Teachers : what's the worst thing about the job now?

I was a teacher for 18 years and it was my time teaching in reception that finally broke me.
I had four incredibly challenging pupils who all needed additional support. You can't get that support until you can prove it's needed though.
We had to evacuate the classroom at least once a week as a child was going beserk, throwing furniture and trays of equipment. It would take me an hour to tidy the classroom at the end of those days, with my TA helping.
Two pupils in particular would attack other children unprovoked, run out of the classroom etc. they would kick me, throw things at me, spit in my face. I would have children cowering in the cloakroom, crying and scared that they were going to be hurt.
I had a walkie-talkie that I could use to call for help from SLT but sometimes it was out of reach and I was occupied trying to keep someone safe. Sometimes I had to just wait until an adult walked past my room so I could shout for help.
And then at the end of the day, a parent would have a go at me for not reminding their child to put their coat on at playtime.

A few years ago parents at my school were emailing teachers on Sundays and expecting replies the same day.

After that all parents had to email the office who would forward emails to teachers.

Everything people have said is true, particularly the issue with parents being pushy and wanting every diagnosis under the sun. Well I have had enough of being blamed for everything whilst trying to keep all the plates spinning with little or no resources. I love the actual teaching but have decided to take early retirement after 30 years. I now only work part time so when I go back this week I will have 55 days left to teach.

I think it’s because schools are now so rigid and tough.

My daughter has Audhd. She just presents as quiet. When l started teaching in 96, children like her slipped under the radar. But there was no real pressure on them. So they were ok. It’s the pressure in school that’s bringing the number of special needs to the fore.

And Covid. Mine didn’t want to go back because she liked the quiet at home and said she’d got out of the habit of being with others. This was in Y10. Became an EBSA in Year 12 due to pressure.

l left teaching in 21. I taught textiles. I had 2 visually impaired kids in my class. Along with 10 others with SEND. I had no support. So if l sat with the VI kids ( health and safety) handing a piece of dangerous electrical equipment with a constantly moving needle which they couldn’t see, the rest of the ckass just rioted/ got bored/ stabbed each other with scissors. It was horrific. The stress was unreal.

This, this and this!

An example would be a pair or trio attracting each other like magnets, very love-hate, but actually spending every break or lunch break being either verbally or physically unkind to each other, one or other ending up in tears. My TAs would spent a lot of time helping them learn different games or ideas of things to do outside. In class I would read stories and directly teach as part of PSHE so much about how to be a good friend, how to treat each other. During independent playtime I would be in the sand etc with them, consciously modelling manners and conversation. I’d tell my class I was looking out for people being a good friend to give constant praise and stickers, we’d celebrate examples as a class. Of course this is a key part of the Reception curriculum, and they are still learning and lots really come on with this. But for some, despite everything we did, the behaviours they witnessed at home overrode what we taught. Some of these children witness adults in their own homes using default methods of communicating such as shouting, swearing and storming off, making a huge drama about everything, so unsurprising they’d copy really.

Dealing with these constant friendship issues, and their parents then also getting involved (getting very het up, defensive and upping the ante), took up so much time that in the end I had to very firmly tell one trio, their parents and my team that they needed a complete break from each other, it wasn’t working, and all three were now not allowed to play together and needed to explore friendships with others. Fortunately everyone agreed- that wouldn’t always be the case.

@Phewthatwasclose How do I know they're on screens all the time? Because:

-I have 5 year olds being delivered to school in a pram, clutching a phone

• They are greeted at the end of the day by an adult giving them a device
• I see parents not engaging with their children

• Parents tell us, proudly, that their children have a 6pm bedtime; they're sent to their beds to watch something until they fall asleep, often not for hours and hours
• The children tell us that's what they do
• The children come to school unable to talk because they're not used to engaging in conversation

The LA SEND specialists said that in their opinion, the increase in SEND has multiple causes. Better birth survival from premature birth, older mothers, screens, increased awareness of SEND, fewer special school places, parenting without boundaries from preschool. Individually none of these would have seen the huge increase, but together the perfect storm has been created.

