How pupils drive teachers away

David Lucas enjoyed his career but will be relieved to go

Teacher David Lucas believes one of the main reasons why graduates do not want to join the profession is the bad behaviour of pupils. He gave BBC News Online his personal point of view.

I am due to retire next summer at the age of 60, after 37 years in the profession.

In our area in Wiltshire, teacher shortages have not really hit us yet, although I understand that in Swindon there were some problems in recruiting staff during the latter part of the summer term.

Some of the problem is money, there is no doubt about that.

The starting salary is not sufficient to attract top-rate and good graduates into teaching any more.

Mr Lucas believes the bureaurcracy complaint is a red herring

My own son, who graduated last year from Nottingham University with a first-class honours degree in maths, had no intention of even considering teaching as a career.

He has joined the civil service as a fast-track entrant with a starting salary, and the rest, that no-one would turn down.

The crucial point is this: His tutor at university wanted him to stay on and do a PhD in maths.

As he said to us at graduation: "This lad is the next generation of university teachers, if they are going to join the civil service on a fat salary, how can we persuade them to teach the next generation of students, let alone in a school?"

What is equally sad about this is that nobody my son knew at Nottingham university, which is one of our top academic institutions, was going to do a teacher training course.

Recent entrants

Some recent entrants to our school to teach maths have only third or pass degrees!

The price of property is another factor.

In our area houses prices have boomed in the last year.

Our head teacher reckons that another 5-10% increase over the coming year will make it difficult for him to fill any senior post with the right calibre of candidate - if he can get anyone at all.

I have seen behaviour deteriorate considerably in the past five years or so

David Lucas

About bureaucracy - my colleagues and I laugh when we hear this one trotted out by the politicians, particularly one lady member of the opposition during the last election campaign who talked about nothing else.

In secondary schools very few of us have much in the way of paperwork to attend to other than that which affects our day-to-day teaching.

We appreciate that our colleagues in primary schools have much more paperwork to fill in about their pupils.

Frankly, we feel that this issue is a red herring and a way that politicians of all parties duck the real issues.

In our opinion, the main reason for teacher shortages, apart from the money issue, is that of pupil behaviour.

If any young graduate attended a school where they saw the bad behaviour of a minority of pupils, they would say to themselves: "I am not going to put myself into that situation, where I cannot teach my subject properly without being constantly interrupted by bad behaviour and rudeness."

Is pupils' behaviour to blame?

No politician seems to have the courage to address this issue and admit this fact to the public at large.

I have seen behaviour deteriorate considerably in the past five years or so.

We are fortunate to some extent to be in a quiet rural environment but even that has not prevented us from having our share of pupils who are disruptive beyond belief and where nothing can be done to get rid of them.

We have children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), Asperger's Syndrome, and various other learning difficulties.

They are unable to cope in a normal classroom situation, even with some degree of support, and badly misbehave.

Inclusion

Our head of special needs admits that up to 20 years ago these children would not have been allowed into a "normal" school environment.

He believes that the current policy of inclusion into the mainstream is not really working at all, mainly due to the lack of adequate funding.

With all of this I am not surprised in the slightest that our brightest young graduates, such as my son, are spurning a career in teaching.

Although I have enjoyed my career I will be relieved to go.

The final point is that no politician seems to have the courage to admit to the public that if we are going to have the world-class education service from infant schools to university that is desired, then the country is going to have to pay for it.

Talk of tax cuts or of no increase in taxation is not going to provide a decent service that will make parents want to send their children to the local school.

More will make the sacrifice and send their children to independent schools, good or bad, where class sizes are smaller and equipment and resources are generally superior.