Since the start of the week, several teachers have publicly expressed their desire to leave the profession. We are right to be concerned about the education network. We do not intend to comment on this conflict here, but we believe that our expertise can be put to use.
As such, we are concerned about what these people who make the decision to reorient themselves experience. Indeed, this important decision is the consequence of mature reflection, and can sometimes result from exhaustion or wear and tear that we can no longer bear.
Suffering at work is very real and is documented by scientific research. Loss of meaning and sense of personal effectiveness, lack of recognition and difficulty using one’s skills to successfully fulfill one’s responsibilities are all elements that can lead to this decision to leave the boat. You may know this, but this popular expression is sometimes used to refer to people who cowardly abandon others during a tough time. However, this is not the case when we experience distress at work.
This is where the feeling of guilt risks appearing among people who choose to explore new professional avenues. Like some teachers who testify, it is not necessarily because they do not like their profession that they leave it. Rather, it is a heartbreaking choice and a highly stressful situation: not knowing how to stay in a context and a profession that no longer has meaning for you, or even leaving this profession that you have chosen, in which we invested and which we still love.
For guidance counselors, the signs, comments and distress observed among teachers in the news resonate and are nothing new, unfortunately. They are similar to those observed in consultation. We can only be sensitive to what all these people who are testifying at this moment, as well as those who are quieter, are experiencing. We encourage them not to remain alone in the face of these strong emotions that these important professional decisions raise, which have an impact on their lives and that of those around them.
Whether we choose to stay or leave our profession, these are complex decisions, which require us to take the time to think about it and to be well supported so that the option that suits us best be retained.
There are the teachers, of course, but we can also talk about the professionals and all the staff in the school network, as well as all the people who work in the health and social services network. Beyond this crisis, guidance counselors encounter people who are suffering, questioning and sometimes exhausted from all fields of employment.
Current testimonies make these sufferings more visible, but they were already very present in our society. And in our opinion, we need to be much more concerned about it and put in place the necessary services and resources to meet the many needs of the population in this regard.