Not a teacher here but an invested parent. We are considered "strict" by old standards.

I spoke to the teacher once because DS had ripped his homework (primary) out his book because he said it was too easy and a waste of his time. Whilst punished at home for the crime (!!), I also spoke to the teacher and said I thought she should know and potentially there should be consequences in school too. Teacher said no need for punishment she would talk to him instead.

In my daughter's class, the behaviour is so bad that when she complains she is distracted by other behaviours and can't concentrate on her work / other children aren't concentrating on learning and falling behind meaning they can't move on with the curriculum, they give her ear defenders rather than deal with the poor behaviour. Thankfully they do let her explore her own learning now and / or let her read whatever she wants (and will discuss with her after / in the playground).

It makes me worry about choosing a secondary and discipline is top of my list. However, it's quite difficult to know whether "a bit strict" from particular parents means it IS strict or just to lowered standards. Minefield

Generally our school is good (recent Ofsted outstanding not 15 years ago outstanding) but the staff teaching quality is not consistent. This year we are very lucky but there is one member of staff who gets complained about every year. SLT protect said teacher openly to parents who complain but from other teachers comments, they know said teacher is a weak link.

There should be accountability in schools and teachers should be contactable in the same way other professions are accountable.

Parents will often send messages expecting you to read and reply asap eg, half an hour or less before home time to tell you that they will be late or that their child isnt going to the after school club so please have them at the door to go home (not somehow realising that you dont have time to read or respond). Or they will message at 8pm or later to ask about something for the next day.

I left primary teaching four years ago, and without being big headed (sorry I know it’s big headed) I was a bloody good teacher and I loved those children.
However I should have been a teacher 25 years ago when teachers were allowed to walk in their classroom and teach their kids as they want and know how.
Not ticking thousands of boxes and being the exact same as every other class in the school, following rigid schemes.
I saw an old colleague and the school I left now sounds HELL. I would never go back. It’s sad for children as good teachers are leaving.

@ThriveAT

Also how many other careers have such a proliferation of "early retirement". Guarantee you wouldn't be able to do that on a private sector pension chummy

I don't believe teachers who started after 2007 can get their full pension until 67 or 68 (whichever is their NPA). I don't think they will get a lump sum either.

I can get £9k at the age of 60. I don't think I can live off that until state pension kicks in at 67 So not sure it's what I would call 'gold-plated'.

On another thread I was on someone in the private sector said they had an employer who contributed loads to their pension. Lots of people in private sector get other benefits too. Just open a thread about annual bonuses. I don't hear people complaining about those getting bonuses or company cars or fancy lunches.

I’m SLT in secondary.
I’m also the parent of a 15 year old with an EHCP (ASD/ADHD/PDA - all diagnosed by CAMHS).
For me, the worst two aspects of the job (and as a parent) are the ridiculous levels of accountability (to the MAT, to Ofsted, to parents); everything is completely results driven. This year, because the current Y11s didn’t do SATs (Covid) there is no P8 measure. So this year, we only give a shit about English and Maths results. Completely morally wrong. The kids know they only need 4s to get into 6th form (around where we live anyway - lots of schools/colleges competing for 6th formers) and tbh I agree. We test them at 16 in 8 or 9 subjects, on a 10 point scale. We don’t need this amount of information - I could tell you right now which Y11s will go to RG unis, which will go to other unis, which will go to college and which will be NEETs. Don’t need 2 sets of mocks and the actual exams to tell me that. And a bell curve distribution which means a third of them are guaranteed to fail.
Next week, one of my key tasks will be looking at the reorganisation of our SLT roles so they start to align better with the new proposed Ofsted framework. Not because this is what the school needs, but because this is what Ofsted will come in to measure.
Secondly, linked to the above, the complete inappropriateness of the curriculum. Gove’s obsession with the rote learning of facts. Exams are just a giant memory test. The destruction of the arts and vocational subjects.
My child is one of those SEN students who is just complete overwhelmed by school. Too noisy, too many rules for him to manage, a curriculum that doesn’t meet his needs. He can’t manage a full day, so has been told he needs to drop two of his options (that he likes and is doing ok in) but has got to carry on with science (which he loathes and will inevitably fail).
I genuinely think that with less obsession with outcomes, and a more appropriate curriculum, a lot of the behaviour and SEN needs would be much less of an issue. The pressure on teachers, and therefore on the students is the issue
for me, both as SLT and a parent.

