This Teacher's Facebook Post About Why She Quit Teaching Is Heartbreaking

"In my teaching career I have never seen so many students suffering from stress and anxiety."

A veteran teacher of 30 years has written a scathing Facebook post outlining why she could no longer work in the school system.

Facebook: kathy.margolis.7

Kathy Margolis' lengthy post has been shared over 20,000 times since it was published on Wednesday and is full of comments supporting her words.

Facebook: kathy.margolis.7

Margolis writes that Australian schools are "in crisis" as a result of their "overcrowded" classrooms and data-driven teaching that leave teachers with very little say about how their classroom is run.

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"Teachers have very little professional autonomy anymore," she writes.

"We are told what to do, how to do it and when it has to be done by. Never have I experienced a time in my profession where teachers are this stressed and in real fear for the mental health of not only themselves, but the children that they teach. The pressures are enormous."

She also says she has never experienced a time where there are so many students suffering from stress and anxiety.

Facebook: kathy.margolis.7

"In my teaching career I have never seen so many children suffering from stress and anxiety. It saddens me greatly. Teaching at the moment is data driven. We are testing them and assessing them and pushing them so hard. I get that teachers need to be accountable and of course we need assessment but teachers have an innate ability to know what kids need. A lot of it is data for data's sake."

It ends on a sombre note, with Margolis saying she realised she couldn't teach anymore after telling her class she was sorry about thei workload and a student replied with "if you don't like the things that you have to do than why are you a teacher?"

"That question got me to thinking long and hard," she writes. "I had no answer except that I truly loved kids and it was with a heavy heart that I realised that wasn't enough anymore."

You can read all of Kathy's Facebook post here.

BuzzFeed News has contacted Kathy for further statement.