: Jan Wositzky: I sympathise with the teacher awarded compensati

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Reader's comment: Jan Wositzky: I sympathise with the teacher awarded compensation last week, The Age, 11 September 2014.

Teacher being forced into early retirement: what a joke it all is!

Just consider yourself lucky if the anxiety or depression has not got to you - yet.

If you've had time off, then you're on the spiral.

I'm being forced into retirement early.

I am on compensation.

I won't sue - it's too stressful.

What a joke it all is.

Roseanne Byrne

Ex-teacher: I had chairs thrown at me. I got out of teaching.

I was a high school teacher for seven years and got out.

I had chairs thrown at me, was verbally abused and had this one student who I will never forget...

The principal saying... "his file needs to be about this thick before we can do anything. Hang in there and keep filing out these incident forms.

What a joke!

The system needs to change.

Christine Antoniadou

Every day. Being verbally abused. It is very draining.

Every day.

Dealing with the same drama patterns.

Being verbally abused every lesson.

Constantly watching for trigger situations.

Dealing with constant mood swings or emotional baggage from earlier in the day(or previous days).

It is very draining - no matter how "good" you are as a teacher.

Michelle Pacey

School admin respond to complaints from students or parents far more readily than they respond to a complaint by a teacher.

I haven't recommended teaching as a career for the last two decades.

Students and parents know their "rights" but don't always acknowledge the "right" of a teacher to simply do the job of teaching.

The workload has increased beyond belief.

And admin responds to complaints from students or parents far more readily than a complaint by a teacher.

Merryl Yet Foy

Retired teacher: I would never recommend teaching as a career to anyone.

I am a retired teacher.

These days a teacher can be sued for even raising their voice to a child.

Since discipline is impossible, respect is completely absent.

I would never recommend teaching as a career to anyone.

Aileen May

Ex-teacher: it is not just the abhorrent behaviour, it is the complete lack of support.

As a person who has spent a fair bit of time in public high schools, but will never teach in one again, my view is it's not just about the abhorrent behaviour but also the complete lack of support from above.

It's such a terrible shame to see the profession lose so many smart young graduates each year.

Guy Jill Wood

If you really want good teachers you need to fix teachers' awful working conditions.