Can we add people like this to the list?

We’re having similar. Student finds English ‘triggering’ because we talk about death and always runs off to the welfare hub. Mum complaining (has never asked to speak to English though, just HoY). Our curriculum is freely available at open evening. You’d also be hard pressed to get through years7-11 of English without talking about death. I’m getting frustrated.

If you think teachers have it made, why don't you retrain to become one? God knows there's a shortage nowadays due to thousands leaving every year.

13 weeks off on paper but not in reality. This h term.i.have done the equivalent of at least 2 days. I.am.going early but will get another job. Need to work. There is always summat hanging over you. I genuinely believe if discipline was dealt with in the hime life would be more pleasant at school for kids and staff. There would be more learning

I'm.at a school where we are overhauling the curriculum in my subject. Each weekend I.am spending 5h doing my portion of developing. It ridiculous. This is before I've done other planning. Got procedure in hospital that requires 2 days off- first thought is, that's 8 lessons to cover😫 if pupils behave and you can teach your lessons, then I can to some extent ignore the BS from SLT. Been doing it 30yrs. Looking forward to having my weekends back. Had 1 year when I was part-time. Worked on my day off so didn't have to work weekend.

But you do have 13 weeks holiday.

That's just a fact.

Also how many other careers have such a proliferation of "early retirement". Guarantee you wouldn't be able to do that on a private sector pension chummy

What you'd more likely get is 30 years hard graft - to then be made redundant because you're simply too expensive (NI increase has prompted at least 5 of these in my company), and nothing you can do about it except hope you squirrelled enough away above your companies 4% pet month

It's a hard job, but I'm sick of the martyrs pretending there's zero benefits

14 years in. Not even half way through…

HOD of a core subject at a secondary school.

Echoing previous posters. A decade ago, I would have said workload was the problem. Now it’s behaviour, even in my lovely grammar school, it’s behaviour which is enabled under poor parenting and ‘SEND needs’. The mass labelling of students is an urgent concern and parents need to step up and take responsibility for their child that disrupts.

98% of my students are fabulous. I love my job but the 2% gets worse each year.

SLT who behave like they've never set foot in a classroom
Colleagues who interfere without helping when you are dealing with with an incident

For most teachers no. But it can be difficult to change jobs after 10 years of teaching.

Many new teachers leave after a few years whilst they still find it relatively easy.

I'm 56 amd should be OK to make it to 60.

Yes, this. Is it worth it?

This is not unusual, sadly.

I'm having a break as a SAHM and honestly my toddler is more reasonable than many teens and many SLT (which I was on).

For me, the thing I don't miss most is the feeling like you're in an abusive relationship almost, made to feel guilty if you push back against a ludicrous and often pointless demand of your/staff's time on the grounds of work-life balance. (Bbtw, I was never workshy and worked ridiculous hours each week so my threshold for BS was pretty high). Yet one's concerns are always met with "Think of/do it for these poor children." So the martyrdom I guess, which I often felt was not optional.

I do miss the mostly wonderful young people though, despite how unreasonable some can be. But sadly, all things considered, I'm not sure that's enough to want to return to a job I once loved so much. Having DC has made me realise how I lived to work and my life is so much fuller and richer ironically now I'm not even employed.