You normally hear of mothers returning to work after having a baby being forced into accepting lower paid and less skilled jobs in order to meet the demand of their new lifestyle. But new reports from TES show that qualified teachers are choosing to take huge pay cuts and work as teaching assistants rather than contend with the vast workload expected of them.

The ongoing workload crisis, budget cuts and recruitment crisis leaves teachers exhausted and with no life. Some student teachers working in support or cover supervisor roles have also been turned off teaching by the idea of spending every evening and weekend with piles of marking or planning. Last year a staggering 40% of NQTs did not continue in the teaching profession after 12 months and almost 11,000 qualified teachers did not even enter the profession. One school reported a teaching assistant (TA) post attracting dozens of applicants, with about half coming from qualified teachers or candidates who had undertaken a teacher training course. Stressed teachers being reduced to tears are not getting the help they need to overcome challenged in the classroom, which contributes to their overall wellbeing. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL teaching union, blamed the workload pressures on a "policy tsunami".

"[Teachers] want to stay in the classroom and work with students, but they simply cannot deal with the workload any longer," Dr Bousted said. “The fact that graduates who have decided to teach are prepared to be paid a fraction of the wage they earn as teachers, shows the level of overwork. "If you want to solve the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, you have to deal with this.

To be fair, I think [the government] understands that. "But on another level, we have a government that went pell-mell into curriculum change, qualification change and has a policy tsunami that increases workload and then says: ‘What are we going to do about it?’ Until they deal with that conundrum, we are in trouble."

Sue Wilcock, a former supply teacher who now works as a higher-level teaching assistant at a primary in Wigan, explained her decision to take the more junior classroom role: "There is a lot less pressure. I plan lessons, I support teachers, I do interventions, but I start work at 8.30am and finish at 3.50pm. At weekends, I have a life. When a teaching job came up, I didn’t think it was worth the cost to my family life, so I didn’t apply. I wouldn’t go back to a teaching post now." Dr Bousted said that while teachers are some of the very hardest workers around, it is completely unfair of anyone to expect them to dedicate every single moment of their waking life to their work.

A proper work-life balance is vital to the wellbeing of everyone.