Teaching is one of the most underrated and overlooked professions. People are quick to dismiss it as an easy job with ‘lots of holidays’, while in reality, teachers fight a constant battle against limited time and resources.
They also have to deal with competing demands, unmotivated students, and opinionated parents.
We asked teachers what the hardest part of their job was – and their answers were as worrying, as they were diverse.
Belinda* admitted that for her, so far, it’s been trying to find a full time position. She’s been in a permanent part time position, working as a art/design and tech teacher since she finished uni – nearly ten years ago.
She said because there's such a low turnover and a late retirement age, teachers often have to wait a long time to find a full time job.
Mark* revealed that he's constantly taking work home - like marking and reports. He said there are times where he's constantly working late at night and on the weekend. And now that students can email their teachers, they're expected to respond to emails before the next day.
Sandra's* been a teacher for 10 years and she believes social media is making her job a little harder - and a bit more awkward - as students are constantly trying to add her on Facebook.
While another teacher admitted that having to deal with parents who weren't on your side or didn't trust your expertise, was particularly difficult.
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She said a lot of parents would refuse to drop kids off for detentions and pick them up afterwards as "it's not convenient for them" - which made it really difficult for her to discipline her students.
Sally's* had a long teaching career and she believes technology is a huge distraction in the classroom. She also revealed that teachers spend a lot of time dealing with bullying and accusations of bullying.
What do you think is the hardest part of being a teacher?
*Names have been changed.
Top Comments
The hardest part for me has been working in schools that do not have a supportive staff, especially when the principal is a challenging person. We are working in a profession that is about teaching people, helping them improve the same attitude needs to be extended towards the staff. Especially those who are really struggling.
Accountability, having to use at least 4 weeks preparing 8 year old grade 3's how to do well on NAPLAN, because that's what parents and schools care about, how well they do on standardised testing. It is very sad to see them sit practice test after test all to curate their scores. They should be having fun and learning through inquiry however from grade 1 they start having drilled into them the importance of NAPLAN. You can thank the politicians who claim this is making schools accountable all while majority of funding is going to private schools.