One reason why teachers are more stressed nowadays....

[dadadidada]

...just a theory, and will l probably be shut down, but I've noticed that kids of teachers always seem to do rather well at school (both primary but especially at secondary). No offense but not all teachers are in the top 10/1% so it's clearly not all genetic. 'm sure there are exceptions but I suppose the teachers, even if not teaching their own kids, know what resources to look for and how answers should be structured and teaching in every day life which might not be something most parents are able to do effectively (and, yes, we all read to our kids, take them to museums and discuss stuff etc etc).

Now, to the 'stressful' part. I totally take onboard that the working conditions, reduced budgets, lack of salary increases, the constant testing, and changes in curriculum must make teachers' lives unbearably difficult a lot of the time.

Another aspect, and I've not seen this mentioned, which might play a part (for those teachers who are parents) is the increase in kids when going through 11+ (or similar) are nowadays tutored to a high degree (didn't used to be the case back in the day, you were either seen as 'grammar material' or you weren't).

So when teachers' kids go through the process as parents, it must put an extra burden on them. A couple of my kids had teachers whose children were in the 11+ year and, not being unkind, but those teachers were either super stressed or just not 'on it'. In a couple of cases, we had the same teachers over a few (different) years and the contrast in their application when their kids were not doing the 11+ was significant.

As a parent, I found it quite stressful and can imagine even more so as a teacher. It must add an extra stressor to their lives which is not really compatible with being a teacher (as I'm assuming they might also feel their kids can't fail the 11+ even if only subconsciously).

Your theory has some significant holes.

The majority of the country does not have 11+ exams. The number of teachers who have children at that specific age, in those specific regions, and whose child would struggle to "get in" without tutoring, will most definitely be in the minority. If that was the source of stress, only a small percentage of teachers would be stressed.

You present no metrics by which you're judging the 1%/10% claim so I can only work from a vague measure of intelligence. The average IQ of a teacher varies depending on the study but it was typically given around the 120 mark. This is in the top 10%. Yes, there is a bell curve, but the height of that bell curve when looking at teachers in isolation is 120, not 100. However, even if it wasn't or if we worked from the basis that nature wasn't a factor, growing up in a family where education is promoted as a priority would have an impact on the academic outcomes of teachers' children therefore explaining some of the differences between parent and child intelligence (if those differences exist).

Yep. The teachers I know whose children went to grammar schools, let the children get on with it, without pushing massively home. I don't recognise the "stressy teacher parent of a Year 5 who is sitting the 11+" that you describe, at all. And I'm a teacher, with children who have been through it, in an 11+ area. In my social circles it was always the non-teacher parents who were far far far more stressed out by the 11+, and the thought of not getting into a grammar.

I don't have kids and I'm stressed.

Nothing to do with the 11+ and find the op condescending!! More to do with the relentless workload. Sorry I am only of average intelligence if I do teach your dear children.

Probably not as I don't teach in and 11+ area.

What a twat you are OP!!

And still you try to come back and defend yourself!!

I'm a KS1 teacher so probably deemed as even thicker than the average teacher as I only have to think about maths for 5 year olds, but I actually have a law degree from a top university and a masters.

Both of my DC are quite clever. No 11+ around here so I can't test your theory but I totally think it's down to genetics [hair swish]

My kids don't cause the stress, my job does. HTH

@dadadidada I would think many teachers know that tutoring can be useful, but not for the 11+. Your child either has the ability and desire to be in a grammar and thrive in that environment, or not.

I teach yr6 and I can see already that those that have been tutored for the 11+ are falling back from where they once were in yr5. They may have attained the level needed for a day of tests, but they can't necessarily maintain the level needed for the years of grammar schooling to come (or even just yr 6!).

I would suggest that many children of teaching staff are brought up with a passion for learning, but that is by no means all of them, or that a grammar education with its expectations would suit them. But a passion for learning probably goes a long way!

One reason I'm stressed is people who know nothing about my job pontificating about my job

Quite

This thread is bonkers.

I think I can kind of get what you are getting at. However I disagree with you. I am a secondary teacher, with primary children.

