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

[Floursacktabletop]

I've name changed , but been here many years and teaching for 22 years.
Dreading going back on Monday. For me , the worst bit is the increasingly poor behaviour of students and the continual parental complaints and allegations.
Anyone else dreading it and fancy a solidarity thread?

Unfortunately this is true. It's really hard to get a place and while on a waiting list your dc will have to go to mainstream school. I took a year off to home school but it didn't do mine any good: he learnt more but he needs to train social skills as well.

It seems like only the very disruptive kids (: violent) get the fastlane to send schools but I admit that I only got anecdotes to back this up.

MEG sounds like more bollocks, sorry.
Teachers shouldn't need exam results from a 10-11 year old to know what their targets should be at 16 years old, class assessment should be sufficient.
I have to do the government baseline test for reception in the autumn term and it's a waste of time. I should using that time to talk to the kids, play maths games and observe them during activities. That would tell me all I need to know.

I agree, but the DfE make us use it

I'm a parent, with SEN child, now home ed, originally from abroad.

I feel for the teachers in this country, the big class sizes, the very long days.
My SEN (now 11) child couldn't cope with class sizes that big, there were no SEN school spaces so we home educate. I don't see how the 'inclusion' can work specially for 'high functioning' autistic kids who need much smaller classes, but mainstream curriculum.

Where I'm from (Eastern Europe) school day is 4 hrs long, so teacher can do prep/marking straight after and then just go home. Class sizes are generally 18 max until 11, then generally 20. Schools are much smaller, secondary will be 300 normally. School is compulsory, so no one can be excluded. Yet bad behaviour or SEN isn't widely known at school/catered for. I think because kids start at 7yo, they are more mature, are able to spend more time playing for longer. I took this approach with my other home ed child (no SEN), who had no interest in learning till quite recently, but was able to pick up several math concepts in an afternoon - we now do more structured learning, surprisingly he learned quite a lot of math via play and whatever he didn't finds easy to fill.
Because of more varied curriculum and also because parents don't really have much interest in day to day school things, kids just get on. There isn't that pressure of reaching x amount of GCSE's, otherwise you are failure. There are different types of school available in secondary, so kids who aren't interested in general learning can pick coding and specialise in that at 14.

I think part of blame needs to be laid at safeguarding and Social Services.
Parents are terrified to let kids do any of the stuff they ought to do at their age, due to possibility of injury and/or being blamed if something happens to them.

For example, kids abroad quite often walk to school at 7. They go off out and play independently of parents.
My nephews are the same age as my kids and they are much more independent. My sister laughs when I say they have to wait till 10 plus to walk to school.
My SEN child was able to drive petrol go cart (can do at 6), go summer Bob sledging and do various other activities, which in UK aren't accessible till much later because of 'risk'.

To finish safeguarding thing - lots of parents will be worried to shout at their kids these days or tell them off in case child mentions it at school and then SS get involved.
I'm not saying kids need to be shouted at, but the whole 'darling we don't hit' said in a quiet, meek voice isn't doing kids any favour.
My SEN child (autistic) was told very strongly from young age to not hit. It took him a while but.. he doesn't hit. I do know quite a few other autistic kids his age and almost all of them do, because 'they are autistic', which is just an excuse for bad parenting.
If we don't parent them properly, they get away with stuff. He is 'behind' his learning, but he should be able to function in society and hold down a job.

Recent example... we sold his Lego set for £250. He helped with ad, someone came to pick it up. In the excitement of selling it (he has ADHD too), he grabbed cash, ran upstairs and threw it in the air. Person left but only handed over £230. Son was a bit upset, but don't think he will make the same mistake again. I wasn't about to bail him out, but lots of people would.

There's always been naughty behaviour I don't think that's anything new I still remember kids throwing chairs around the classroom when I was in secondary school and my mother remembers the boys in her class knocking a teachers wig off!
Difference is now you can't properly punish the little shits, I've heard expelling children (even extremely naughty dangerous violent ones) looks bad on Ofsted's, you're supposed to wave a magic wand and the child turns into an angel! If not I guess it's just not a good school.

I read a story on here about a pregnant teacher miscarrying because a student attacked her then a week later she had to sit in a meeting with him to talk about his "feelings"

They will still blame teachers.
Too Lazy
Couldn't cope with the job.
Chased all the new and possible teachers away.
Some people are not prepared to shoulder their portion of the blame or think that their children could possibly be part of the problem.

What does this involve? Do you have to formally assess 4 year olds?!

@PassingStranger Then they'll just put unqualified staff members in front of classes and label them as "teachers."
Ah, wait a minute...that's already happening 😞

Cover supervisors who cannot speak good English are already commonplace in some schools.

Other schools use office/admin staff as cover.

My nephew is doing a pgce and often ends up teaching the class he is supposed to be observing, as the pupils cannot understand the cover supervisor and vice versa (this is an ofsted good school btw)

The ridiculous thing is that the very parents who make life impossible/difficult for teachers are the ones who will complain wide eyed when there no-one is willing to do the job and little Jimmy is in a gym along with 70 others being "taught" by oak academy on a screen.

I'd love to know how this AI/tech will spot signs of abuse/county lines/mh issues/illness...

I really do wonder what we are doing to our young people.

Does that make the teaching experience ‘better’? I assume so. I presume they still have issues with difficult parents and SLT?

