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

I work for a solicitors and the customers have got way less patient and much more willing to raise formal complaints and threaten to go to the ombudsman over silly little things, I think people in general have just got worse, whether it’s social media or the covid lockdowns or what I don’t know but I and my colleagues have got to the point we dread opening our emails on a Monday morning.

Considering moving to an independent, is it really that bad?

I'm year 2 (moved from eyfs) and I'm not actually sure I do deal with parents every day.

I actually think it's always been pretty bad but the job it's self has got much more stressful so we have so much less time to actually chat to parents.

I also think schools are so much more like pressurised boilers trying to hot house children's progress. This spills over into children hating school, parents worrying about what the hell is going on, relationship and mental health issues, add to this the fact that other services are massively stretched and not helping children with their speech, SEN etc. so parents are stressed and trying to support their children but met with brick walls.

I don't think it's 'parents are awful' I think it's that schools have changed (for the worse) and other services are also struggling.

This is the number one reason I left teaching a couple of years ago.

2nd reason - pupil behaviour and a lack of support to deal with it. I was sworn at, had things thrown at me, my personal items destroyed or stolen and this was primary aged children.

I would often have parents shouting in my face about the way I'd spoke to their child or their child getting a sanction or another child not being dealt with, the way they saw fit. And I had to stand there and take it on the playground in front of all other parents and pupils. It almost became the norm and we'd guess which teacher it would be next and from which parent.

I firmly believe that a lot of people who have children these days are not fit to be parents and yet these are the ones that seem to be popping them out. And this is the reason I had to leave as I was struggling to bite my tongue and not retaliate verbally.

It can be because of the cost: some parents genuinely think they have paid for grades.

Can’t believe some people have Whastapp groups with bitching about the school/school staff. Can’t imagine that happening in mine and I think if someone did start with the negativity they’d quickly be told to put a sock in it or address the school directly rather than bad mouthing privately.

Interesting how nobody considers the rise in parental complaints coinciding with the decline in quality of education. Super stretched budgets are leading to staffing issues, virtually non existent SEN support etc. Why should parents put up with it? The government needs to invest more in schools and realise that it's in crisis, much like the NHS. Of course parents will complain more when their kids aren't being provided for properly.

Interesting. I've been a primary teacher for 20+ years and although there has always been the odd rude and disrespectful parent I haven't personally come across any increase in this and most of the parents are always very polite. I have always taught in deprived areas and our biggest issue is lack of parental engagement.

I'm also a parent of two DC with additional needs at secondary school and I do find I have to contact the school a lot but I'm always polite. They probably find me annoying though but it's the only way I could get support for my very quiet DC.

I’d propose the behaviour/perceived behavoir of public officials may have also changed perceptions. When senior politicians are lying, backstabbing, and bad mouthing constantly, with the trash tabloids egging it all on and trying to trash the reputations of even the ok ones, it just creates a nasty national environment of distrust and cynicism that filters into schools and everywhere else. Most people in the country are still decent but overall we’re not a very harmonious nation anymore where everyone is pulling in more or less the same direction.

This needs sending to the police!

So do you think it is reasonable to respond to a shortage of teachers by shouting at the teachers who actually are there? How do you think that's going to play out?

Define properly. A lot of parents expect the teacher to teach their child as if they were the only child in class.

I think parental expectations have changed and lot. I'm early 40s and in primary there were no parents evenings and the teacher's word was law. I don't think anyone would have dreamed of complaining about anything.

My daughter's at a private prep and we generally just let her get on with it. Teacher last year wasn't great but not to the point we considered complaining. Teacher this year is amazing.

I talk to my daughter about her day and occasionally she'll say so and so was mean but in my opinion it's up to her to learn to manage friendships not for me to talk to the teacher.

One way or another the rich won’t pay more, and everyone else doesn’t have more to pay. And break down in behaviour isn’t a school problem it’s primarily a society/parent problem anyway.

Schools are supposed to be there to teach & enforce existing expected social norms while kids aren’t around their parents/adult neighbourhood community. They’re not meant to socialise kids who haven’t learnt any social norms to begin with.

I agree.

I believe the school saw some of this so hopefully they are taking action. There is no way I will get the video off my daughter. I think someone else had posted it so I would not be able to find it myself.

I’m having some issues with my son’s behaviour and had to go into school to see the year head a few times. At the end of the last meeting we had a chat (she’s a friend of a friend who know a little anyway) and she said she like me and DH as we were polite and respectful and went on to say she’s thinking of leaving the profession due to parents being so awful to staff- said it 70% of parents she encounters.

I think there’s an increasing lack of parent accountability.

My cousins 12 year old is down at 57% attendance, yet somehow the school is at fault for chasing her to take him to school.

My son goes to SENd school and one of the mums genuinely thinks it’s their responsibility to cut her son’s hair.

We raise our kids, they teach them - somewhere I think that balance has shifted too far.

MIL was a nurse, FIL worked in the courts and BIL was in local housing. All in the same area.

Apparently there were some well kent faces (and names).

Was horrified to hear extremely intelligent absolute top job parents saying laughingly how they can’t wait for their challenging younger child to go to school to be taught how to behave ! Wanted to scream - that’s your sodding job love! Teachers are there to teach them to read and interact with their peers it’s on you to do the rest.

The thing is though

1. Parents complain at the people who are doing their best with a very bad situation. It is not teachers’ fault that budgets are stretched, services are non existent and SEN provision is not what it needs to be. Teachers are the ones staying late and buying resources out of their own pockets because they care and they’re trying to plug gaps in a failing system.
2. The majority of complaints parents have are beyond ludicrous.
3. If a parent has a legitimate complaint, there is a way to go about it. A polite email outlining concerns for instance, or following the formal complaint route, or requesting a phone call. A lot of parents instead behave appallingly and will march into school and shout at staff on the playground. DC’s school have had to create a ‘Parent Conduct Policy’ to outline expected behaviour for adults. There have been physical fights on the playground, criminal damage, staff being followed and shouted at on their way home from work, all by parents. Some parents have been banned from site for their behaviour.

I understand that some parents are frustrated with a system they feel lets their kids down, but the way some parents behave is inexcusable. It’s part of the reason teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

That's the part that confuses me.

I teach a subject for which it is exceptionally hard to recruit. I am a good teacher. I'm sure I'm not perfect but I'm knowledgeable and conscientious and my students get good results.

A while back I got a very rude and critical email about my teaching forwarded from the principal's PA. The parent had emailed the principal directly!

Tbf it wouldn’t be so bad if they actually let the school teach the kids how to behave. The real issue is that they also interfere every time consequences are given or any real attempts to correct unwanted behaviour.

We had one parent demand that the teacher never speaks to her daughter, as it triggers her. But she still had to teach said daughter for the whole year.

Yep. I’ma teacher currently on mat leave, dreading going back to work. The thing I’m dreading most is the parents.

@JuliettaCaeser I have heard exactly the same from parents of all backgrounds. Many parents avoid parenting.

Yep. The primary where my two younger ones go made the mistake of offering languages as a club. Dear God, the shrieks of rage on the WhatsApp group were something to behold - who do they think they are/ I don't want my little [child's name] learning rubbish like that/ why can't they do y language instead of x/ it's toooo haaarrrrddd at this age etc etc etc. OK people, message received, bloody hell.

Mind you, all this still didn't trump the person on my school governor's training years ago who thought that schools should only be permitted to teach STEM subjects and should be prosecuted for teaching RE. I wish I was making that up, but nope.