First year teachers quitting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don’t pay teachers enough to put up with the stress and they don’t give them any support either.

When I started out teaching at 25, I was making around 45k. I was working 80 hour weeks and my husband was making around 300k working much much less. At the he same time, I had no support from fellow teachers, admin, or parents. Everyone criticized me. I once got a bad review from my principal because he didn’t think I had enough posters or artwork up on the walls. He said nothing about the quality of the lesson he had just observed, my interactions with students, or the materials I spent hours slaving over creating from scratch.

As DH continued to make more and more money, at some point I was like eff this nonsense and left.

That is way more than I made as a child welfare social worker with a masters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think another challenge is the way that admins treat teachers as fungible resources. I have lost count of the number of teachers in my local district who share that they have been teaching 5th grade language arts but are being moved to 3rd grade, or some other ridiculous change.

It takes time to understand the developmental stages of kids and to master content areas, it is crazy to switch them with 2 weeks notice. How can they reasonably be successful?

Two weeks?

My old district gave teachers a weekend, and would move them on count day!
It was awful, and kids and adults (sometimes) would be left in tears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There really is no work/ life balance for teachers, and that alone can lead to burnout.

It dependents upon your role, system, and district. I taught English Language Learners and worked on average 45 hours my first year of teaching. I know perfectionist who worked more, and people who didn't care work less.

45 hours a week would be a great work life balance for most people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did they go through an actual teacher preparation program? Or TFA or some alternative program? Dropping unqualified people into such a demanding job is unconscionable. Nobody should be surprised when they quit.

My sister came up through TFA and I have such admiration for her for sticking with it. Teaching is hard enough as it is, but TFA placements are typically in pretty challenging, understaffed schools. Several in her cohort quit. She's a great teacher now, but I know those first couple years were super tough. I think part of the reason she persevered is that we didn't come from a particularly privileged background, so she couldn't really afford to just quit and move back home with my parents without income or health insurance (this was pre-ACA). I guess at least those in TFA have another degree to fall back on, but for first year teachers who majored in education, what do you do if you decide teaching is not for you, especially during a recession?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t pay teachers enough to put up with the stress and they don’t give them any support either.

When I started out teaching at 25, I was making around 45k. I was working 80 hour weeks and my husband was making around 300k working much much less. At the he same time, I had no support from fellow teachers, admin, or parents. Everyone criticized me. I once got a bad review from my principal because he didn’t think I had enough posters or artwork up on the walls. He said nothing about the quality of the lesson he had just observed, my interactions with students, or the materials I spent hours slaving over creating from scratch.

As DH continued to make more and more money, at some point I was like eff this nonsense and left.

That is way more than I made as a child welfare social worker with a masters.

It shouldn't be a race to the bottom- social workers should earn more too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These 22 year olds aren't quitting because they're afraid of covid. Each one has said the job is too hard. One was my teaching partner. I gave him all my plans. I spent hours helping him prep. He cried EVERY DAY in my classroom after school.

It’s an overwhelming job. Did they do student teaching or are they going in blind?

Yeah! US education system is bad and most teachers are products of the same education system. Don't worry, the economy is going to hell fast and you will get very qualified people soon who will want to teach!

The other option is that you outsource teaching to another country. You will be able to hire teachers for very cheap and anyways it is going to be distance learning so there will not be any issue of visas etc.

[Anonymous]

I'm about to start my classroom observation as part of MA in ECE, and student teaching should start in February. I will try to stay an assistant for couple of years if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go through an actual teacher preparation program? Or TFA or some alternative program? Dropping unqualified people into such a demanding job is unconscionable. Nobody should be surprised when they quit.

My sister came up through TFA and I have such admiration for her for sticking with it. Teaching is hard enough as it is, but TFA placements are typically in pretty challenging, understaffed schools. Several in her cohort quit. She's a great teacher now, but I know those first couple years were super tough. I think part of the reason she persevered is that we didn't come from a particularly privileged background, so she couldn't really afford to just quit and move back home with my parents without income or health insurance (this was pre-ACA). I guess at least those in TFA have another degree to fall back on, but for first year teachers who majored in education, what do you do if you decide teaching is not for you, especially during a recession?

I did TFA as well in the early 2000s. The only preparation I had for teaching high school was doing summer school with 4 fifth graders. It was useless. And the support from TFA was just a 24 year old who taught two years then left to get a job in the TFA office. They had no helpful information to share. It was such a difficult job. I think the only reason I made it through those years were friends I made at the school, a few veteran colleagues took me under their wings and feeling like I had to push myself to do it. I know lots of people who quit for really good reasons. A friend's students tried to poison her, another friend starting losing her hair from stress of going to her very rough elementary school job, etc. It was really hard.

