  because I am one. But leadership, policy changes,
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  and a lack of autonomy. Like you can be an amazing
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  teacher and still feel like you're failing in this system
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  because a lot of the time the system is built by people who
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  are not currently in classrooms or maybe had anything to do with
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  education. So when policies change, they
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  don't always get it. They just like change it and
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  they're like, woo, go us. We've made this amazing change
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  to this policy and teachers are going to love it because they're
• 7:55
  going to do XYZ. And we're like, did you actually
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  talk to a teacher about that? Because seriously, you have no
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  idea. And they don't, they don't get
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  it. Maybe one day, Oh, maybe I
• 8:07
  should get into politics. Oh no, no, no, no.
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  But anyway, maybe one day they might get somewhere where it
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  actually works for a positive. So, but on the flip side, let's
• 8:17
  let's talk about leadership. So you might work in a school
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  where leadership genuinely tries to support you and that matters.
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  But I can also say this, like I've worked in both, I've worked
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  in really supportive leadership, leadership situations and in
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  schools where there was a real lack of leadership.
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  And that was really hard. And it does make your job hard.
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  And my advice to you in that situation is to seek advice from
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  external providers. Like you've got access to
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  unions, you've got access to psychologists and people like
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  that who can give you advice as to what you can do for yourself
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  and for your school community and all of that type of stuff.
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  I've been through it all. And if you've got questions,
• 9:00
  seriously, just ask me. But I think having those
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  experiences have actually made me a better leader because I've
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  gone, I do not want to be a leader like that because that
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  person did not give me support. They did not listen to me and
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  they were not honest. And they, it was like face
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  value. They'd tell me exactly what I
• 9:19
  wanted to hear, but then they'd do something completely
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  different. And that's why I think I try and
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  make myself a genuine leader. But you also need to check in on
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  them too. That's the other thing.
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  Like while we're supporting staff, we're often quietly the
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  ones picking up all the extra. So we're holding things
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  together. We might be burning out secretly
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  in the background. That's that's the hard part.
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  And I know I'm guilty of this because I would rather pick up
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  the slack and cover something for someone else to save burning
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  out a teacher because I know how much I can handle.
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  So I will sort of push myself to the limit to support my staff.
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  But then it's really nice when you've got that team mentality
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  of staff where they can see that and they're like, Oh yeah, Nah,
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  I'm going to step in and do that because I can see you're already
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  doing XYZ. So you all support each other.
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  And that's what a true team is. You're all working together.
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  Like, yes, I'm on a leadership team.
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  Yes, I am a leader, but I do not necessarily put myself above
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  anyone else. Yes, there are some decisions
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  that I get to make, but I am still a human.
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  I am still myself and I still like to be a kind human being.
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  And I don't Lord that over people.
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  Yes, I've worked with people that do that.
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  I get it. And again, I didn't want to be
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  someone who was like that. But if you're in a in a
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  situation where you're at a school where that happens, it
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  can make your job feel a lot harder than what it needs to be.
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  And that's why I say go and get yourself the extra support.
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  And if you are in a situation where you've got a great
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  leadership team, then check in on them too, because as I said,
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  we're human. Then you get to the schools
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  where there's lots of talk and there's not a lot of action.
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  And that's where just frustration builds really fast
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  because you just don't even know what's going on.
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  And as a system, we don't really support that sort of stuff
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  happening. And the system will make changes
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  and then we're trying to catch up with the changes.
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  And so you're constantly chasing your tail.
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  We can't control that. You just control what you can
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  control your circle of influence.
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  That's that's my advice in relation to that one number 40,
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  the identity and life sort of clash.
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  This one gets most people. I feel it is the poor work life
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  balance, the impact on families, the burnout and leaving for
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  lifestyle. This job doesn't just affect
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  your work, it affects who you are at home.
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  And this is something that I have spoken about before because
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  it takes years to learn and I'll be honest, I'm still learning.
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  And if you don't figure out your boundaries, this is where you're
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  going to run yourself straight into the ground.
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  This is where teaching starts bleeding into everything.
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  Your patience, your energy, your relationships.
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  And this is where balance actually really matters, not in
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  a, oh, that's a nice idea kind of way.
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  This is this is what keeps you OK way.
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  And you do not need to feel guilty about that.
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  You do not need to feel guilty about that.
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  OK, I've made that really clear. And if you're not sure, make
• 12:39
  sure you go back to previous episodes to check back in on
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  what boundaries can look like and what you can do to protect
• 12:45
  yourself and your energy and your relationships.
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  I am lived experience of what that can do to you and your
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  family. I am the child of a teacher.
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  I have learned a lot from watching my mum put boundaries
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  in place and watching her grow over the years about what she
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  has said yes and no to. And she would say the same thing
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  about what she has learned and what she's had to grow through
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  and from changes that she had to make because they did affect us
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  as a family. And I've witnessed that from the
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  from like the children's perspective.
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  And I've gone, right. I'm a teacher, I'm now a mum.
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  I don't want that for my kids. And my mum says the same thing.
