One in three young teachers in England skipping meals to make ends meet | Teaching

20 comments
  1. I have a question which the Guardian doesn’t address:

    What is the average age and level of PQE of those 1 in 5, and how does their salary and food bank dependency compare to equivalently experienced professions?

    The reason I ask is that many professionals don’t qualify until they are early to mid 20s, and have very poor earnings while training and shortly after qualification.

    I’d like to see the context to know if teachers are being singularly screwed, or if it’s actually generational.

  2. They are not very well paid when you factor in hours worked during term time…but they do get a lot of holidays…but you also can’t say that they are poorly paid in context to everybody else.

  3. > “I regularly use food banks because my salary doesn’t cover my outgoings, including rent, electric and gas bills

    Remember, any time you see articles like this about working people having to use food banks, the majority of their money is going on rent.

    This is a housing issue as well as a wages issue.

    This issue is also an easy one to solve. Build more social housing, and stop selling it off. Keep it under the control of local councils.

  4. Unless you live in London, teaching provides enough money to live comfortably off. When I was teaching, I bought my own house, had two holidays and never looked at a price when shopping. I can see why teachers in the South East require a better salary though.

  5. 25-30k is enough money for an under 30 year old. Many people would need a raise to earn that. Most graduates get similar.

    They are either leading unaffordable lives or embellishing from that one time they ran out of money the day before payday so skipped lunch. Rent is high, but it’s not *that* high.

  6. Biggest issue is rent. We need to tax second home owners and buy to let landlords out of the market. Nobody should get seconds until everyone has got a plate.
    Housing needs to stop being seen as an investment or a business (Being a landlord is not a job) and it should be seen for what it is, HOMES !

  7. Its going to hurt parents but 1 day strikes per teacher isn’t going to fly. There needs to be total disruption, 3 day strikes in a row. and 75% minimum of teachers taking part. Teachers need to teach the gov a lesson.

  8. Doing my part to make sure teachers are well fed. My partner is in her first year teaching after becoming fully qualified. Cooked some halloumi wraps with peri-peri mayo.

  9. Teachers, friends and family of teachers, en mass: This is the case!

    Mugs on Reddit who did alright at some point in the past: Nonsense!!!!!!! I did fine and bought a house and never once struggled!?!?!!!!

  10. I am sorry, but this has to be said – if you are earning a teacher’s salary and you are having to skip meals, then there is very likely a budgeting issue somewhere

    I know people on universal credit who don’t have to skip meals

  11. Try being a uni student who comes from the poverty line. I’m living off food donations. Eating less calories than I need. Had to stop going to the gym (free with uni halls) to save calories. Resting at any point I can to save calories. At least they have an income. My parents might lose the house if the government doesn’t pull its shit together.

  12. I quit the profession as of last friday. Got lots of lovely cards from the kids (which I wasn’t expecting since I didn’t tell anyone until the day for behaviour management reasons).

    Nicest bits were one student who I taught last year who’d found out by overhearing staff talking about it and baked a beautiful cake based on a running joke we’d had, and one student who absconded from isolation to come and say goodbye (touching, if probably not a good idea)

    I was losing money every month. My savings have been gradually eaten away over the last 2 years. Coupled with the insane workload and the ever-shittier conditions arising from underfunding, I couldn’t keep it going. My dad being severely ill was sort of the icing on the cake.

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