How did everyone's day go?
I was ok until lunchtime when yet another parental complaint. We provide a booklet for our subject. Some students have asked to be able to print their own so they can annotate it. We have said yes, sent the link to print at home, or offered one to purchase via the portal. In the email it is stated its entirely optional. A parent said their child had rung home in tears about not having one. When we said it was optional as stated, we were told emails like this don't help. Again, no comprehension that as a parent you should be thinking "shit my kid is anxious about EVERYTHING , I'd better get them some help"

@Scrubberdubber
Seriously? That is absolutely shocking! 😮

Yep, and introduced that bloody e baccalaureate nonsense!

From what I know of teaching in private schools, the behaviour is better, because it is expected by the parents and the SLT in school.
But it is worth noting that it is still high pressure coming in from parents and SLT. But it is a big hammer to be able to wield, but its not the only reason why behaviour is better is private education.

Does it have a 6 day school week? And/or hours of homework each day to make up for the lack of teaching hours? So essentially parents or the kid teach at home. And an excellent wraparound/extended day provision as standard? Or do kids walk home and let themselves in from a young age because the population is fairly static and they are safe, the way it used to be here 30-40 years ago?

And are uni degrees 5 or 6 years rather than 3 or 4 in the uk to make up for the lack of learning at school?

As for starting at 7 - they don't just turn up at school at 7, having being babied and enjoyed a free play rich childhood - they will have covered the same curriculum as in infant school here, having learnt to read and write - it's just not called school, I bet.
Much of infant school here is not more formal than nursery in other countries.

As for the pressure of learning- in infants/ks1 primary learning is all about 2 hours a day and the rest is fun and games.

SEN kids aren't there in those classes because disabilities aren't acceptable, they'd be mocked and bullied no end and no sane parent would put a SEN child into a mainstream school. UK is one of the most accepting and tolerant societies in the world for sen.

The uk has classes with 15 -20 kids or leas, in rural areas.

Apples and pears.

And the uk achieves the best results, for a country that is gentle and nurturing in its approach and values its citizens and childhood.

School week is 5 days a week. Some kids go to afterschool care, but that's games/sports/fun stuff.There is reading and some maths after school to do, 15min or so each. It's 3-4 yrs for Bc and 1-2 yrs for Masters, depending on what course.
Preschool specifically doesn't teach reading/writing before school starts. Some kids will naturally learn it before then as interested in letters. The only things kids should know at 7 is colours/count to 10/know orientation (up/ down/left/right), have a good eyesight and being able to sit down. Lots of kids get postponed too by a year, because EP (who is tehre when kids enrol) deems them not ready. My nephew has eye problem and she got postponed.
Kids are in mainstream abroad but are much better able to cope with shorter day/no uniform/smaller classes. Much less of it about. Schools are much more flexible with attendance.

Secondary teacher.

1. lack of accountability from students .
2. students have no independent skills.
3. parents making excuses for their child , said child realises this and acts out .
4. general behaviour - slt in schools working against classroom teachers .
5. workload

Yep.
During their first term of reception, you have to do a formal baseline assessment. 'Activities' to assess communication, literacy and maths. I have to sit with them 1 to 1 on a computer, asking inane questions and clicking yes or no for their correct/incorrect answers.
It's time consuming and a waste.

My ASD daughter had never hit anyone.

I used to be a teacher. We had loads of ASD kids. I only remember one who hit anyone.

For me the issue is parents who think they know what is going on in at school and hassle you / complain to sort out their child who is being bullied, when in actual fact their child isn't being bullied AT ALL, it's just been completely made up... They just happen to believe every single piece of information that comes out of their children's mouths like they've written a novel. And then they raise complaints with the head because you haven't dealt with the bullying (which didn't exist in the first place). But parents don't want to see that their child is twisting the truth / not telling them the whole picture. It's like gaslighting.

Normally happens after school.

Being in a constant state of anxiety. I've left teaching for good now and its amazing how relaxed I feel. I used to cry each and every morning, dreading the never ending negative comments from SLT, the violent behaviour of the children, the threats from parents and the relentless high and pointless workload.

I was very unwell one day, won't go into details but I collapsed in the classroom. I was told I couldn't leave to go to hospital until someone came to cover me. Over the next two hours (I was slumped in my chair feeling delirious, kids were running riot), three members of SLT were pacing along the corridors, doing the rounds, popping into all the other classrooms to check everyone else was doing their job properly. Not one came into my room, they all avoided it and so nobody was available to cover me. No TAs around that day either. I ended up seriously ill and in hospital for a fortnight. Was told I could have died if I had waited any longer.

Also, the fact that we had to pay the school for the laptops they gave us to use in school! They were rubbish as well. Still can't believe we had to pay to use school equipment to be able to do our jobs!

That is terrible!!! I feel so sorry for you that you collapsed and nobody would help you for those 2 hours, this is honestly the most distressing post I’ve read on how society treats our teachers! Much of what you said sounded sadly familiar to me, but I have never heard of anything like how you were treated when so unwell 🥲 Sending you my best wishes from a fellow ex-teacher ☺️

Your post really resonated with me, you are spot on. What you say about watching what you say all the time. This has happened to me even more since having children. I notice myself and other Mums endlessly narrating what our children are saying, subconsciously, but it feels like we are acting. I feel like we intervene in an artificial way during periods of misbehaviour in public/altercations with other children, which on the surface sounds like we are trying to teach our children pro social behaviours, but truthfully is often for the benefit of the other adults listening, so we are not judged for being a bad/disinterested/shouty Mum. It sometimes feels less authentic though, and I actually feel relieved when I hear a Mum just lose it a bit rather than all of this inanely parroted scripted stuff. I hope this makes sense- I just don’t think parents years ago had to over-think and over-analyse every word they said or the tone they said it in in the way I notice myself and others doing now…