A teacher who had to quit the profession with stress has spoken out against the “broken system” - following the tragic death of headteacher Ruth Perry. Emily Hughes left teaching due to a stress-induced breakdown linked to demands including Ofsted inspections.
The 42-year-old worked in five schools over 15 years as a teacher and head of department. But she says the demands of Ofsted, bureaucracy and working from 8am to 9pm and during holidays left her exhausted and unable to cope.
Emily says she even started having actual ''nightmares' about having to teach a Latin class. The intensity of her job increased when she became Head of Maths in September 2012 at a school put into special measures by Ofsted.
Her workload 'doubled' with the additional paperwork, seating plans, and preparations she had to complete for inspections. It left her regularly working over 70 hours a week.
Emily's comments come after the death of Ruth Perry, 53, who took her own life after her school was ranked 'inadequate' by Ofsted. The inspection report found her school, Caversham Primary School in Reading, to be good in every category apart from leadership and management, where it was judged to be “inadequate”.
Emily, from Peterborough, said: “It was very pressure inducing. It was very much a baptism of fire. When you're in special measures Ofsted come in very very regularly. And it's incredibly stressful.
''They come in and ask for lesson plans for everything. And it's a lot of additional paperwork on top of all the improvements that you're trying to put in place and so on.
''We just about got ourselves about out of it, to a ‘requires improvement’, but it took a long period and was a very challenging situation to be in. Everyone is just really stressed and really uptight because there's so much pressure and you don't want to be the person who screws it up for your team for your department.''
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Although Emily “had always wanted to be a teacher” her job left her so exhausted she was unable to cope and went through a period of depression where she was “incapable” for months. After months of Ofsted inspections she had a breakdown and was signed off by her GP with depression for a few months in December 2014.
She started a new job at a different school in September 2015. But when the same challenges developed in her new role she realised she had to ‘put my sanity above my salary’ and leave the profession in July 2018.
Emily, now runs her own business "A Parents Guide to GCSEs" with her husband Paul Hughes, 52, also a teacher.
She said: “I always wanted to teach ever since I could remember. I've always liked being able to explain things so that it fits in your head the right way, like a little jigsaw puzzle piece of knowledge.
''I didn't ever think twice about becoming a teacher. Getting emails over the Christmas holidays was the thing that finally tipped me over the edge.
"Normally we all rely on each other. If you've got a child who's having a difficult day, for whatever reason, and they just need a bit of time outside your classroom and somewhere to go and sit - normally, you know which lesson is full of the kids that can cope with there being a slightly disruptive influence, in the back and they could ignore it and get on.
''And so you use each other like that to support in terms of behaviour. That's not something you can do when there's a real possibility that an inspector is going to walk into their classroom.
''So it throws all the usual systems out of the window and puts the additional pressure on the teachers because you can't deal with kids like you normally would do.''
As a full-time teacher Emily worked from 8 until 9pm, while also managing childcare, with only one day off a week. She worked through the holidays marking classwork, photocopying and planning lessons.
Her school only offered three hours in her weekly timetable to prepare for 22 hours of classes, she spent most break times on mandatory staff duties. She then had additional meetings after the school day ended.
She said: “It's a little better in the summer, but then you've got schemes of work to remark and recreate and so on. There's always something planning your timetable. reorganising your class lists certainly when you're in management, there's not much of a holiday.
''If teachers worked for what they were paid to do, schools would fall apart within a week.”
Emily said she would have recurring ‘back to school nightmares’ in the Christmas holidays in 2014 before she was signed off with stress by her GP.
She said: “I would have nightmares where I was suddenly put in charge of teaching a class in Latin, or I was in charge of a half the kids have gone missing. I was having them all the way through the Christmas holidays. I couldn't relax, couldn't enjoy it, couldn't be present with my family, because I was so stressed out. It was just unsustainable.”
Beyond her own experience of burnout, Emily said the teaching profession is “broken” and if teachers were in charge of Ofsted it would be less “punitive”.
She said: “If we had teachers in charge of the system, including Ofsted, it could be more supportive and less punitive, how it feels as a teacher. If teachers were in charge of making decisions about education, rather than people whose only experience is having gone to school once, then that would make a really big difference
“I think we need to start treating teachers like the professionals that they are and giving them the support that they need to be amazing at their jobs, rather than expecting absolutely everything from them while giving them nothing in return.
''The system is very broken at the moment.”
An inquest into Ruth Perry's death will take place at Berkshire Coroner’s Court later this year. Her family is calling for the system to be reviewed and changed to focus on the welfare of teaching staff as well as schoolchildren.
Matthew Purves, Ofsted’s regional director for the South East, said: “We were deeply saddened by Ruth Perry’s tragic death. Our thoughts remain with Mrs Perry’s family, friends and everyone in the Caversham Primary School community.”
