any teachers here - is the job unsustainable now

[teachertetherendof]

Hello - career teacher- needing somewhere to rant
I am sick of every child (almost to a fault) arguing that they shouldn't do what you have asked - this is from the tiniest thing to the biggest things
Also today I have been physically shoved which will lead to no more than a day of isolation for the 15 year old that did it
What has happened to young people? We are literally at the point where even if you are warning a student about something dangerous to themselves - they don't listen- instead their default is to argue back first

It's exhausting

Also, I am not a strict or savage teacher- our school does not have lots of stupid rules- this is a really strong societal drift into this constant state. And no, it hasn't always happened- there has been a massive change in the last 8 years

Not a teacher but you have my utmost sympathy if Mumsnet parents are typical

I worked at a school for 20 plus years where it starredvout where disruption was unusual and steadily became the norm. Yes society has changed, but for me the main issues was the lack of a clear discipline policy which led to a lack of consistency. Add to this a lazy SLT and an erosion of the pastoral system and it became a recipe for disaster. In my experience most pupils will toe the line. Not providing clear rules is doing everyone a disservice. I feel your pain OP

yes I agree with this- behaviour policies have been diluted by every child needing individualised exceptionalism from following the rules even though once they hit 16, this doesn't exist so it gives them a false sense of the world

Children have become feral because a lot of parents don’t parent . I worry what society is becoming tbh .

I think some schools made rods for their own backs - by kids primary went through a phase of not rewarding good work, and issuing no consequences for "bad" or shoddy work.

My child learnt fairly quickly that if there is no reward for effort, and mucking about leads to nothing, why the hell should he bother. I kind of agreed with him - although didn't share that view with him! Took a good couple of years to get his work ethic back - and still not where it should be. He lost out a lot as a result - all he needed was recognition, a point for his house team or something for doing a piece of work well.

Don't know whose idea or ethos it was - but the headmaster left after an appalling ofsted a year or two later.

If primaries are doing that, by the time the kids get the secondary they are already screwed, and the secondary teachers have a bigger nightmare to manage.

There is of course the issue of parents telling the kids they can do no wrong and undermining the school all the time - no idea how you fix that.

I worked in a school for 12 years, back in 2008 the behaviour was manageable, most pupils were engaged and treated each other and the faculty with respect.

Over the years things got worse and worse, pupils being verbally and physically abusive. No sanctions or consequences were ever imposed. The pupils who were behaving well got sidelined, ignored and often blamed for the appalling behaviour of the class disrupters. The disrupters were rewarded with “movie mornings” with hot chocolate and popcorn, even if they had broken their “behaviour contract” that week.

I walked away in 2019 (note pre COVID so not a mitigating factor).

I still have a couple of colleagues I keep in touch with, they are utterly broken and are desperate to leave. There has to be some kind of sea change in the way bad behaviour is dealt with.

I blame SLT. If they have high expectations of behaviour, communicate these to the children, uphold them and support the teacher, then your working environment (and the learning environment for children) improves immeasurably.

My local school has a bin outside of it. That bin stinks during term time as it is always full of old nappies. Some of them evidently haven't been toilet trained. If it's not the bin stinking then I'm seeing parents holding their child above a drain to use it as a toilet.

The wrong people are breeding.

How far off from retirement are you?

Too far!

100%

So many people are incredibly soft on their kids now. They expect the world to fit around their kid, rather than socialising their child to exist cooperatively within society. Its awful.

We have relocated so my husband could get out of teaching after 25 yo. Not worth it. At all.

Respect for the law, respect for social norms, seem to be a thing of the past.
Single parenthood, multiple children with different fathers, mothers unable to control children. Actual discipline is frowned upon. Teachers can barely even raise their voices now. Schools cant cope with the extraordinary explosion of ADHD. Where did that come from? It was virtually unknown 20 years ago. Then suddenly theres benefits to be claimed and lo and behold everyones got it. Police now more like social workers than law enforcers. The justice system has been on its arse for years, except if you post an opinion on SM that attracts the attention of the establishment. Then the polis are round quicker than shit off a shovel. Drugs are rife, walk through any town centre and you will walk straight into the stench of weed. The former "Great" Britain has descended into a shit hole and Im glad im in my 60s not my 20s.
Ill get my coat

We had kids as old as 7 being sent to school in pull ups. I was cleaning up piss and shit every day when I should have been educating.

Interestingly this is not the worst cohort of parents - easy to blame this sterotype

In your opinion, what was the worst cohort?

Genuine interest, not being snarky in case it comes across that way!