Why Teachers Quit Their Job
I have been in the teaching industry for almost 10 years already (5 years as a part-timer college instructor and 5 years in DepEd as a permanent teacher) and I have seen all the ups and downs of my colleagues in the field. If you are a teacher, it is expected that you are one of the best and you have to give your expertise to the school that hired you in return. Most teachers, if not all are used to the norms in the teaching industry and every teacher alike, young and old are given the same and equal amount of compensation respectively. There are teachers who are happy and contented and there are also opposite ones.
Teachers here in the Philippines are quite respected by most of their students and it is a fulfillment and happiness if their students value them like their own parents. As a teacher, it is expected that you are an epitome of values and it is your duty to mold your students and prepare them for a better future.
I can say that the life of a teacher is really different and challenging. If you are a permanent teacher in the government of the Philippines then you are most likely to receive all the benefits entitled to a regular teacher, good enough to feed your folks. You may think teachers are that lucky to have a permanent source of income but sometimes I cannot stop myself from asking why are there teachers who quit/resigned/give-up their items that easily? Don’t they regret giving up their post when everybody wants to become and be a part of the DepEd family (fresh licensure passers are very eager to be ranked and be hired)? With these questions in my mind, I have come up with these 6 (six) main reasons why there are a lot of teachers who quit their post despite permanent status.
1. TEACHERS QUIT TEACHING IN THE PHILIPPINES TO TRY THEIR LUCK ABROAD
I have a friend who went overseas to teach and earn dollars. One of them is my best friend who migrated to Australia for good. She once told me that there is no turning back for her after she rolls all her cards just to land a job in that foreign country. Her reason – she needs more money to feed her family and support her siblings and she can only do that if she earns something huge. I think this is also the reason for other teachers who gave up their items here. It is a sad thing but it is a reality. Dollars and pounds are enticing, dragging you to try for once.
2. WORKLOAD OVERLOAD, WORK PRESSURE, AND STRESS
Other teachers especially the young ones (ages 21-25 though not all) are very idealistic but after being hired and given all the workload, they can’t seem to handle things the way they think of before the ranking. In DepEd, being a teacher is a battle but if you are a lousy teacher, you won’t get sympathy from others if you cannot do your thing well as expected from you. I get to know a young teacher who recently just got hired by DepEd but after a few months of staying in her school (which is located on the island☹), she quit. Just like that, she quit without even trying to cope up with the pressure. Workload plus more ancillary designations plus pressure equals stress, and the ending is resignation.
3. HEALTH PROBLEMS
Some teachers quit because they need to rest from a serious illness (but this is rare for teachers). Health is wealth and no matter how high your status is, you really need to give it up when your health is at risk.
4. STUDY HIGHER EDUCATION/TRY ANOTHER COURSE
I have known teachers who quit/resigned from their permanent status just to go back to study but of course, study other courses such as medicine and law. An acquaintance of mine once resigned from his post to study medicine and instead of teaching, he wanted to help the people by being a doctor that will treat the sick. Many of our law officers nowadays are even teachers by a baccalaureate degree.
5. VENTURE INTO BUSINESS
Others quit because they wanted to focus on being an entrepreneur and earn more than that what is offered as a teacher. Networking (I hate networking a lot) is one example of it. We cannot deny that being a business person means money, a thing that teachers won’t have because teachers are paid not that much, but only enough that our families will not starve.
6. CHOICE
Lastly, other teachers quit because sooner they realized that teaching students and kids is not their passion, so they quit by choice.
Isn’t it amazing that these are mainly the reasons why a lot of young teachers quit teaching? The fact that being a “permanent” does not guarantee that a person will really root for her/his job. A realization is that people will do everything to satisfy their urge to do the things they want to try and luckily, and teachers are no excuse for that. Besides, we are all human and we do our game differently. – Avril | Helpline PH
