UK teachers report rise in problem parents

[Tabitha005]

Rude and disrespectful parents were a big issue when I worked in education ten years ago and, from this article, it seems to be an increasing concern.

Who’d be a teacher, eh? The shit they have to put up with is awful.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/mar/13/teachers-mental-heath-parents-behaviour-education

Why can’t she have a waterproof which folds down small such as walkers use to keep in her bag? There’s no need to get wet, that’s her decision.

This is categorically not what anyone is told in teacher training or will find 8n a school.

A parent phoned my HT to complain that I'd misread his daughter's name on the register (but then corrected myself). I was covering the class, in another department.

The same parent sent an abusive email to one of my probationers for doing the same thing. Said parent worked for another department in the council and used our internal email system.

I can't remember all of it, but he addressed the teacher by his forename instead of title and surname, complained that he was sick of his daughter being treated in that manner and finished up by saying something along the lines of "It's not that hard! Get it right!"

I very pointedly sent him a letter by snail mail, noting that he'd used the internal email system to communicate with the class teacher. I informed him that all members have staff had been reminded of the correct pronunciation of his daughter's name and that the teacher had corrected himself and apologised. I further told him not to hesitate to contact me about any future concerns regarding my faculty.

The name was something along the lines of "Brianne" and both the probationer and I had accidentally said "Brian" before correcting ourselves. (In the real life example, there was only one letter of difference between the two names.)

Someone else. As a retired teacher who did 35 years you do nobody any favours by go8ng in when you aren’t well enough. Prioritise your own health.

It’s not putting someone on a pedestal to suggest nobody should be rude or abusive to them.

Quite. What do3s that mean? From whether I can see it would include the sort of Christian values you would expect from a church school.

My kids are adults now, but I what happened at school was for school to deal with as they saw fit. If my kids misbehaved I wasn't letting them off detentions etc. They only got detentions for not doing homework anyway.

At primary school I think I spoke to the teachers once about bullying for one of them, and that was dealt with straight away. I had to speak to them about my youngest being bullied and leadership had changed by then (leading to 26 members of staff leaving in a year) and was quite useless, all very "please be kind" with no consequences if they weren't. There was also other SEN stuff not happening, so I took him out to home educate.

With secondary the only contact I had was parents evening, and once I emailed one teacher that was leaving to thank her for everything she'd done and wish her the best.

A friend was a teacher and the parents were one of the reasons she left teaching. Plus the ineffective SLT who wouldn't back her up when she had to deal with the parents moaning that their precious Prince had been given a detention.

I worked as a 1:1 TA in primary and the parent slagged me off on social media because her son had been given a temporary exclusion. Meanwhile I was recovering from the beating, scratching and hair pulling her son had given me!

You ok @cardibach?

?

What's wrong with advising someone to prioritise their health? I agree - you get no thanks for dragging yourself in while you're unwell.

You're not on top form and you risk passing on your germs.

I just wanted to pipe up to say that I work at an independent school and our parents are fantastic, and not at all as described on here.

We have international parents (boarders) who stay up until 2am their time to join a 7 minute parents' meeting on Teams, even if their English is almost non-existent.

The vast majority of parents thank me if I have to phone to say their child's been given a detention. Occasionally we do get push back with sanctions, but usually only if the parent really feels that we haven't had the full picture.

I guess it goes both ways. We really value relationships with families and prioritise swift and positive communications. And we have that bit of flex in the system that most schools don't, so if all else fails we can sometimes accommodate requests to move class or change options or drop a subject etc - it's never a case of "computer says no". And we do all genuinely work incredibly long hours providing individual academic and pastoral support (not saying that other teachers don't! Just saying that in my current school this is a fundamental expectation of all staff, not just HoD/HoY)

Do you think international parents have more respect for educators and demand better behaviour from their children from the early years.

Eh?

I think sick infected children should stay home too. Parents shouldn't be interrogated about it to satisfy the education authority statistics. Some of the stories on here because a child is catching every germ going around school one winter.

I remember a winter like that with my two they must have been off half a dozen times. I felt like a prisoner my only escape a trip round the supermarket when DH got home and had been fed.

We?

Nor me.

Not all of them! Some parents send their kids to the UK because they highly value education and the British education system in particular. But others send their kids because they're not getting on so well with the system at home (often they're not coping with the long hours that are expected, and/or there's SEND needs that aren't recognised or accommodated)

Working in an international school is one of the quickest way to dispel most national stereotypes. We have a full spectrum of politeness and studiousness from all our students - UK, European, Asian, African, South American

(And the full range and variety of rule breaking from all nationalities as well!)

It’s totally appalling now. I started teaching in 1991 in a supposedly rough and poverty stricken school. Parents and kids were all great. There were some issues obviously and the odd “family” IYKYK
Stayed in the same area different schools until packing in 3 years ago. I was a miserable bag of nerves from the incessant abuse from children and their parents. Where there may have been one or two in the 90s it was more like one third of a class of 30 were disruptive , with equally difficult parents. It feels like society is heading down the pan. One more year and my own DC is out of the system and I cannot wait.

We had a very poor boy at our primary school. He used to come in the rags his mother provided and the school had a spare uniform for him to wear during the day so that he didn't feel different. He was changed at the end of the day as his mother would have sold the uniform.

He had a very sad life and died in a car accident before we progressed to junior school which we still had in those days. I've never forgotten him.

I agree with you. I'm in Scotland and schools here do engage with parents over attendance but not to the extent that happens in England (if Mumsnet is anything to go by).

I've been in teaching over 30 yesrs, snd spent a lot of that time trying to get out. No one outside the profession knows how hard we work and how bad the workload is. On top of that add rude, disrespectful, lazy, entitled students and parents who support the child over you, the professional. No wonder we're leaving in droves. I am constsntly shocked by the complete lack of basic manners and respect from students. They don't even say 'please' and 'thank you'. That's plain bad parenting.

I imagine the reasons for this shift in attitude are multifaceted (societal, cultural, technological, financial, Covid, the ‘them & us’ mindset etc etc) - maybe it’s a perfect shit storm of everything.

I’m not a teacher but I work with parents and children (mental health, not education) and I’ve seen a general reduction in parental distress tolerance over the past 10-15 years.
Parents seem to be finding it harder to sit with and deal with, their child’s difficult or distressing emotions. There’s been a move towards placating these emotions (perhaps as an easier parenting option in the short-term) rather than teaching healthy emotional management and helpful coping strategies. Hence the rapid increase in referrals to MH services when real life experiences and expectations invariably come along for teens who are ill-equipped to cope.

As an overall generalisation, we seem to have gone from one end of the parenting styles spectrum (authoritarian - also not a helpful model) to the other (permissive) in the last 3-4 generations. That isn’t all parents obviously, but there’s been a definitive trend in that direction.

In the 90s the parents and the teachers were broadly on the same side. There was genuine fear of “a letter home” even from the rougher kids as they would then get it in the neck from parents. Not now. Contacting parents triggers righteous indignation on the kids behalf. The parents have switched sides basically.

Oh that's so sad. That poor kid.

I don’t understand it at all. I’m still totally of this mindset but my brother (who was raised exactly the same way) will fly off into reams of emails and complaints at the slightest crisicism. It must be exhausting - and that’s just for him!

You missed my point and jumped to the incorrect conclusion.
Unwell people should prioritise their health & not go to work.
Teachers (retired and otherwise) should have a good command of written english so I was just checking whether the OP was feeling ok.