Top Ten Frustrations As A Teacher: Number 8 Feeling lied to about the nature of the job

A lot of teachers, especially those at the start of their career, report a feeling of being lied to about what the job actually entails. While it is no secret that the hours are long, the workload is excessive and the criticism comes in buckets, there is that much spin put onto everything that occurs in schools that teachers are feeling like they have been conned.

Teaching is billed as a creative career, when the reality is that there are so many boxes to be ticked and such a high work load that original lessons and creativity are out of the question. Far from having the opportunity to inspire students and make a difference in their lives, most teachers spend their time at work struggling to get classes to be quiet and dodging a telling off from senior management.

Of course, those within the industry are not allowed to speak out of turn and tell prospective teachers what it is really like, as this could be cause for them to be removed from their post. It seems that criticism only comes from the top down, and is not allowed to go the other way.

The bottom line is that there must be something very wrong if you are having to lie in order to recruit.


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Do you feel that you were lied to about what teaching is really like?