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  Make sure you're not doing that to your children because I know
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  what it did to you and how it felt for you.
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  So make sure you don't do that to your kids.
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  I'm like, Yep, got it. So we have made it our mission
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  to learn from mistakes of other people, mistakes of ourselves,
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  all of that type of thing, and put those boundaries in place.
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  And that's what you need to do. And this is what's causing
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  teachers to actually like burnout and quit and leave
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  because we're not respecting each other's boundaries.
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  We're overloading. We're the, the mental load is
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  there and we're not acknowledging it.
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  The system is falling apart and overloading everyone, and then
• 14:05
  you've got one identity for that, and then that clashes with
• 14:08
  your actual real life and you just can't manage it all.
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  So it just gets really, really hard.
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  Like that's only four reasons. There's up to 20.
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  There's a lot more, but what I've tried to do is like squash
• 14:18
  them into four sort of categories.
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  Is that This is why teachers are leaving.
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  This is why I know you feel the way you feel.
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  I felt this way too. I've come to that point many
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  times where I've gone. I don't think I can do this
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  anymore. If they change this curriculum
• 14:33
  one more time, I am out that door.
• 14:37
  And yes, I've been there. But we're not leaving because of
• 14:42
  one thing. We're leaving because it's that
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  slow build of everything. It's the constant pressure, the
• 14:48
  mental load, the lack of space to actually switch off.
• 14:51
  And over time, it just all adds up.
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  So what have I done to help myself get back and bounce back
• 14:59
  from these types of situations? And still, I am a teacher today
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  and I still love my profession and I love what I do.
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  But I've had to learn that I leave on time for my kids and my
• 15:10
  family. I actually switch off after
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  school. I choose my environments outside
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  of school as to where I interact, where I go and what
• 15:20
  I'm comfortable with. And I protect.
• 15:23
  I really wanted to swim, to swear there and be like, I
• 15:25
  protect the bad word out of my energy, but I'm not going to do
• 15:28
  that today. But protecting your energy.
• 15:32
  But the part that people don't always want to hear is that you
• 15:36
  have to take responsibility for your part in it.
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  It's you. You need to set yourself up for
• 15:42
  success from day one. You're the one who's responsible
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  for your boundaries, you're the one who's responsible for your
• 15:48
  routines, and you're responsible for what you say yes to.
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  You've got to learn that because if you don't, the job will take
• 15:57
  everything you give it and more. Did I make that clear?
• 16:02
  OK, I've given you lots of bits of information and I'm telling
• 16:07
  you from my experience, you're the one who has to do it.
• 16:10
  It is all you. I have been to many people.
• 16:14
  I've listened to many other teachers that have left the
• 16:16
  profession and as to why they've left and what they're doing now
• 16:19
  and all of those things. But it all comes down to you.
• 16:24
  And I will always back decisions that teachers have made for
• 16:28
  their choices. Whether that is, well, you need
• 16:31
  to leave that school and go to a different school.
• 16:33
  You need to leave that grade and try a different grade.
• 16:36
  You need to leave the primary system and go teach in a high
• 16:39
  school, whatever it may be. You're the one who's responsible
• 16:44
  for making that change and learning from all of those
• 16:47
  situations. It is you.
• 16:50
  So how do we fix teaching? Look, maybe the better question
• 16:54
  is how do I stop losing myself in it?
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  Because I've been nothing but honest with you.
• 17:01
  But you are replaceable in your job.
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  Yep, let that land. I've been told that before.
• 17:11
  I've been told I'm just a number.
• 17:13
  Yep, I've been told a lot of things.
• 17:17
  But I've also been told that I'm a good teacher and I've been
• 17:22
  told that I deserve certain things because I do a really
• 17:26
  good job, because I've learnt over time.
• 17:30
  But yes, even though we're in a teacher crisis and we can't find
• 17:34
  teachers, the government seemed to think that we're replaceable
• 17:38
  in our job. And you do need to put that in
• 17:42
  perspective if you're thinking about your profession and all
• 17:45
  those things. And I do have to tell myself
• 17:49
  sometimes that, yes, I am replaceable in my job, but I am
• 17:52
  not replaceable in my family, in my relationships, or in my own
• 17:57
  life. There is only one me.
• 17:58
  There's only one you. And that ultimately is what has
• 18:02
  to matter. And it matters more.
• 18:05
  So there's my little snippet for you today.
• 18:09
  Take out of it what you need. But if this hit for you, I would
• 18:13
  love to know which part you sort of feel is the most real for you
• 18:17
  right now. Because this conversation needs
• 18:19
  to be more than just teachers are leaving.
• 18:21
  It needs to be. But why?
• 18:23
  And what are we actually going to do about it?
• 18:26
  That's my little mic drop moment for you all.
• 18:30
  So whatever you are doing today, remember, in Case No one told
• 18:34
  you, you are doing an amazing job.
• 18:36
  You are loved and I hope you have the most amazing day,
• 18:40
  afternoon, morning, wherever it is, wherever it are, wherever
• 18:43
  you are at. It has been lovely talking with
• 18:46
  you all. Goodbye my loves.