A former teacher claims the stress of the job causes illness and long-term absence among colleagues, leaving some unable to get out of bed due to depression.
The 23-year-old, who asked not to be named, left her teaching job this month after less than two years after working 12-hour days on as little as four hours of sleep, with few breaks during the day and constant contact from parents. One called her "a waste of taxpayers' money" when she took time out of her break to phone the parent.
Armed with experience of helping her teacher mum as a kid, she was drawn to a teaching qualification while studying maths at the University of Liverpool, due in part to the offer of a training bursary of more than £20,000. She handled kids swearing and throwing chairs during placement, all the while balancing in-class teaching with academic studies. She thought coping with that would prepare her for anything, saying: "Because I'm quite good with my time management skills and stuff like that, I thought I'd be able to do it and I'd be able to switch off from it. I was very wrong."
