I recently met a friend at a restaurant. I knew her from my teacher training classes we both attended several years ago. We have not met for quite some time. Before three sentences have passed between us, she asked whether I was back in school after the birth of my baby. I told her that I have quit the service. I asked her whether she was still teaching and she said that she has been bumming around without a job for the past few months. I was surprised that she has quit too.

I know that she’s still single and could not make “taking care of children” as an excuse, like I did. I have another friend who quit teaching just after 3 months due to the demanding nature of the job. She hardly has time for her two daughters who were taking major exams that year.

I went on to ask her if she was actively looking for a job, and she said that she wanted to further her studies. Well, that’s another common excuse why teachers quit. But these people are not just making excuses. There are genuine problems in the teaching industry which makes it difficult for teachers to stay in the service for long. Here are some of the main reasons why teachers quit.

Heavy Workload

Teachers have to deal with a heavy workload. They have to prepare interesting lessons to ensure students’ attention are kept. These take a long time and goes beyond the school hours in a day, often dragging into the night. On top of that, the marking of students’ work can kill anyone. There is often an expected number of assignments or projects the students have to complete in a term or semester. While it’s already hard enough to get students to hand in their work, teachers spend a harder time trying to decipher what they are writing about.

Administrative Duties

Teachers are often burdened with administrative duties such as being a form teacher of a class. They have to collect money for this, that and the other. They have to fill in multitudes of forms to get things done. Many teachers complain that the administrative duties are taking up more time than their teaching duties.

Principals

No matter what type of principals you get in your school, there will bound to be some differences in how teachers and principals deal with students, staff and the day-to-day running of the school. Principals are capable of identifying the potentials of teachers. After identifying them, these teachers are often put to the test, usually with more work to see how far they can stretch such individuals. The not-so capable teachers are often left with less work.

Colleagues

From my experience, I did not have much problems with my colleagues in general. They are often in the same shoes and all trying to get out of the system as quickly as possible. We often complain to one another about how horrible our day had been and compare whose day is worse. But there are just some colleagues who are impossible to work with. You can say that I’m a reasonable and obliging individual when it comes to work. If a colleague becomes disrespectful and unreasonable, even I would be angry and refuse to work with him. Well, it’s a long story. Anyway, I brought the matter up to the Principal and told her that I could no longer work with such a person and asked her to look for another person to cover my role.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Teachers are in-charge of extra-curricular activities students in a school are encouraged to engage in. Teachers are not only teaching, doing administrative work, dealing with incapable principals and disrespectful colleagues, they also have to perform extra duties pertaining to sports or clubs or both. In addition, in order to enhance students’ learning experience, teachers have to plan and execute field trips within the country or even overseas every year, again taking up a lot of precious time.

Students

Sometimes I miss teaching because of the students. I teach students aged 13 – 16 years old. Some of the students remain in contact with me even after they have left school and after I have left school. But not all of them learn to appreciate their teachers early. It takes a lot of scolding, advice, talks and jokes to gain rapport with the students. When you’re busy with so many things, creating rapport might be the last things on your mind. Not all the students are good to teachers. There are some very disrespectful students in my classes. They have no desire to learn and find education a waste of time. They are often forced to come to school by their working parents who cared less. These problematic students often disrupts your teaching just for fun and laughter. Having them in your class makes teachers miserable. There was a teacher in my school who tendered her resignation immediately after attending to a rowdy class of students. She’s just had enough.

Parents

Parents of these students can be classified into 2 distinct lots. One set of parents care not whether their kids mix with the wrong company or get involved in criminal activities. They are often trying very hard to earn enough to feed their many children, working 2 or 3 jobs. They don’t spend enough time with their kids and leave the disciplining of their kids to the school. Teachers are not parents. And parents should not diminish their responsibilities and pass them onto others. The other group of parents are the protective ones. They believe the kids are right all the time, and would not believe if told that their kids did something terribly wrong, often blaming others (other children, teachers, or the school) for their kids’ misdemeanor.

Low Wage

Teachers’ wages are often very low. It just doesn’t add up against the work teachers do. Teachers are performing tasks which is done by individuals in other industries. Teachers have to teach, do administrative tasks (like a clerk), be counsellor to students, communicate with parents (like a customer service officer), be a sports coach, and the list goes on. Teachers should be paid much more.

Training

Teachers have to complete a certain amount of training in a year. Although, training and upgrading of skills and abilities is generally positive and very much encouraged, however being away from school for a couple of days just to attend training courses, would mean more work and less time for the teachers. Teachers still have to prepare lessons and assignments for students to complete. At times, teachers rush for training sessions after school has ended, leaving them tired and unable to concentrate on the lessons taught.

Family Comes First

Teachers are human beings who have families too. As time goes by, teachers often feel that they have very little time and energy left to deal with their own spouses and children. When it comes to such an extent, they will start to consider alternative solutions to this problem. They will either look for a another job or simply quit. Many jump at a chance to work in a more recognized and profitable industry or just work from home.

These are just some of the reasons why I quit teaching. Although there are many other reasons I care not to mention, the main reason for me is the last one listed here. I really want to spend more time with my loved ones and willing to forgo a stable, salaried job to be at home with them. That’s why I quit.