Most teachers do their job because they want to help pupils achieve, new research reveals.

A YouGov poll asked a representative sample of more than 900 teachers to cite the reasons why they worked in the profession, and the results placed pay and holidays a long way below their students.

The five most prominent reasons given were:

• Seeing pupils develop and achieve (83 per cent);
• Classroom teaching (55 per cent);
• Holidays (41 per cent);
• Opportunities to develop new approaches to teaching and learning (27 per cent);
• Salary (23 per cent).
   

The support of colleagues was cited by 21 per cent, while 19 per cent said they enjoyed the professional autonomy and 17 per cent highlighted the location as being a factor.

Just over one in 10 (12 per cent) mentioned work-life balance and only 7 per cent highlighted working conditions as one of their reasons to teach.

The survey also breaks the results down by teachers at different types of school.

Teachers’ pride in pupils’ achievements

Seeing pupils achieve and develop was the most commonly cited reason, with more than 80 per cent of teachers in maintained schools, academies, special schools and independent school all highlighting this.

One exception to this was grammar school teachers - 52 per cent of those polled highlighted this as a reason for doing the job.

Grammar school teachers and independent school teachers were also more likely to list professional autonomy as a reason for doing the job - with around a third highlighting this in both cases.

The YouGov survey provides a detailed insight into teachers’ views on a range of subjects including morale, workload, pay and funding.

It reveals a bleak picture of a profession where morale is dropping, the majority of teachers are feeling stressed and four in 10 say they are likely to leave the job.

And most teachers say they are working in schools where funding has been reduced and class sizes are increasing.