[Anonymous]

It's not just TFA. Someone pointed me to a prep program at a 50k/yr university. It was a master's program supposedly geared towards career changers like myself. We learned a lot about theory, but we received little to no practical application. Most of my cohort was placed with teachers who'd been in the classroom less than five years. The woman I was with was just starting her second year of teaching. She broke down crying at least once a week in front of the students. As you might expect, I was totally unprepared for my first year in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don’t pay teachers enough to put up with the stress and they don’t give them any support either.

When I started out teaching at 25, I was making around 45k. I was working 80 hour weeks and my husband was making around 300k working much much less. At the he same time, I had no support from fellow teachers, admin, or parents. Everyone criticized me. I once got a bad review from my principal because he didn’t think I had enough posters or artwork up on the walls. He said nothing about the quality of the lesson he had just observed, my interactions with students, or the materials I spent hours slaving over creating from scratch.

As DH continued to make more and more money, at some point I was like eff this nonsense and left.

+100

Same thing happened to me... you want me to put sh*t up on the walls? with what money am I supposed to buy cutsey posters and borders? (FYI, high school math class). I had just graduated from college, broke as a a joke, 1st year teacher.

[Anonymous]

Where are they going when they quit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t pay teachers enough to put up with the stress and they don’t give them any support either.

When I started out teaching at 25, I was making around 45k. I was working 80 hour weeks and my husband was making around 300k working much much less. At the he same time, I had no support from fellow teachers, admin, or parents. Everyone criticized me. I once got a bad review from my principal because he didn’t think I had enough posters or artwork up on the walls. He said nothing about the quality of the lesson he had just observed, my interactions with students, or the materials I spent hours slaving over creating from scratch.

As DH continued to make more and more money, at some point I was like eff this nonsense and left.

That is way more than I made as a child welfare social worker with a masters.

It shouldn't be a race to the bottom- social workers should earn more too.

They can. Most social workers don't last at these jobs for long. After a year or two, they get easier jobs and/or start a private therapy clinic.

But hey, they are going to replace the police, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go through an actual teacher preparation program? Or TFA or some alternative program? Dropping unqualified people into such a demanding job is unconscionable. Nobody should be surprised when they quit.

My sister came up through TFA and I have such admiration for her for sticking with it. Teaching is hard enough as it is, but TFA placements are typically in pretty challenging, understaffed schools. Several in her cohort quit. She's a great teacher now, but I know those first couple years were super tough. I think part of the reason she persevered is that we didn't come from a particularly privileged background, so she couldn't really afford to just quit and move back home with my parents without income or health insurance (this was pre-ACA). I guess at least those in TFA have another degree to fall back on, but for first year teachers who majored in education, what do you do if you decide teaching is not for you, especially during a recession?

I was wondering about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go through an actual teacher preparation program? Or TFA or some alternative program? Dropping unqualified people into such a demanding job is unconscionable. Nobody should be surprised when they quit.

My sister came up through TFA and I have such admiration for her for sticking with it. Teaching is hard enough as it is, but TFA placements are typically in pretty challenging, understaffed schools. Several in her cohort quit. She's a great teacher now, but I know those first couple years were super tough. I think part of the reason she persevered is that we didn't come from a particularly privileged background, so she couldn't really afford to just quit and move back home with my parents without income or health insurance (this was pre-ACA). I guess at least those in TFA have another degree to fall back on, but for first year teachers who majored in education, what do you do if you decide teaching is not for you, especially during a recession?

I was wondering about this.

My cousin did this- majored in education, didn’t even make it a few months before she quit. Lived with her parents for a while, worked for their small business then went back to school for a different degree. Works in sports management now. But I can’t imagine starting over is realistic for a large segment of new teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they go through an actual teacher preparation program? Or TFA or some alternative program? Dropping unqualified people into such a demanding job is unconscionable. Nobody should be surprised when they quit.

My sister came up through TFA and I have such admiration for her for sticking with it. Teaching is hard enough as it is, but TFA placements are typically in pretty challenging, understaffed schools. Several in her cohort quit. She's a great teacher now, but I know those first couple years were super tough. I think part of the reason she persevered is that we didn't come from a particularly privileged background, so she couldn't really afford to just quit and move back home with my parents without income or health insurance (this was pre-ACA). I guess at least those in TFA have another degree to fall back on, but for first year teachers who majored in education, what do you do if you decide teaching is not for you, especially during a recession?

I was wondering about this.

It depends. Two of my neighbors' kids just graduated with degrees in education and neither is a classroom teacher. One works at one of those tutoring centers and makes enough to not live with her parents (she does have a roommate and bartends a couple nights a week, too). The other one is working at an ABA place and in a grad program to become a BCBA.