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?

I will say though that I teach in a primary school in an area with a lot of deprivation and we rarely have any difficulties with parents. There are many challenges and high levels of poverty which affect the pupils but we don't get endless complaints and requests from parents.

Workload for me. I'm a middle leader and I feel like slt just sit in their offices thinking up more unhelpful things for me to do so that I can't get one with the things that really need to get done I keep being told that I have to reduce the cognitive load for my students and for my ect and jump all these hoops for slt but there is no recognition of how overwhelming my job is.

The pressure from inclusion no matter what. An ever increasing amount of complex needs with no additional support or training. It’s not fair on anyone - especially the kids.

Parents - I'm in FE and we use Teams. Several of my colleagues have had parents scream at them over Teams calls.

No resilience from students, constant lateness, absent all the time, no work ethic

Shit management - like really, really shit.

The constant "training" delivered by people who wouldnt last 2 minutes in a 2025 classroom.

Cover is insane as we can't get or keep staff. I've got 2 foot out of the door. Not to be big headed but they'll be fucked when I leave.

Exactly what we warned would be the impact of academies and MATS - particularly after 2010. They are run for profit which go into the raft of jobs that sit across the higher echelons of MATS and pay people who should no longer be involved in education but are making a mint from running MATs or are political appointees. The Tories have destroyed the structures of our Education system and damaged the curriculum terribly.
Many exclude and refuse and discourage students with issues from their academies.It has meant much higher percentages in LA schools and an unfair balance .

To maintain good behaviour in a secondary classroom of 32 students requires all of these all of the time.
Relentless routines
Very tight lesson planning that maximises every minute
Constant positivity mixed with a scary bitchface when anyone steps out of line.
Doing that everyday is exhausting and cannot be compared with many other jobs
At any time if you show weakness the kids can gang up on you and rip you apart.
Its not for the fainthearted.

Just out of interest as a non-teacher parent, especially for early years behaviour issues would you mind sharing some examples? It sounds like it’s worse than what could be expected from young children? Mine are now teens so I recognise the behaviour issues in this age group but I remember the early years being fairly drama- free in school back then…

I think for me it's the complete detachment from reality on all levels: pupils who think there are no consequences to poor behaviour, parents who think their children can do no wrong, government who think the curriculum is fit for purpose and that exams are the most important thing in the world, Ofsted who think high stakes graded inspections can do anything other than harm, senior leaders who think it's OK to pile pressure and workload on staff and that staff will prioritise work over wellbeing, teachers who actually do prioritise work over wellbeing and think any of this is somehow normal. It's bonkers. I left mainstream for a special school 2.5 years ago and love it - I'd never look back and would highly recommend the move if you still love teaching but are completely disillusioned with the profession.

Not a teacher but I worked in a school as a lunch time supervisor, I got out just over a year ago. Behaviour was getting worst and there was very little consequences. New head teacher took over and it’s gone downhill long serving teachers have jumped ship or gone on the sick.
Speaking with a friend who’s still there and they have just been given a new list of rules they must follow: must talk kindly to the children, no shouting, no playing, no running after a child even if it’s to stop them hurting another child.

Are there no teachers who are also parents?

Behaviour and parents.

Am leaving at the end of term. Had enough.

In my experience it’s a minority but they take up 80% of your time and cause significant stress. Plenty of parents are absolutely lovely.

I think teacher parents must be the best or the worst ones. I personally am a real suck up parent to my children's teachers!

Teacher and parent here.

The teacher parents are usually fine. The worst parents are the ones who back their kid no matter what, and their kid knows it.

Ha they can be the worst!

Yes, teachers dread going to work as it's just awful. I would not be a teacher again for a million pounds.

Not a teacher - my partner is so I hear the frustrations second hand - it seems behaviour without consequences is massive - especially when parents and SLT would rather hear a child’s false accusation over what actually happened. Plus disruptive classes yet the pressure to get the grades in.

Anyway - I actually commended because I did a post the other day called The Parenting Crisis - and when I read a majority of teachers saying that parents are a problem takes me back to this thought that something isn’t adding up. Whilst I know amazing parents, I’m often shocked at the very few that blindly defend their children - it tends to be the children that are largely distruptive with parents that let them get away with murder.

Teachers who are parents haven’t got time to complain to their kids’ school cos they’re… in school working!!!

Learning behaviour and general behaviour.

Lack of support staff.

The first one is the cause of 2 and 3!
I read on here how parents will go into school to 'have a word', usually negative, about some often trivial thing, without making an appointment as they would with other professional, doctor, dentist. They should have to make an appointment, it may be that overnight they come to their senses.
Parents should not be able to email class teachers, much less expect a reply out of hours.

During COVID, we gave our work email addresses to parents and now the constant stream of anxious/entitled parents flooding my inbox is adding to my workload. Most parents believe their child is neurodiverse and are demanding additional interventions/support despite the child managing very well, often excelling, in class.

^

Why are all these parents trying to seek a diagnosis for their child??? Just why??

It's the same on here every thread, is my child autistic, they are 1.8 months and still can't speak in full sentences....????

Juggling all the SEN and behaviour, linked or otherwise

I did an neu group online where we gave feedback on this. Was really interesting to hear from teachers all over the country. Main things were behaviour, funding for SEN, recruitment and lack of resilience!

What saddens me (secondary) are the many effects of introducing laptops for every student in lessons. I remember classes having lively discussions about what we were studying. As soon as screens were introduced, the atmosphere was instantly deadened. On the surface, the behaviour might seem 'better' because everything became much quieter. But the reality is that students are in their own little isolated units rather than sharing ideas, and are just less engaged. It seems such an inhuman way of working. I get them to work on paper as much as I can, but this often creates resentment in KS3 and KS4 classes, and I struggle to recreate that wonderful atmosphere. That, among other things, has made me determined not to give my own children tablets or smartphones for as long as possible, including for all the apps many primary schools recommend for phonics, times tables, etc.

Academies - watching the heavy multi-layers of execs, SLT and other non-teaching staff at the top syphon off so much money when we are on our knees staffing and support-staffing wise where we need it: with the children.