Petition

Teaching recruitment is in a state of crisis in the UK.  Nearly 50,000 teachers left the profession last year – around one in twelve full time teachers – according to the Department for Education’s own statistics.  According to recent research by the Teacher Support Network, a third of all teachers plan to leave the profession in the next five years and the Guardian recently reported that four in ten new teachers quit within a year.  When the teaching profession loses respect, parents and children pay the price and it is not worth paying.  Our data driven education system is in danger of losing its humanity.  Please support this petition to:

·        Ensure that teachers have a manageable work/life balance.

·        Reduce government red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy which is creating intolerable pressure and making teachers lives impossible, forcing them to spend their time ticking boxes and doing unnecessary and unproductive work rather than actually teaching.

·        Reduce teaching to the test which is leading to less creativity and increased stress and anxiety in teachers and their pupils as well as fuelling unnecessary bureaucracy.  Petition the government to stop children being tested from a younger and younger age.

·        Force OFSTED and the independent schools’ inspectorate services to ensure that the school inspection regime is made to be a part of the solution and actively assist in implementing change in failing schools rather than just pointing out a school’s shortcomings and walking away from the problem as at present.

·        Reduce unacceptable levels of teacher scrutiny and trust teachers to get on with their jobs.

·        Encourage a culture of collaboration within schools’ management rather than one of competition.

·        Work to depoliticise education and reduce government meddling.

·        Realise that childhood is precious and encourage an education environment that is geared towards protecting it.

·        Create an environment that fosters a love of learning and protects the mental health of teachers and their pupils.