For more than 20 years, teaching was not just a job but a source of steady progression and identity. Promotions came every couple of years, and the career ladder felt solid. Then restructuring struck. The teacher, now redundant, describes a feeling of complete confusion. Efforts to find a role at the same level have failed, leaving them lost and unclear about who they are without the classroom.
The confusion is compounded by a turbulent final five years in education. The teacher left their previous school after the headteacher was unable to offer support following the death of their mother. Before that, they resigned after whistleblowing on a senior leader for bullying. Now, the teacher worries that the repeat issues and unhappiness come from themselves — that somehow they are seeking out conflict or difficulty, despite a happy home life with a partner, three children, and a strong network of friends and siblings.
Psychotherapist Mark Vahrmeyer, a UKCP-registered integrative practitioner with more than 15 years of experience specialising in bereavement, loss and identity, offered a different reading. He said that experiencing intense events in quick succession can make people feel out of control, and that a common coping mechanism is to turn blame inward. “Not being supported during bereavement and having to leave because of someone else’s bullying are examples of an environment that did not support you, rather than you being the catalyst,” Vahrmeyer said.
This dynamic is not unique. Research into the UK education sector shows that teachers face a disproportionately high risk of bullying. A UK survey found that 15.5% of teachers reported currently being bullied, while 35.4% had experienced bullying in the previous five years. Another study placed the prevalence of bullying in schools at 13.8%, compared with 7.9% in other workplaces. England, in particular, has been found to have above-average levels of teacher intimidation.
The teacher’s experience of whistleblowing also reflects wider systemic problems. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 provides legal protection for whistleblowers, but the process within education can be confusing. Some whistleblowers report being passed from pillar to post, with no clear line of accountability. Despite legal safeguards, 40% of those who raised concerns in education settings said they were ignored, and 36% said whistleblowing led to them leaving their job.
Bereavement support in schools is another area where the teacher’s experience chimes with broader patterns. Official guidance on supporting bereaved employees exists, but its application is inconsistent. Headteachers themselves can feel overwhelmed when managing a colleague’s grief, which may affect their own wellbeing and the quality of support they offer.
Vahrmeyer suggested the loss of the teacher’s mother may have reactivated a deeper experience of being left alone with grief. “In which case the institutional failure will carry an intensity beyond immediate facts,” he said. The fusion of work and identity is common among people who derive their sense of worth from their career. “Your work may have become a place where you secured worth, and uncertainty was warded off,” Vahrmeyer explained. Losing the job, then, feels like losing a version of oneself — no wonder the teacher is completely confused.
The psychological toll on teachers across the UK is severe. The Teacher Wellbeing Index 2025 reported that 76% of teachers experienced workplace stress, with wellbeing scores at their lowest since measurement began in 2019. A significant portion of school staff — 36% — scored below a threshold equivalent to probable clinical depression. High workload remains the primary source of stress, but pupil behaviour, accountability measures and financial worries are all contributing factors. Some 49% of school staff felt their organisational culture negatively affected their stress levels. The teacher’s own story — of being made redundant amid restructuring — reflects a broader trend: as of May 2025, up to 13,000 teachers were at risk of redundancy in England, driven by increased employment costs and unfunded pay rises. A November 2022 survey found that more than half of schools in England were considering staff cuts, with 50% looking at reducing teacher numbers or teaching hours. In higher education, over 12,000 jobs were cut in February 2025 alone, with 105 institutions restructuring. The decline in birth rates is also prompting schools to reassess future plans, potentially leading to closures or mergers.
Advice from the columnist
Annalisa Barbieri, who addresses personal problems sent in by readers, noted that the teacher’s first 15 years were “pretty linear” and that the intensity of recent events can make anyone feel out of control. She pointed out that the teacher’s life outside work is rich and full, and that this side of life can help stabilise them now. “You may have fallen out of love with teaching, which happens, but you’re so enmeshed in that world it’s maybe hard to see what else you want to do, so you’ve reframed it as you can’t cut it – yet you did cut it for the past two decades,” Barbieri wrote.
Barbieri advised the teacher to sit with the confusion rather than rush for a solution, particularly if financial pressures are not immediate. She asked: “Does it feel a betrayal to leave teaching?” And she reminded the teacher that traumatic periods can lead to enormous growth. Vahrmeyer also posed three questions for the teacher to consider: “From a redundancy point of view what has it injured the most: your income or your routine? What feels most unbearable: being without work, a plan or a clear sense of self? And what did career progression protect you from feeling?” The answers, he suggested, may hold the key to what comes next.
