I'd rather sell dresses to men than be a teacher

Brendan Montague
Monday November 27, 2000
Manchester Evening News

A teacher has quit the classroom to sell stilettos and false breasts to transvestites.

Katie Oak, 26, from Prestwich, says she would rather earn less money working for a company selling goods to cross dressers than teach in stressful British schools.

Now the experienced language teacher has sent a warning to Education Secretary David Blunkett.

“I think I am typical of young teachers – nearly everyone I met going into teaching is now trying to leave,” she said.
“The crisis will get worse. I don’t think it is the money. If we had smaller classes we could cope.”

Figures published by the government this week show that more people are going into teacher training than for eight years, but the drop out rate is high.

Pupil teacher ratios in many Manchester schools are at their worst for 25 years.

Katie, who works for Prestwich based Transformation, described teaching as “physically stressful and exhausting, but good fun. It takes everything out of you and you have no life.”

The secretary of the University Council for the Education of Teachers, Mary Russell, agreed that action was needed. She said: “We must reverse the damage of many years of criticism before we can attract talented people.”