During lockdowns, I was lucky enough that I did all my work from home and kept my children off, I wasn't needed in my school. We very quickly discovered that between my husband and myself one was able to teach, one was not so good! Teachers, shock fact here, have skills they can use to teach, explain, unpick things for students and subsequently their own children.

I also tutor a friends son who refuses point blank to listen to mum, a primary teacher so it doesn't often work.

Maybe also there is a difference in how teachers value education - I know this sounds judgemental but I teach so many students whose parents don't value it so will reflect in outcomes of a lot

I’m not surprised that many children of teachers are in the top 10%.

Many teachers will be in the top 10% of intelligence and their partners will typically be of a similar level….so they have brights kids. Plus, however busy they might be with work, they value education and have homes that demonstrate that in numerous ways, so their kids are advantaged compared to many others. And yes, they are likely to understand certain phases of schooling better than most and be able to ensure their kids access the resources or understand what’s required for higher levels, and plug gaps they might have.

Preparing other people’s children for exams in school is stressful. It’s a very measurable achievement, but stressful because the outcomes aren’t wholly or even mostly down to the teacher,but so many other things.

Teachers are stressed and find their job difficult because schools are under resourced, so they have to work without enough books, paper, teaching assistants and with classes that are getting bigger and without sufficient SEN support, and without enough specialist teachers so they have to teach more exam classes and work 55 hour weeks or more, and because teachers are leaving all the time, the job for those remaining becomes harder and harder. Add in Ofsted and people in leadership fearing for their careers if there’s a poor Ofsted inspection or year of results, and no opportunity to change jobs because schools can’t afford to hire more expensive teachers, and that’s before even starting to mention the bad behaviour, difficult parents etc etc……you might start to see some real reasons why teaching is getting worse. It really isn’t having to prepare their own kids for 11+.

And OP, when you say the teacher’s standard dropped when prepping her child for exams, I wonder exactly how you’re measuring that. No doubt it’s an incredibly spurious way of measuring this that you’re using. On other measures that teacher’s performance might have been higher that year.

What I think you mean, is something happened that year that you weren’t so pleased with about the school. There’s no knowing what that was. However, to decide that whatever it was might be linked to the teacher prepping their kid for 11+ is just very odd. Do you mean you found it stressful to prep your own child for 11+ and so have projected this onto teacher performance?

What a load of utter horseshit!!

I have no idea where you've got this from. For what it's worth, DS1 took the 11+ and didn't achieve the pass mark required for the nearest grammar. * I did help him with some of it but as I'm not an 11+ tutor, I couldn't help him with the stupid non verbal stuff.

I didn't get him a tutor because (and you may be surprised by this) I couldn't afford it. And I see a lot of kids I've taught pass the 11+ then go on to really struggle as they were only taught to pass the test, not keep up with the academic rigour of a grammar school. If someone gets a place at grammar, it really should be on their merit and because they have that academic aptitude not because they've been taught how to do a test at speed.

Anyway, I digress. I'm stressed because of the ridiculous expectations of my job and the lack of money, time or resources to do it. HTH .

• Doesn't really matter as DS loved his secondary school and came out with 7/8/9s for his GCSEs anyway...😊

I have fuck all input into my own dc, as I'm usually doing school work. If they do well in school, that's entirely down to them. I don't have the capacity, once I'm home.

I'm also an English teacher whose dc excel at maths and aren't overly fond of reading.

Load of rubbish. From what i've known, teacher's kids aren't achieving better than any other group of kids so no idea where you pulled that piece of evidence from.
Also, if you ask any kids who have parents who are teachers and they will sadly point out that often they don't come first (but they should do!).

Teachers are professionals and many put their jobs first to the detriment of their family. About the only advantage is that I do have access to some revision books/text books that I've 'borrowed' from school but that's only for the subject I teach!

I don't even know if it's true that teacher's children do better at the 11+. I know many people who did not have their child sit it as they knew it would be unnecessary stress and that passing was unrealistic.

But what do I know, I'm just a dumb old teacher