Why do we keep shedding so many teachers from the profession? It’s the same for Police Officers, Doctors, lawyers, you name them. So many professionals, of so many different sorts, are quitting from seemingly well-remunerated, interesting jobs after only a few years. And after all that expensive training, too! Of course, there are going to be many factors to which zealous undergraduates of some of the more flinty economic schools may point. But for us, the elephant in the room is, and always has been, stress. The endless piling of conflicting new demands, regulations and priorities on people already working at the limits of their time and energy. The overwhelming flow of data compliances, complaints and inspections, and the need to be available 24 hours every day, for the whole 365 days of the year.
The article we present today, written by JD Murphy for the Guardian, is admittedly an extreme example. The writer was a former Fire Services Commander, dealing with some of the most harrowing circumstances with which an empathetic mind must confront. Yet the central ,lurid, fact (they rang him while on holiday for stress, demanding more work) is central to the experience of millions. [1]
The endless demand for results-short term, pressing, urgent-has led to a colossal erosion of human capital. More than that, it distorts and poisons the whole quality of life. It has led to the massive misallocation of resources and time. And has produced an economic model which is now destroying the planet. The time has come to explore new ways of running the economy and new ways of measuring fulfilment. We shall be looking at some in weeks to come’
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/21/fire-brigade-commander-stress-ptsd-grenfell-tower
#stress #PTSD #illness #health #churn
Learning, Science and Society 