OPINION: Why are teachers leaving? It all comes down to respect.

I have been teaching at secondary school level for 10 years, and it has simultaneously been the most challenging, rewarding, exhilarating, exasperating, and soul-destroying career experience of my life. I am about to leave the profession for a myriad of reasons, however the overriding issue is one of a lack of respect.

I moved into teaching at 40 years of age, having done 20 years in corporate cocoons where I was free to either meander along at my own pace or strive for the ceiling; and more importantly free to take a toilet or tea break whenever I needed one. Not so in the car crash world of teaching. 

From the minute I entered the classroom, 20 years of corporate culture was thrown aside, as none of the rules of engagement I had learned along the way applied. 

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Teenage students are complex, amazing, and taxing all at the same time. Every lesson is a combination of responses to students from right across the academic, emotional, and psychological spectrum, and it takes an Olympic-standard skill set to traverse each day in the classroom. 

My days went from category one to category five severity overnight, and I believe that the frenetic pace of change within a classroom perhaps in some way shields you from collapse; you are quite simply too busy juggling the many responsibilities you now hold to even consider falling into a defeated heap. 

This pace has sustained me for 10 years, however in the past couple of years, something has changed. Why is this happening now, when I am settled into the profession, highly competent in terms of content knowledge and delivery and at ease with the many additional expectations placed upon teachers, from wellbeing mentors to administrative experts to specialists in differentiated education and more?

It comes down to respect.

Respect is something that as a 1980s student I gave unquestioningly to my teachers, despite the range of highly questionable experiences that were on offer at the time. Bullying was a part of daily life and you formed alliances that would rival Europe’s in order to simply survive the day unscathed. 

Teachers were loose on Code of Conduct issues, from having students over to their house, to giving them lifts in their cars, to hooking up at the Year 12 formal; these were regular occurrences that 80s students accepted as part of the rough and tumble of school life. Scandalous at times, sure, but not always surprising. 

Teachers smoked on the premises, swore at will, and employed a range of novel disciplinary tactics that as a teacher myself I now marvel at; I recall that in response to being caught smoking in the PE change rooms, my principal made me smoke a cigar in his office. 

On the other hand, delivery of discipline was a hit and miss affair. I missed 90 per cent of my Year 11 Biology classes (largely due to a lack of interest in the subject coupled with a friend living within two minutes' walk of the school and having an awesome Billy Joel and Queen album collection), and yet not once did the teacher, who was also the deputy principal, question my lack of attendance. 

Schools today are so tightly regulated that student toilet breaks are monitored for duration and frequency, and teachers must complete annual Code of Conduct training to ensure that they not only self-regulate their own behaviours, but that they monitor the behaviour of colleagues for evidence of impropriety.

The issue of respect is the key driver of teachers leaving the profession and failing to join it in the first instance. As a society, we respect success which is often tied to remuneration. Doctors and lawyers are the mainstay of societal success; throwing these titles around still engenders a sense of awe and respect. 

Teachers are poorly paid across the board; NSW teachers are third lowest in terms of pay in Australia. The NSW Government offered a pay increase that was less than the inflation rate, effectively overseeing a reduction in teacher pay in real terms, and then expressed dismay at teachers taking their first strike action in over 10 years. 

The NSW Premier has been quoted as saying he wants "teachers to be paid the best". It’s unclear what criteria he is assessing "the best" against. In addition, teachers are drowning in paperwork. Solutions to this problem meted out by the NSW government have included drafting a suite of cookie-cutter lesson plans for teachers to use (there goes the differentiation standard to meet a range of student needs), to teachers working "8am until 5pm", the latter comment providing much mirth to the majority of teachers who already work those hours. 

Teachers are being asked to administrate rather than teach. And are then asked why teaching outcomes are falling. It is beyond belief that people in highly paid political positions can have such an acute inability to make sense of the situation. The respect from above is clearly not there.

Despite this, teachers have continued to give it their all, because it is a job that requires more than a qualification; it requires a commitment. The students drive that commitment, because they are the ones who seem to have benefitted from and appreciated their teachers' efforts. 

Somehow though, this tide is beginning to turn. Whilst the Department of Education delivers a new student discipline policy that limits the length and number of student suspensions, more and more students seem to be picking up on the respect issue and are demonstrating a distinct lack of it towards their teachers. 

I completed studies in criminology recently and I was amazed at how many times the solutions to the "school to prison pipeline" and community compliance issues were placed squarely into the laps of teachers and the education sector. 

Whilst I see and acknowledge the connection between the exclusion of students from school and subsequent links to future involvement in the criminal justice system, my experience is that as students begin to see that their behaviours no longer invite the same level of sanctions, they begin to try out their newly acquired freedoms, as any teenager worth their salt will do. 

In the past term alone, I have been told to "f*ck off bro" and have been told more than once by students that they won’t do as I instruct because they have "no respect for me". My colleague has been called a "f*cking b*tch" and physically intimidated, and students have on many occasions laughed off the threat of consequences for escalating behaviour as, in their own words, "There are no consequences". 

Parents sometimes (not always) support their children’s behaviours by counter-complaining about the treatment of their child. Whilst student protection is paramount (most teachers would not turn up each day if they did not think this was true), support for teachers has declined worryingly. 

The issue of respect has trickled down from the leaders of our education system to the key stakeholders - the students - who, perhaps without realising, are most at risk from its negative impacts. 

Respect comes in many forms, and it is noticeably absent in education circles from politicians, executives, parents, and students alike. The key to attracting and retaining teachers revolves around this one issue. 

Respect may be shown via remuneration, allocation of duties, support mechanisms, or just general courtesy. But sadly, none of these expressions of respect are apparent right now. And so students will continue to suffer, and in turn society will continue to lose out on our most valuable resource for the future; the students who will not be properly prepared for their role in society, because society was not able to give them the teachers that they deserved.

Valerie Oliver is a teacher, advocate of women and girls' equality and inclusive education. She has worked for 10 years in the NSW public education system and has completed post-graduate studies in law and criminology.

Feature Image: Getty