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

Absolutely true.

They'd be ''moning'' alright, they wouldn't have a clue how to manage a class.
Good teachers are highly skilled and talented- and all power to them.

It's a very hard job, much harder than in mum's day- She used to to teach juniors in a tough area of London, before moving to West London but support from parents was much stronger- The kids generally behaved well, { they didn't want to get into trouble with their parents} But discipline at home seems to have fallen off a cliff. {Discipline isn't about physical punishment , but boundaries and consequences.

I’m in a SEND school and I’d say parents. The things they’re asking for are unbelievable and there’s little thanks for doing stuff that’s not even part of my job.

In mainstream, I would have said behaviour and for both mainstream and special, ridiculous and pointless paperwork. Hardly any of it benefits the children. So pointless.

She hasn't escalated it as she feels it's her fault they don't respect or listen to her. I did advise her to seek counselling which she was very, very open to and said she would. I think she needs to share her problems with a professional and practice assertiveness with students/parents. She said she feels overwhelmed and sometimes doesn't have the energy to manage it all. She is a hardworking but gentle by nature.

I left in the summer after 25 years and haven't regretted it for a second. I was SLT in a secondary school and, as with a PP, desperately frustrated by the layer above me not having a clue about how to run a school. I was an Assistant Head- the worst position because teachers and middle leaders think you should be able to change/improve things whilst the layer above thwarts you at every turn. I'm now tutoring and running multiple projects on a self employed basis.

This is probably not a place for parents to contribute but as a parent trying to work with the school to combat ‘emotinally based school refusal’ that involves a fair amount of pure defiance, I’d say schools really have their hands tied in enforcing consistent discipline when so many pupils have additional needs and the input of outside agencies such as camhs, who have perhaps more compassionate approaches and more forgiving strategies. It may be normal for a school to suggest isolation for example as a sanction for a student that truants a lesson, but in the case of ebsa this isn’t considered an optimum solution by outside professionals involved . Difficult for teachers when one student is to be sent to isolation and another is to be sent to a nurture room with beanbags and fairylights for avoiding lessons.

Everything.
Left last December after 20 years a primary teacher.
Best. Decision. Ever.
No idea why I'd didn't do it sooner!

Now out of teaching

I cant tell you how much I admire teachers and their patients? Do we know the reason for so much SEN these days?

Please encourage her to get help, or this will take an even worse toll on her MH. Has she escalated it at the school?

I was a secondary teacher for over 20 years. I had mostly GCSE and A level groups but some year 8 and 9. I found DC's concentration was often poor. Many more DC with neuro diversity in mainstream classes without TA's. The marking workload was heavy for me, reports, prep of lessons each time the curriculum changed and the general worry about some of the DC. I had more than one 17 year old boy who was homeless and sofa surfed with various friends, many 16 and 17 year olds who had part time jobs that insisted they work additional hours to their contract hours, an anorexic student and often depressed students. Numerous DC with ADHD some who were medicated and some who were not. I retired early at 56. I felt drained not so much from the teaching but by worrying about the students and the way some of them lived.

I'm so sorry to hear you experienced this. What is it they have to do for Ofsted that isnt necesaarily good for the children?

It reduces government costs and removes the governments responsibility, whilst allowing them to bitch about teachers and education.

Throw in 2 that couldn't read or write (in year 6), another smashing the place up and several who would cry anytime they had to work independently and that sounds like my last class at the time I quit. 1 TA shared across 3 classes in the year. Its nothing to do with lacking empathy for SEN. It's that pretending a classroom can function that way is failing everyone.

A textbook costs between £25 - £30, a class set multiple by 35 (just to be safe, and I have seen classes at 36 - 38 pupils) for a year group multiply by 5 (on average)

a work sheet = cost of printing.

@Floursacktabletop who can I complain to please?
I was sat here happily reading then you mentioned that story about the ghost, how the hell am I supposed to sleep tonight after that very scary post.

Haha I couldn't be a teacher because I would lose my rag if some cocky teenager tried being a complete twat with me.
I was a nightmare at school and I bet a few of the teachers thought about punching me on a daily basis

EYFS and KS1 leader as well as SENDCo

The majority of our parents across the school are wonderful. Some of their complaints I have dealt with I can’t say I disagree with. At the end of the day they want what’s best for their children.

I mostly love my job. My three worst parts of the job…

-Bitterness and bitchiness among other staff (especially with such a small staff body).
-How scripted the job is.
-How we have to beg, borrow and steal funding, resources, training to deal with the significant issues and number of SEND cases in a mainstream setting. Yet a child we recently secured a specialist setting for were receiving £100,000 + to take them. But we were not even given the funding to cover his 1:1. Let alone the training of staff and specialist equipment and resources needed!

Rant over 🙃

Quite eye opening.
I couldn't be a teacher so I respect anyone who is.
Is the behaviour actually any worse? I remember some horrific stuff when I was at secondary. Is the punishment just not as harsh now so behaviour trickier to deal with??
The real bad kids just used to disappear (excluded). I guess that's not as easy now?
Also interesting how most mention parents? I'm so wary as a parent not to annoy the teachers asking them for help or making them aware of stuff. I rarely do. But whenever you raise stuff with other mums (or on here) everyone always says "speak to the teacher" "ask school for help" "school should be able to provide X y and z" so it's tricky to know what to do as a parent

Standing by everyday while children who need help are not getting it and feeling helpless as I cannot meet their needs. I see them floundering, beginning to hate school at 7 and 8 when it should be so exciting and feeling like failures when it’s the govt and system that are failing them.

Sounds awful. A woman I knew who loved children thought TA would be a nice job for her due to the hours...She was physically assaulted so badly she had to quit. Her husband said it just wasn't worth it.
People aren't paid enough to be physically assaulted by children.

The closure of SEND schools has had an impact on the level of pupils with a SEND.
Part of the issue is "inclusive education" it was never meant to be for all children, its was supposed to be for those with disabilities that should never excluded them in the first place. But the government saw it as a chance to reduce spending on education and now schools cannot cope with the numbers that are coming through.
And remember that the requirements/thresholds to get extra funding for pupils with SEND was raised, dropping that amount of funding that schools had available.

What is this motivation from thr past government to convert everything into academies? Why were they doing it?

They cost a fortune, we don't have the budget for them and if we did, they'd be destroyed within hours.

Do we know why there are no textbooks used any more? Why is it all worksheets instead?

You read the bloody thread.
in fact I’ll explain simply, in words you might understand.
One reason teaching is hard is because there are more SEN needs and not enough support.
And teachers, who contrary to popular belief went into teaching to help kids (and not to get long holidays / finish at 3 / because they’ve never left school / whatever other shite is said) actually feel bad because they can’t support those kids, while successfully teaching the other kids; therefore the SEN needs make the job hard.
Do you get it now?

I have. What's your point, other than being repetitive?