Challenges Teachers Face Today

Studies indicate that 15% teachers leave their profession and almost as many change schools within the first year of their teaching career due to the challenges they face. We hear in the news that school budgets are being cut by the government and there is growing lack of support for teachers. These types of issues in the school system are not without consequences. Following are five common challenges faced by teachers today:

1. There is a lack of professional development in the field of teaching.
Not to mention, lack of professional development among teachers has a direct relationship with little to no increase in salary. There is simply no investment in the training and development of teachers. Today, teachers are expected to learn from their own mistakes and modify their teaching habits depending what students seem to respond to. Based on the varying levels of educational backgrounds as well as personality types teachers belong to, it may be unrealistic to expect teachers to be able to adapt based on the needs of an ever-evolving audience. Consistent and periodic training opportunities must be provided to teachers to eradicate fixed mindsets among professionals in this field.

2. The student to teacher ratio has increased dramatically.
Considering each student has a unique learning need, it’s practically impossible to give the attention each would student needs depending on their learning ability. What’s more, classroom management becomes an even more difficult task when there are too many students. After an hour in the playground, young students tend to act unruly in class. Students suggest that experienced teachers find student behavior less difficult to handle compared to new teachers. This may also explain why 14% of teachers quit their profession within the first year of teaching.

3. Technology has taken over.
This results in two issues for teachers. Firstly, students get distracted by their digital devices such as iPod, cell phone, mobile gaming console, etc. Secondly, the age of information has oversaturated students leaving little mental space for curriculum-based learning. Some teachers are using technology to their advantages by getting students to send their questions through text messaging. Others post notes in the form of 140-character updates on Twitter. Again, the issue of a lack of training comes up because some teacher may themselves not be technically savvy enough to know what a tweet is or even how to send a text message.

4. Parents can become a hurdle in the teaching process.
Generally speaking, parents come in two extreme forms – from requests of re-evaluating grades and showing up without prior notice to complete lack of involvement in their kid’s education. Parents can become obstacles in the teacher’s path when they are not moderate in the manner they approach their kid’s studies. Ideally, parents would assist the teacher in achieving her goals with their child but that can only happen when the teacher-parent relationship is not antagonistic and one doesn’t blame the other for every issue that arises. In extreme cases, some parents create such a toxic environment of abuse and neglect in their homes that the child automatically goes through complete withdrawal from studies and a develop a lack of interest in what goes on in class. To remedy this, the teacher must be equipped in providing psychological support to t